Zinfandel

This is a red wine just made to accompany spicy food. It is commonly regarded as an indigenous grape variety of North America, although it is related to the Italian primitivo grape. The World Wine Encyclopedia states: ‘Whether or not this is the primitivo of southern Italy, the fact is that in California it makes singularly unique wine and is regarded as a native grape. The style can vary from light and elegant, as in the white or rosé wines, to massive and tannic in the red wines, but the grape’s intrinsic berry-like character always comes through.’