Zinfandel has been assumed to have come from Europe at some time, but the origins were uncertain. However, the work of Prof. Carol Meredith of UC Davis and her colleagues have come to a very clear conclusion. Zinfandel was not known to exist anywhere in Europe until about thirty years ago, when it was discovered that Primitivo in southern Italy was the same cultivar. This has been shown to be true using DNA markers and the work repeated in several independent labs. However, it appears that although the two grapes are genetically identical, Zin did not come to the U.S. by way of Italy.

The Dalmatian cultivar Plavac mali was suspected to be closely related to Zinfandel. Continued work demonstrated that Plavac mali was an offspring of something genetically identical to Zin crossed with another Dalmatian varietal, Dobričić. Given these results, further exploration of other Dalmatian varieties eventually turned up a vine strongly resembling Zinfandel in a vineyard in Kaštela, a coastal town near the city of Split. Genetic analysis revealed that this vine, subsequently determined to be the rare cultivar Crljenak kastelanski, has the same genetic profile as Zinfandel.

Crljenak kastelanski is almost extinct in Croatia. Several vines have now been found but only in mixed plantings with other varieties. The search for more extensive plantings of Crljenak kastelanski is continuing along the coast and coastal islands.

The question of how it got from there to here is still unanswered.

The above notes are modified from the abstract of the following paper, published in:
ISHS Acta Horticulturae 603: VIII International Conference on Grape Genetics and Breeding
“THE IDENTIFICATION OF ZINFANDEL ON THE DALMATIAN COAST OF CROATIA”
Authors: E. Maletic, I. Pejic, J. Karoglan Kontic, J. Piljac, G. Dangl, A. Vokurka, T. Lacombe, N. Miroševic, C. Meredith

I’m not trying to be a know it all, but I thought I’d mention the guys at UC Davis have actually determined that the Zinfandel/Primitivo grape is actually a clone of the Crljenak grape, which was native to Croatia. Regardless of where it came from though, it makes damn good juice, if you like the style.

My pals and I watch the show and we’re enjoying it very much, but we sort of feel like just watching you tasting wines and scoring them isn’t really as satisfying as learning about the other aspects of wine. We think your viewers may enjoy episodes such as an in depth series on how to taste, how production affects the wine (Steel vs. oak aging, what malolactic fermentation does, old vines vs young vines…. etc..), flavour profiles of specific grapes and regions, climate effects on sugar and tannin levels, hot vs cool climate wines….. all those good things which have been touched on very lightly, but could use more.

For example, we partake in several tastings per year, and we always find that there’s a few people per tasting who can easily distiguish a St. Estephe from a Grave, but they never go into detail about how they know it. It feels like it’s a big secret! Revealing some of those “secrets” would be a great few episodes, I’m sure.

Just my two cents worth. In the end, we think you’re doing great, and who are we to criticize you?!

Take care.