I heard from my old friend, Carole Meredith yesterday. It was Carole who pioneered DNA fingerprinting methods to determine the true origins and parentage and identities of grape varieties. She found that most California Petit Sirah is actually Durif, discovered that Syrah is of French origins, and – now – has uncovered the true identity of Zinfandel. She has been working on this vinous riddle for years, and with the help of some Croatian scientists have been getting closer to the truth. From her email of last night:
“My Croatian research colleagues have long suspected that the old Croatian grape variety Tribidrag was the same as Crljenak kastelanski, which is the modern Croatian name for Zinfandel. They have now confirmed this by purifying and analyzing DNA from an old herbarium specimen of Tribidrag and comparing it to Zinfandel. The DNA profiles are a perfect match. Tribidrag is documented to have been grown in Croatia for at least 500 years.”
So there you have it…Zinfandel is Tribidrag. No doubt you will sleep soundly tonight!
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