Although the red grape variety originates from Croatia, it is mainly grown in California under the name Zinfandel and only in small quantities in Europe. The German pronunciation is "Zin-fan-del", in American the "a" is swallowed and the name is pronounced as "Zinfn-dell" or "Zin" for short.

Ancestry

The parentage of this presumably very old variety is unknown. According to DNA analyses carried out by US grapevine geneticists Dr Carole Meredith and John Bowers at the University of California (Davis) in close collaboration with Croatian and Italian grapevine specialists from 1994 to 2011, the identity, which had been unclear for many decades, was clarified. Three varieties grown in Europe and one in the USA have the same origin. The variety is therefore also referred to as ZPC = Zinfandel / Primitivo / Crljenak Kaštelanski.

• Tribidrag (also Crljenak Kaštelanski) from Croatia
• Primitivo from Italy
• Zinfandel from California
• Kratošija from Montenegro

Grape variety name

Although Primitivo and Tribidrag/Zinfandel are not 100% identical according to DNA analyses, they are considered to be one grape variety. According to the ampelographic rule, a variety is labelled according to the oldest name used, which is why the name Tribidrag, already mentioned in the 15th century, was suggested in the grape variety bible Wine Grapes (publisher Jancis Robinson). See the history of the...