Zinfandels to drink with whatever meat you grill

If you like to refer to zinfandel as the American wine, as you rightly could, now might be a good time to start tasting through some bottles to find a few of your favorites in time for that quintessentially American holiday, the Fourth of July. Plenty of tasting time ahead. Plenty of retasting time ahead too. You’ll want to make sure that your preferences are dialed in when you pull out this red in honor of the red, white and blue.

Sure, zinfandel can be a big bruiser of a wine, and maybe you don’t automatically think of that kind of wine when it comes to warm-weather drinking, but hey — you do it for America, am I right? The grape variety we call zinfandel was not born here, but through the generations, it has become as American as jelly doughnuts (aka Berliners) and hot dogs (aka frankfurters). I wouldn’t drink zinfandel with either of those fully assimilated foods, but I would drink it with hamburgers (and any Hamburgers who happen to be in town) or just about any meat from the grill, braised meats, roasted duck, pizza or meaty pasta dishes.

I would also drink it with great attention to pacing, as many zinfandels can approach or even exceed 15 percent alcohol. This is a potent red wine, dry and usually full of ripe fruit and spicy black pepper. Notes of plum can be joined by blackberry, cherry, raspberry, anise, raisins, clove and chocolate, plus a whiff of toast, smoke or vanilla from oak aging. Medium- to full-bodied, zinfandel is not a wimpy wine in any way.

Believed to have originated in Croatia, where it is known as both crljenak kastelanski and tribidrag, zinfandel came to the United States in the 19th century and is now one of California’s most widely planted red grape varieties.

CHRIS WALKER/CHICAGO TRIBUNE Zinfandels to consider for summer grilling: Michael David Earthquake, from left, Ridge Vineyards Lytton Springs and Dashe Cellars. Zinfandel is one of California’s most widely planted red grape varieties.