BOREDOM reaches a head-splitting crescendo as January slithers into February. People with money and sense leave the country until all the daffodils are up. The rest of us need to invent small treats and diversions - to forage for new experiences as an anti-tedium device. On The Archers these days they're lashing into polenta to perk themselves up. The wine equivalent might be a bottle of Zinfandel.
Let me hasten to stress that I am talking about red Zinfandel, not the icky white stuff which is among the most unpalatable liquids ever devised for human pleasure. No, California's red Zinfandel is the very thing to try for a change one of these bone-chilling evenings. It's big and strong, warming to the constitution, great with food and quite unlike any other wine you can think of - Original Zin.
So unusual is Zinfandel in a world awash with Cabernet Sauvignon that DNA testing has recently been employed to find out more about a grape variety apparently unique to California since the 1830s. Fingerprinting has established that Zinfandel is the genetic twin of the Primitivo grape, grown in the south of Italy - but only since the turn of the century, which rather scotches the theory that Italian immigrants took it with them in their suitcases to the west coast. The latest news is that Zinlandel is also a twin of Plavac, grown in Dalmatia since the year dot, so maybe it was enterprising Yugoslavs who transplanted it to the United States.
One way or the other, Zinfandel was producing California's most highly prized red wine by the time of the gold rush. Then came the familiar spiral of success and excess: more was planted, and the more there was, the less it was appreciated. Eventually, rather, like Shiraz in Australia, Zinfandel was seen as a workhorse grape, fit only for bulk production. Ironically, it was the popular, bottom-of-the-market demand for white Zinfandel that saved hundreds of acres of valuable old vines from being grubbed up and destroyed.
Now, thanks once again to boredom with more familiar grapes, Zin is back in with a fighting chance. "Zinfandel, which I predicted in 1993 to be California's hottest wine, continues to be so," says America's top wine writer Robert Parker in the introduction to the 1996 edition of The Wine Buyer's Guide. "Prices per ton of Zinfandel have soared, so it is just a matter of time before that gorgeous 512 Zinfandel becomes significantly more expensive. Its easy-to-drink, in-your-face, berry, peppery, spicy personality is the style of red wine consumers love."
So there you have it in essence: a big, upfront red with buckets of personality. "Intense berry fruit and full, balanced tannins give Zinfandel an appeal to the senses often absent in more intellectual wines," says Paul Draper of Ridge Vineyards, maker of some of the most highly acclaimed Zinfindel in all of California.
As the message of Zinfandel's second coming seems to be crossing the Atlantic as slowly as a letter on a steamship, you still have to hunt a bit to find this extrovert on Irish shelves. For real quality, you also have to be prepared to pay the equivalent of 512 with extra added on for transport half way round the world, never mind our lamentable taxes. But then foreign fascinations always come at a price.
Which bottles to choose when you do unearth a few? This week I organised a small blind tasting of Zinfandels for a group of rent-a-palates including Marilyn Bright, a founder member of Ireland's Zinfandel Wine Club, and John Wilson of Searsons, whose list is still Zinfandel-free. The gentlemen present amused themselves thinking about different women as they sampled different bottles. Revenge is promised in the not too distant future. A female jury will be invited to describe a batch of wines in terms of male stereotypes a good old blast of women's glib. In the meantime, here are the conclusions:
Stratford Zinfandel NV (Redmonds/Farm Produce, Dublin; Fine Wines, Limerick; Half Moon Cork and some other outlets, £5.99-6.99)
The base line. Attractive purple-pink, with a pronounced, fruity aroma like the juice from summer pudding, but slightly bitter and somewhat synthetic in flavour. "Like alcoholic raspberry juice," somebody said, summing up the main characteristic: light fruitiness. The overall verdict: probably a one-night stand.
Fetzer Zinfandel 1993 (widely available, £7.50-8.50)
Deeper in colour, with enticing scents of red, plummy fruits and great dollops of vanilla. This one maintains its consistency as these come through on the palate also, with pronounced new oak producing a spicy, chewy quality and a noticeably dry finish. Definitely marriage material, they said.
Beringer Zinfandel 1992 (many independent off-licences, £9-9.50)
Suggestions of more heat, with baked fruit aromas mingling with hints of mint, herbs and spice... and a reminder of how fickle wine tasters can be. At a tasting for this column in November, the Beringer Zinfandel emerged in glory, universally adjudged a flavoursome treat. This time the response was more muted. Interesting without being hugely attractive was the consensus. "It doesn't give much away - like a good Catholic girl."
Frog's Leap Zinfandel 1993 (Findlaters and some independent off-licences, about £11.20)
Deeper purple-pink still, with a wonderfully inviting bouquet of raspberries and sweet cassis with undertones of herbs. Smooth and warm on the palate, With concentrated fruit and subtle oak very-well integrated and spiciness emerging in a long finish. Praised unequivocally by the panel, who guessed its price at £15-£20. A well brought up Protestant, they decided, with restraint and a lot of class.
Ridge California Zinfandel Lytton Springs 1992 (James Nicholson, £13.99 sterling)
Lovely aromas, intriguing enough to have noses sniffing into glasses for hours - red fruits, herbs, mint chocolate, a touch of caramel, the smokiness of oak, and all of these coming through in a mouthful of complex flavours with oak very much to the fore. A big blockbuster with a terrifically long finish. Parker's score of 94 per cent equals adoration. Very assertive, very impressive. Hillary Clinton.
Murrieta's Well Zinfandel 1991 (Terroirs, £14.99)
Dark and voluptuous, with intense and very distinctive aromas - not just the usual raspberries and blackberries but a more elusive muskiness. On the palate, a huge concentration of ripe fruit balanced with a whacking amount of oak and a thunking 16 per cent alcohol. Seductive was the verdict - a dark temptress in, designer clothes, made in a boutique winery from 80-year-old vines. But maybe a little over the top? "Very stylish," said one taster, "but a bit too much of everything coming at you - like Claudia Schiffer in her Wonderbra."