Zin

Zin: The History And Mystery Of Zinfandel
by David Darlington
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is interesting more as an historical oddity than anything else. It was written in 1991 (and was originally published under the title Angels' Visits) and published by Da Capo Press in 2001 when a new afterword was added.
David Darlington travels around California, mostly in the late 1980s, talking to various men who are making Zinfandel in commercial wineries (as opposed to home winemakers). They drink wine, they analyze what they are drinking, and they philosophize (sometimes at a length well beyond sober judgement) about why Zinfandel is the great American varietal. We do hear quite a bit about the home-wine making activities of the author and his friends. The histories of these people (some of whom run wineries that are now huge and successful, like Ravenswood) and how they came to be making wine is interesting. Because of the time it was written none of them know that Zinfandel is going to be successful, it is a fringe thing these few people are playing around with.
I am counting this book toward the What's in a Name Challenge as a title that begins with Z and am linking up with Weekend Cooking. It also counts toward my nonfiction reading challenge and I'm linking up with Nonfiction Friday.