1959

Year of the first commercial vintage of pinotage in South Africa. Today, pinotage (a cross of pinot noir and cinsault, created in 1925) is the third most planted variety in that country and considered a local specialty. Well into the 2000s, many pinotages were rustic, over-ripe wines with significant levels of Brettanomyces. Today’s top examples, are fresher and higher in quality overall.

The first documented white zinfandel wine was created more than a century ago.

Answer: True.

In honor of National Rosé Day tomorrow, we thought we’d look at the history of rosé—including the pink wine known as white zinfandel. The first white zinfandel was made at El Pinal Winery in Lodi, California, by George West exactly 150 years ago in 1869. Arguably, however, the first winery to popularize white zinfandel was Sutter Home Winery in the 1970s. Sutter Home’s white zin was made by accident in 1972 when a fermentation stalled, and the grapes’ sugar was not completely converted to alcohol. Thus, the resulting pinkish-colored wine was slightly sweet. This "white zinfandel" was released to the market as cheap and easy to drink. During the 1980s and 1990s, white zin outsold regular red zinfandel wines 6-to-1 and was at one time, the third most popular wine in the U.S. by volume, according to Los Angeles Magazine.

Vin Gris

Vin gris is not the same as pinot gris, the name of a white grape variety. The French term vin gris (literally, “gray wine”) refers to any number of slightly pinkish-tinted white wines made from… Continue reading

1959

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