I think you are right about this Tom. The grape growers at that time were farmers who in most cases had been working the land for many years, if not generations, and had small if no mortgages on the land. They were happy to get a good growing season and a large crop and take the product of their work to Gallo (Hearty Burgundy!) or Sebastiani or Italian Swiss Colony. Replanting would be a huge cost and these farmers would loath to spend money to replant a vineyard and miss income for 3-4 years when they knew that by caring for what they had in the ground would almost insure income every fall.
While this does not speak to the origins of “White Zinfandel” this thread prompted me to go back to my introduction to it. From the label of my first…
“Ridge California White Zinfandel 1982
82 White Zinfandel, Second Bottling, March 1983
In this cool vintage virtually all of our Zinfandel vineyards gave us larger berries and heavier yields than usual. To ensure the intensity of flavor and individual character of our red Zinfandels we drew off white, clear juice before fermentation and made this lovely wine. It is in a dry style with ? wood, fruit, firm acidity and moderate oak. PD (1/83)”
Purchased for $5.99 in June of '83, drank it in July of '83. Tasting notes: “Salmon pink, moderate varietal fruit on the nose. Not completely dry but good acid (almost tart) and balance with traces of oak. Varietal flavors come through in the mouth. Body much fuller than expected. Could use another year in the bottle. Anyone would like this. 14/20.”
Never saw it again…WineBerserkers - Wine discussion forum and online community
Tim
Yeah, I know. And I’ll ask my friend up in Paso to get me some Turley as you say it is worth trying. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}