American Gothic Zinfandel

 American Gothic Zinfandel, Waitrose

It wasn't obvious how I should attempt to upgrade my 'lifestyle'. I can buy or lay my hands on any book or record that I don't have already. I'm well provided for with the local concerts. There isn't much to want but wanting things and satisfying those wants is one of the main ways we selfishly live for ourselves. But it did dawn on me I could upgrade the wine from whatever Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon was on offer in Tesco Express or One Stop, went in search of Zinfandel and found myself opening a Waitrose account to take advantage of their offer.

It was Fetzer's Zinfandel that came as such a revelation some twenty-five years ago, not least in its spicy tang. There was indeed more to wine than finding it tasted of every other fruit apart from grapes.

You get some Art History with American Gothic, its label featuring the iconic painting by Grant Wood and an explanation that,

their serious long features echo the long lines of the pitchfork held between them

and it all,

suggests that the dark ages have been dragged into the new.

Quite how that is relevant to the wine, I don't know. Maybe it's just 'marketing', aiming it at the sort of people who like to think they are art appreciators. And maybe I fell for it. Zinfandel is Californian but maybe David Hockney's swimming pools and sunshine are too summery, light-drenched and better suited to white wine than this deep, robust red. Those American Gothic figures are Mid-West, suspicious and not very liberal-looking. They are god-fearing and observant of the laws of an unforgiving discipline, we are likely to think and the pitchfork might have subsidiary uses, if need be, beyond those of tossing hay.   

It's the plums you get first. It doesn't do much 'on the nose'. I'm not overly concerned about that, preferring it to do what it does in the mouth but I gave it every chance by 'letting it breathe' first. But proper, quality wine is redolent of something before you taste it. I'm not sure this is.

There is some crisp tingle to it that might accumulate to something quite warm after a while but it's not as 'big' as I remember Fetzer used to be. Lodi isn't far from the Napa Valley but that might be a difference. Not bad value at the 25% off Waitrose were doing it at and their friendly delivery man was a credit to them.

I'm sure by the end of the bottle it will be doing its best work. Some wines stay the distance better than others and offer more than first impressions but, at 14%, it would be best if it didn't require a second bottle to make its case. One would be convinced by anything after that.

There are a few more bottles of it yet and it certainly won't go to waste but I'm guessing this isn't something so complex that I need a case of it to 'understand', I don't think I'm going to completely convinced by it but with the discount making it only a pound or so more than the routine Chilean value, it's no hardship. One more or less gets what one pays for.

Next time I might type in 'Pauillac' and see how much that gilds the lily and adds to the ostensible quality of life. But it's not obvious that by such dubious strategies that which is what it is because it has necessarily become that way can quite so easily be improved upon.

To coin a phrase.