Allow me to transport you back in time - about fifteen years or so should do it. That is the era in which White Zinfandel became big business, and it corresponds with a time when "red" Zinfandel had fallen from favor. In fact, White Zinfandel became such a popular item that people would visit wineries and ask where the White Zinfandel grapes were growing. It was as if the name White Zinfandel had created its own grape rather than being a white or light pink wine made from the light pressings of the red grape, Zinfandel. About that time, a small band of Zinfandel aficionados, holdovers from the seventies if you will, decided that enough was enough and it was time to restore Zinfandel to its status as a valued red grape. This hearty band took as its silent motto, "The first obligation of wine is to be red". None of that pink stuff that masqueraded as "white" for them. To their palates, the use of Zinfandel to make white or pink wines was the highest form of misuse. Meetings were held, seminars were run, great minds got together and a movement was founded. Eventually, that movement took on the name of Zinfandel Advocates and Producers. Today, "ZAP" is one of the largest consumer-based wine advocacy groups in existence, and its promotional activities run year-round and all over the country. An amazing two-hundred fifty wineries belong to ZAP, and they welcome members at special winery events as well as pouring the wines at events from one end of the land to the other. ZAP's most significant production is its annual tasting that takes place in San Francisco on the last week of January. Thousands of Zinfandel fanciers (estimated this year to reach up to eight thousand) come from all over the country to sample the new releases and barrel samples of the member wineries. They gather in the giant meeting halls (converted wharves) at Fort Mason on San Francisco's northern waterfront, and there, with the Bay, Alcatraz, Marin County and the Golden Gate Bridge sparkling in front of them, they taste their ways through as many of the hundreds and hundreds of wines that they can get to in one afternoon of unrivalled opportunity. I know of no wine-tasting event anywhere at which so many people sample so many wines. The hall is just abuzz with commentary and analysis. New wineries' wares get sampled next to such stalwarts as Ridge and Ravenswood and Rosenblum, the veritable three "R's" of Zinfandel. Limited production producers like Brown and D-Cubed and Tria get their chance to challenge the big names, and often, they are the "hits" of the tasting. For most of us, it is the first look we will get at the '99s from our favorite producers. When the tasting finally ends and people file out, the debates begin in earnest. Whose wine did you like? What is going on with the '99 of this producer or that? Where should we go to dinner?? Not only is the ZAP tasting a full day of Zinfandel, but also an opportunity to gather up a group of friends and run off to one of San Francisco's great restaurants so that the comparisons of tasting notes can continue. The only complaint that anyone could have with this full day of Zinfandel is that it ends, and that there is nothing like it on the vinous calendar for the rest of the year. For more information about ZAP, have a look at its website, www.zinfandel.org, or write to ZAP, P.O. Box 1487, Rough & Ready, CA 95975. TASTING NOTES Most wineries at the ZAP tasting pour their unreleased '99s, and that will be my first encounter with most of them. The tasting notes presented below are of finished wines now on the market. Very few of the top producers have released their '99s and many of the wines below are the entry level wines of the producers. In many cases, their fancy blends will follow over the next year.
$ 1999 Cline Cellars, California, $10. Cline's '98 California Zin was perhaps the wine bargain of the year. This one is not quite in that league but it still rates as a good buy for its straightforward berryish fruit. At the ZAP event, you should visit the Cline table to sample their vineyard-designated Zins, especially the Fulton Road, Live Oak and Big Break bottlings that have shown well in past vintages.
$ 1999 Joel Gott, California, $14. I find this wine a bit too ripe and brawny to be released so young, but I have friends in the wine-writing business who just love that character and have bought it for their house Zin. Go for this one if the bold, muscular style of young Zin is for you.
$
"Tasting Notes" is based on tastings conducted by Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine, a monthly newsletter devoted to the critical review of California and West Coast wines. For more information send us E-mail at CGCW@aol.com or visit our Website at http://www.cgcw.com. Definition of Symbols
No Rating: The best are quite pleasant and can be good buys when moderately priced.
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1999 Blockheadia Ringnosii, California, $16. It is hard not to be charmed by the fanciful name and the artsy label of this wine, and fortunately, the contents of the bottle measure up. This one (the winery also offers a Napa Valley bottling to be available by the time of the ZAP tasting) is a very ripe, fairly rich, relatively full-bodied and direct offering of good weight and depth even if missing a bit of the polish one would expect of pricier bottlings.
A world-class wine, superb by any measure, the top 1% to 2% of all wines tasted. 
An exceptional wine, well worth the effort to find, 10% to 12% of wines tasted.