Wine: My favorite everyday zinfandel

[Mike Buckley]

Winery: Layer Cake
Year: 2011
Grape: Primitivo (also called Zinfandel, especially outside Italy)
Region: Puglia, Italy (the heel of Italy's boot)

As the title of the thread indicates, this wine is my favorite everyday zinfandel. It is consistently good every year. It costs only USD $13 and I would be happy to compare it to any zinfandel that costs up to USD $20. The other nice feature is that the bottle's closure is a screw cap.

DNA testing relatively recently proved that primitivo and zinfandel grapes are clones of crljenak, a Croatian grape. (A few very old vines of crljenak were discovered when Mike Grgich of California's Grgich Hills Estate and Croatia's Grgić Vina convinced the people at the University of California Davis to test his theory that zinfandel and the Croatian plavac mali are the same grape.) Primitivo and zinfandel grapes are genetically so similar that many countries allow their names to be used on wine labels synonymously. The U.S. doesn't allow that, but a formal proposal not yet acted on was made in 2002 to remove that restriction.

Ironically, I have never tried this wine with any chocolate, much less chocolate cake. That is about to change with tonight's dessert.

EDIT: Considering that the cake displayed on the wine label is a monochrome image, I decided to convert my photo to black-and-white. I prefer the monochrome version at least for now, but I haven't lived with the two images long enough to know for sure.

[Digital]

Very nice capture Mike.



Bruce

[TonyW]

Mouth watering! We shouldn't express our preference until you have decided.

[FootLoose]

I prefer the mono, Mike, because the bottle (and label) are more prominent in that one.

[Brownbear]

Beautiful image!

I prefer the monochrome and likely because the chocolate cake fits in better (matches the wine bottle). If you had a darker chocolate cake (real dark Belgium chocolate, over the top decadent) I might prefer the colour.

Right now I just wish I had a piece of chocolate cake!

[Shadowman]

Nice grouping.

[terrib]

It would be interesting to know how many are distracted by the cake and of those how many are women. I do like my wine, but my eyes keep going to the cake! For that reason, perhaps the monochrome is a better choice.

Love the composition in this one, Mike. I wouldn't change a thing.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you, all!

We shouldn't express our preference until you have decided.

Of course you should!

Having said that, even though I made these two images today, I really can't imagine preferring the color version over the monochrome version. Everything about it just fits so well. Additionally, any time Christina prefers a monochrome version, which is exceptionally rare, that is surely the way to go.

[Mike Buckley]

It would be interesting to know how many are distracted by the cake and of those how many are women.

I didn't realize that you are so sexist.

my eyes keep going to the cake! For that reason, perhaps the monochrome is a better choice.

Do your eyes go to the cake even in the monochrome version?

Speaking of going to the cake, that's exactly what my wife and I are going to do as soon as I click the Save button when posting this message.

[ShaneS]

I'm for the monochrome version too and I will take any leftovers of either I think that your thinking is right that the color in the cake makes the monochrome label look a bit out of place in the image.

Enjoy your desert...

[Loose Canon]

Seriously Mike?

Chocolate and alcohol? Dang! What else is there?

Color version for me!

[Mike Buckley]

The wine went fine with the chocolate cake but the wine was a lot better than the cake.

Note to Terri: My wife's eyes immediately gravitated to the cake in the color version. You win regarding your comment about women.

Seriously Mike? Chocolate and alcohol? Dang! What else is there?

Years ago I read an article explaining that wine and chocolate don't go together. I couldn't believe it. A couple months later I read about an annual chocolate and wine festival held throughout Oregon. The best possible wine and chocolate pairing I've learned about is Amarone (a very rich style of wine made only in northern Italy, though not a dessert wine) and chocolate lava cake topped with raspberry sauce. Delectable!

[Mike Buckley]

Note to all: If Donald, of all people, agrees with Terry that the color version is best, I give up. If that happens, I suggest that all of us give up, throw our camera equipment in the trash can, and pick a different hobby.

[pnodrog]

The colour version is the one I prefer but you are cheating a bit with the monochrome version in that the contrast has increased slightly giving it a tiny tiny bit more punch.

[Mike Buckley]

Enjoy your desert...

You apparently can't get the Arizona desert out of your mind. I enjoyed the dessert, not the desert.

[pnodrog]

You apparently can't the Arizona desert out of your mind. I enjoyed the dessert, not the desert.

I am sure Shane assumed with a bit of cake and a bottle of wine you would disappear into the desert so you do not need to share it.

[Mike Buckley]

you are cheating a bit with the monochrome version in that the contrast has increased slightly giving it a tiny tiny bit more punch.

Thank you for the compliment, but you would probably be amazed at how similar the histograms of the two images are. You are right that there is a little bit larger area of the wine label with brighter whites in the monochrome version than in the color version. If only I had made that happen by cheating.

[ShaneS]

You apparently can't get the Arizona desert out of your mind. I enjoyed the dessert, not the desert.

LOL, I've been slowly working through my desert images this weekend so I guess I have to admit that I am guilty as charged!!! But, I am tempted to go with L.Paul's theory....

[Ronny]

I noticed most favors the mono. Not me.
The wine in the glass shows also a red color at the top, while the bottle is black. That is why I also prefer to see the cake in color. Beside that I am half French (mother is a Chevalier) and I am a french Merlot drinker. American chocolate cakes are often too sweet and that kills the wine. But a good and more bitter (European) chocolate cake goes very well with my Bordeaux Merlot. I do not know the taste of your wine.

[Donald]

I think the colour version is better.

Note to all: If Donald, of all people, agrees with Terry that the color version is best, I give up. If that happens, I suggest that all of us give up, throw our camera equipment in the trash can, and pick a different hobby.

Only kidding!

I love the clarity you've got on then label. I also think the glass looks better in the background in the B & W.

What put me off the Californian Zins was when they really went for the big, in-your-face blockbusters. When you started getting up to 15% + alcohol, I didn't think threre was any balance in them. I believe that sense has prevailed and the Califronian Zin producers are reigning back a bit. Although climate change is, of course, forcing up all alcohol levels.