Originally published on November 19, 2009.
So you say you don’t like Zinfandel? Too big. Too rich. Too much alcohol. Too much fruit and spice and everything nice. You think even the venerable Ridge wines are a bit too much for your taste.
But yet…
You know Zinfandel is the quintessential American grape. And you can’t help yourself from serving it on this most quintessential of American holidays. (A good cliché never hurt anyone.) But it kills you to have something on your table that you don’t want to drink.
What to do? What to do?
Easy. Find yourself some Dashe l’Enfant Terrible. Michael Dashe, who spent some time making those venerable Ridge wines, makes this Zinfandel using natural winemaking techniques. Indigenous yeast, no fining, no filtering. No overripe fruit. No slathering of new oak. The result is really “essence of Zinfandel” with the fruit and the spice, but none of the weight. It’s a lovely pale ruby red that doesn’t exactly scream “ZINFANDEL.” Most shocking? Alcohol is 13.8%. For a Zin, that’s practically non-alcoholic!
Dashe L’Enfant Terrible McFadden Farms Zinfandel 2008 (Potter Valley, California): $25.99