White Zinfandel Cringe#*&@!

[kguetzow]

Does anyone have any suggestions for amending this into something more palatable?

Some sort of sangria like thing? (cringes again)

ALL SARCASTIC REPLIES WELCOME

Kurt

Edited September 14, 2005 by kguetzow (log)

[GordonCooks]

Drink something else

[Rebel Rose]

Before you are deluged with responses like "drink water instead," why do you ask? Does your spouse insist on drinking it? Can't have your own vino? A host serves it and you feel obliged to at least accept a half-glass?

[kguetzow]

Before you are deluged with responses like "drink water instead," why do you ask?  Does your spouse insist on drinking it?  Can't have your own vino?  A host serves it and you feel obliged to at least accept a half-glass?

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Nope, just being a cheap bastard, and wondering if it could be made into something else before I dump it.

To be clear I have no intention on drinking it and don't know anyone who would.

I thought someone might have devised a reincarnation for it.

[winesonoma]

Try making a Kir out of it.

[Rebel Rose]

Fruit salad dressing.

With late summer stonefruits, chopped, mix the wine with a little mirin, rice vinegar, and fresh grated ginger, gently toss, eat and slurp.

[Tess]

Try making a Kir out of it.

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Yes, or a spritzer. Twist of lemon if you think it's too sweet. Or, something along the lines of sangria.

[Vinfidel]

Little doggies like white zin

[cdh]

Get some vinegar mother. Drop it into white zin. Wait a month. Voila! Pink vinegar.

Completely hides white zin's overripe rotting fruit notes.

And it's pretty.

Edited September 15, 2005 by cdh (log)

[JohnL]

This brought back memories.

One of my early wine drinking experiences was a white Zin from "Baldinelli"

it was on the list and by the glass at a very fine restaurant in Manhattan --Roxanne.

The restaurant is long gone (Gascogne is in its location).

I have never seen the Baldinelli anywhere since.

I recall the wine as quite nice-dry for a white Zin much like a good Rose'

what really is the difference between a Rose' and white Zin?

There must be some examples of good white Zin out there.

Edited September 15, 2005 by JohnL (log)

[Brad Ballinger]

Does anyone have any suggestions for amending this into something more palatable?

Some sort of sangria like thing? (cringes again)

ALL SARCASTIC REPLIES  WELCOME

Kurt

←

Are you asking because you have a surplus you somehow need to not waste? If so, I'd cook with it, make vinegar with it, give it to your mother, etc. If the question is more general, I'd give it bubbles. Look at Bugey Cerdon wines. If they were any cheaper, you'd see the teens getting juiced on them all the time.

[Daniel Rogov]

It's fun to knock white Zin but let's be realistic about two things - (a) I'd much rather see people drinking white Zin with their meals than diet Sprite and (b) let's keep in mind that many of us now drinking fine Bordeaux reds, Burgundy whites, Super Tuscans, Sicilian reds and whites, Sauternes and Champagne started on Blue Nun, Liebfraumilch and Gallo jug wines.

[cdh]

Well, neither cheap German export product or Ernest & Julio's finest ever exuded the odor of decay that badly made white zins do...

When your grapes get old and moldy, you make them into vinegar, not over-sweetened pink wine!

That's why the "noble rot" gets its promotion to nobility.... other rots just make vinegar.

Edited September 17, 2005 by cdh (log)

[Daniel Rogov]

I never before thought I would become a defender of White Zinfandel but several comments seem most definitely in order:

Well, neither cheap German export product or Ernest & Julio's finest ever exuded the odor of decay that badly made white zins do... 

You must be drinking the wrong White Zin. As much as these can be semi-dry to semi-sweet at their best they are, if the truth be told, no more offensive than some of the Rose d'Anjou that are available. If you've been finding the odor of decay in your White Zin you should try those of Beringer. No-one will ever claim these to be great or even excellent wines but by heaven they are no less objectionable than many of the off-dry roses from the Rhone and Loire Valleys.

When your grapes get old and moldy, you make them into vinegar, not over-sweetened pink wine!

A bit of research will clearly indicate that the Zinfandel grapes used in making most white Zin are neither old nor moldy, simply not up to the standards that are required for making acceptable red Zin. Well...unless someone has been buying the cheapest crap made.....but then again, that would be true of the red Cabernet or Merlot as well...

That's why the "noble rot" gets its promotion to nobility.... other rots just make vinegar.

I think you will have a heckuva hard time finding any producer who claims that noble rot (Botrytis Cinerea) plays any role in the production of white Zinfandel. And let us do, please keep in mind that Botrytis is indeed responsible for many of the truly great sweet wines of Sauternes, Barsac, Tokaji and other regions.

Forgive me, but aren't we sounding just a bit like wine snobs in our blanket rejection of White Zin and those many people who enjoy such wines? Perhaps not for you and perhaps not for me, but who in the world are we to tell others that their enjoyment of a wine is less significant than our own?

Edited September 17, 2005 by Daniel Rogov (log)

[cdh]

OK Rogov, I admit I have a bad attitude towards White Zins.

That said, I'll admit I've had inoffensive to nearly tasty white zins. They do exist. I want to like white zins because I like pink wines generally... that's why I keep tasting the white zins that cross my path in hopes of finding something really good.

I've also had some awful ones, that do indeed have the overripe rotting fruit notes I've mentioned. I stand by that observation. Bad white zins are not bad because they're pink, or because they're sweet, but because they're BAD.

Edited September 17, 2005 by cdh (log)