The origin of Zinfandel

The origin of Zinfandel

There & back again

1. Dalmatia, Croatia

   1426

   First ink

   A dark-skinned grape thrives along the Adriatic. The Statute of Budva records it as Cratosia; by 1444 Dalmatian documents call it Tribidrag — the vine that will one day be Zinfandel.

2. Gioia del Colle, Puglia

   1790s

   The first ripener

   Across the Adriatic, priest Francesco Filippo Indellicati selects an early-ripening vine from his vineyards near Bari and names it Primitivo. Same grape, second name.

3. Long Island, New York

   1829

   To the New World

   Cuttings from the imperial nursery in Vienna reach nurseryman George Gibbs. American catalogs advertise “Zinfendal” — and the grape rides west to Gold Rush California, where it becomes the state's most planted red.

4. UC Davis, California

   1994

   The DNA trail

   Geneticist Carole Meredith proves by DNA that Primitivo and Zinfandel are one variety. The question becomes where it came from — and the hunt, nicknamed “Zinquest”, points to Dalmatia.

5. Kaštela, Croatia

   2001

   Home at last

   In an old vineyard in Kaštela, Meredith and Zagreb professors Ivan Pejić and Edi Maletić match Zinfandel to a handful of surviving Crljenak Kaštelanski vines — minutes from our cellar. The circle closes.

6. Putalj, Kaštel Sućurac

   Today

   Full circle

   We grow Crljenak Kaštelanski on the slopes where its story began, beside its own descendant, Plavac Mali. The world's most travelled grape, poured at home.