Sweet Zinfandel

The Californian grape Zinfandel has now been identified as being the same as the Italian Primitivo. However sweet and powerful the wines are, they are nominally "dry" or at least made in the style of dry red wines. This however is a sweet wine made from Zinfandel. I must confess that this is the only sweet Zinfandel I have come across so far, and even this wine was not encountered in Hong Kong. It must have been the November 2003 visit to Tokyo during which I spotted it in a wine shop in Shinjuku. I had spotted the shop a couple of times previously and had already bought some items back, including some very special Tequilas. This was just too precious a wine to pass over.

What of the wine? A nice ruby red, it was sweet and raisiny on the nose with some nice acidity balancing it. Sweetness and raisin notes dominate the palate, giving a sense of lusciousness normally found with botrytised wines. Acidity appeared late in the palate, and persisted right to the finish, though the sweetness and the luscious raisin notes still managed to get the upper hand, making the wine a bit cloying.