10 Zinfandels and Blends to Drink Right Now

Few grapes have traveled so jagged an up-and-down journey as zinfandel. It has oscillated wildly in both style and popularity.

Twenty years ago, at the height of California’s embrace of powerfully fruity, potently alcoholic red wines, zinfandels reached a peak of esteem as the dominant critics of the time pushed wines that rose to head-splitting levels of 16 and 17 percent alcohol.

The grape, which had a brash, democratically American image compared with the noble European heritage of chardonnay or cabernet sauvignon, gained a rabid following fueled by cult producers like Turley Cellars and Outpost.

Nowadays, many producers have pulled back on the ripeness throttle, making wines aimed at some degree of finesse rather than steroidal brawn. As with most types of California wine, the selection today is far more diverse, with wines of every style available. Perhaps as a consequence, the demand for zinfandel seems to have fallen.

California still grows plenty of it. Zinfandel remains the third-most-planted red wine grape, as it was 20 years ago, though pinot noir has displaced merlot as No. 2 after cabernet sauvignon. But esteem and demand appear to have dropped. Tribeca Grill, one of New York’s longest-running wine destinations, has just six bottles of red zinfandel on its list, down from more than 80 in 2002.

I never had much use for the blockbuster zins, finding them simply too intense and alcoholic. But I have always loved the more restrained versions, and have been curious about the current state of the wines.

Recently, I went shopping for zinfandels and zinfandel blends in New York shops. I found 10 bottles that I particularly liked and recommend. Some are from longtime zinfandel advocates like Ridge Vineyards and Bedrock, a fresher label that comes from a lineage of zinfandel specialists. Others are from newer producers who are trying their hands with the grape or with historic zinfandel vineyards.

Sadly, I was unable to find some zinfandels that I like. But I highly recommend zins from Broc Cellars, of the newer wave, and from more established producers, A. Rafanelli, Brown Estate and Carlisle. And if you find wines from Turley, Outpost or Robert Biale, producers who are still highly popular, check them out and see what you think.

Unlike pinot noir, say, which is traditionally a 100 percent varietal wine, zinfandel is often part of a blend. Historically, zinfandel was a key component of field blends.

Wise growers, before the modern industrial practice of adding bags of acid or tannins in the cellar to compensate for missing components in a wine, hedged their bets by growing different sorts of grapes together, some deeper in color, some more acidic and others more tannic or fruity. Fermented together as a field blend, they would produce a complete wine.

One of my favorite things about zinfandel is that growers in California have preserved many of these heritage vineyards, some 150 years old, and make wonderful wines from them. You can still taste these old field blends as the original growers intended, although some producers now ferment different varieties separately and then put them together.

Here are the 10 zinfandels I recommend, from least to most expensive.