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Zinfandel, Evan and Joyce Goldstein, and the ZAP Fest

» posted by Rich on 2011-02-01 13:31:40

ZAP Festival recap - The Goldsteins & Zinfandel

I had a great time at the Zinfandel Associates & Producers Festival (ZAP) this past week in San Francisco. I got to see one of my favorite wine people, and a Master Sommelier at that, Evan Goldstein and his mother, the legendary chef and author, Joyce Goldstein. They were there put on a cooking demo with wine pairing that was out of this world. Joyce prepared a Moroccan dish from her Tagine Deck of recipe cards, (see link below). The spicy meatball and Couscous dish was a perfect match with a mouthy Zinfandel.

I asked Evan and Joyce about Jon Bonne's recent rant in the SF Chronicle about Zinfandel, how its rep as the working man's wine is getting a bit tarnished by the $40-$50 price tags on some bottles. Bonne argues that raising a sleazy grape with a questionable past to worship status via festivals like ZAP distorts it's standing in the wine world. In other words, it's just Zin, people... Nobody takes it seriously, right? In my conversation with Even, he seemed to suggest that Bonne's argument may be valid to a point; yes, if you're looking for delicate nuances, Zin is not your wine... but that in the end "everybody loves Zinfandel". Should a 7fifty of Zin cost more than $20? Probably not.