Home

Tom Ross

Tom Ross' column appears Tuesdays and Sundays in Steamboat Today. Contact him at 970-871-4205 or tross@SteamboatToday.com.

Steamboat Springs — Forgive me, faithful readers, for I have zinned.

At 11:30 a.m. Friday, when I should have been sitting at my laptop cogitating, I instead attended Zin City at the Steamboat Grand Resort Hotel. There, I joined about 30 cult followers of the multi-faceted red wine called zinfandel.

Never have I spit so much expensive wine into a plastic cup and enjoyed it so much.

The Wine Festival at Steamboat is in full swing this weekend, and I took the opportunity to learn more about a wine I often turn to when I need a little more spice with a spicy meal. I like adding mystery to some of the jammy red fruit - strawberry, raspberry, cherry, blackberries and even blueberries - I've come to expect from red wines.

A group of wine experts, zinfandel producers all of them, called out enthusiastically Friday when asked by one of the cult members what kind of food goes best with zinfandel.

"Barbecue! Any grilled meats! Grilled tenderloin with blue cheese! Elk and buffalo! Hey, what about chocolate desserts?"

Zinfandels, often shorted to "zins," also lend themselves to wine labels devoted to wordplay. Labels such as 7 Deadly Zins and Sin Zin abound.

Ask Stewart Vandenberg, a grape grower from Healdsburg, Calif., and western regional sales manager for Alexander Valley Vineyards, whether clever wine labels are off-putting to serious oenophiles, and he doesn't hesitate.

"Zinfandels are meant to be fun," Vandenberg said. That explains why Alexander Valley's family of zinners includes names like Temptation Zinfandel and Redemption Zin along with Sin Zin. Hey, they sell wine.

Characterizing the full breadth of the wines produced by the zinfandel grape is a challenge because they vary so much, the experts explained to our group at the Grand. They can be elegant and refined wines from 100-year-old Napa vines or they can be challenging and a little dark. Many produce a peppery, spicy finish and others are described as being claret-like, or similar to a Bordeaux.

I sampled Alexander Valley's Sin Zin, liked it very much and announced to the assembled masses that I tasted cocoa filling my mouth in combination with the jammy red fruit of the wine.

"No, that's Temptation Zin" that has cocoa notes, Vandenberg corrected me.

Fortunately, Nance Billman came to my rescue.

"If everyone tasted and liked the same things, I'd be out of a job," Billman said. "We'd be Coke or Pepsi."

Ironically, Vandenberg said it could well be a hint of cola that I was tasting in the Sin Zin. Was he messing with my palate?

Whatever it was, it was difficult to spit it into the plastic cup.

Billman is a sales representative for a wine distributor called Wine Cru. She urged the people attending the Zin City seminar to make the best of hard economic times by asking wine shops and fine dining restaurants to stock the bottles that appeal most to them. Some limited-release wines that previously were sent only to top restaurants are becoming more widely available, she said.

"Restaurants can flip their list faster than the retailers, and they will bring them in if you ask for them. In these economic times, you are in control," she said.

If you're feeling in control of your economic destiny this week, and you want to commit to a big zin that goes well with a decadent dessert, track down the Michael-David Lust zinfandel and give it a chance to breathe. At $55 to $59 a bottle, its up front, milk chocolate flavors are truly zinful. This same winery produces the more modestly priced 7 Deadly Zins.

Perhaps your palate is more refined than mine; you might also taste caramel, crÃme de cassis, tangerine zest and cinnamon-spiced gingerbread in a wine called Lust. Wow.

Always remember, you can give in to Lust today and repent your zins tomorrow.