I Believe You Will Just Love This (Blossom Hill White Zinfandel)

Member Name: vinodgm

Product:	Blossom Hill White Zinfandel
Date:	22/07/02 (334 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fruity, Easy to drink, Relatively cheap

Disadvantages: None really expect that it says white but its actually rose in colour

It's not often that you find a wine that you think everyone may enjoy. Usually it's the case of someone liking or disliking a wine for some reason or another. It is extremely difficult to find one that you feel would be enjoyed by a majority of wine drinkers and possibly non-wine drinkers too.

Blossom Hill's White Zinfandel falls into this category and this is rather surprising since this "Zinfandel" variety appears to be unique to California in the U.S.A. Your mind would not have been forgiven for thinking more in the mould of more established wine producing countries like France, Italy etc.

The word Zinfandel is the name of the grape that the wine is derived from. It is referred to as the "mystery grape" because its European origins remain uncertain till today. What is known though is that wines bearing the label "Zinfandel" appeared as early as 1883 in California and hence it is knows as "California's grape".

What has made the Zinfandel wines so popular, especially in the United States, is there versatility. Once planted it bears fruit extremely well and ripens quickly and readily. Underripe grapes are used for rose wines, ripe for reds and overripe for port wines.

A recent addition to the Zinfandel family is the White Zinfandel and the subject of this opinion.

What strikes you first and foremost is the reference to the word "white". The wine clearly is a rose colour and you might be forgiven for thinking that there might have been a labelling or printing error here. However the White Zinfandel is made using red grapes but using the process used to make white wines. The trick is that they seperate the white juice from the dark grapes before the colour of the grape skins can seep into the juice. Naturally a slight hint of the red will get through and thus the White Zinfandel has the look of a Rose wine.

Many wineries in California produce Z
infandel wines and several of them now produce the White Zinfandel. One of the popular ones and one that is easily and cheapily available for us to enjoy is the Blossom Hill brand.

Blossom Hill produces various types of wines and has in recent times secured quite a strong foothold in the U.K. market. They might not produce the best White Zinfandel but differences in taste do not vary in an extreme measure especially asfar as the Zindandel labels are concerned.

As mentioned earlier the appearance (colour) is a pale red (rose) colour and is almost identical to the colour of your usual Rose wine like Rose D'Anjou.

The texture is of a slightly off-dry one and has a very fruity taste to it. It is much lighter when compared to other wines and is extremely easy to drink and is fondly referred to as as "picnic style" wine.

This is one wine that needs to be served very chilled otherwise you would spoil a lovely experience.

I have had this several times now and this is certainly one that I would be stocking up at home because it is an ideal drink to have with family and friends. A wonderful time to have it would be on warm summer Sunday afternoons. Mind you I could have this at any time of the week and the day coming to think of it.

One reason why this wine is probably so popular in the United States and fast becoming so in the U.K., is it easy drinking nature. It has a lovely taste that goes down very easily and just begs for you to have more. Before you know it you've probably consumed a lot more than you intended to and don't forget wine hangovers are one of the worst, with the Tequila hangover just edging it as the worst of all.

The downside of this is that you tend to go through the bottles a lot faster and if you are entertaining this might end up to be an expensive affair. Believe me I'm talking from experience.

Alcoholic content is at 9.5% and this is usual for a
Zindfandel. I have seen another brand at 10% though. They come in the standard 70cl wine shaped bottles with cork and go for just under four pounds at Asda and £4.47 at Tesco. I purchased mine from Tesco's and only found out about the Asda price later. Naturally the next time I purchase it will be from Asda.

The reason why I mentioned the bottles comes in the standard wine bottle shape and with a cork was because the last bottle I got as a gift was under a different brand called "Corbett Canyon" and it came in a lovely bottle that was squareish in shape at the bottom and then had a long vase like neck with a wide mouth. In absence of the cork was a vacuum sealed metal cap secured in a plastic shrinkwrap. This is also how another one of my favourite wine makers in Paul Mason, cap there wines bottles. These bottles make ideal vases for later.

Overall an excellent easy drinking, enjoyable wine and at an affordable price. If you haven't tried it yet you certainly are missing something really nice.

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