A new varietal is on the market to challenge the supremacy of White Zinfandel.
Check your local Trader Joe's this week for the arrival of Charles Shaw "Black Zinfandel". Called an experiment gone wrong by winemakers at Bronco, Black Zinfandel (or Black Zin) is set to shake California wine once again.
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"We tried hard to make a drink comparable to one of our best selling varietals, and although our first attempts failed miserably, we found a formula that resulted in accidental success."
Black Zin has got the public raving, some calling it "the wine we really needed back in 1975."
"I love White Zin but I'm afraid that after I try Black Zin, that I won't be able to go back to drinking White Zin ever again."
"I'm glad someone stepped forward and created a wine to be equal to White Zinfandel," said a liberal arts professor at UC Davis. "We cannot be equal as a society without a separate varietal for colored persons."
Wine critics were not impressed by the new varietal.
"It's purely a marketing stunt. There is no difference between White and Black Zin. They just added coloring to it to make it look dark. That isn't going to stop people from buying it though."
Industry experts predict other wineries will experiment with making this new varietal, but for now, they will be watching to see how well it does on the market.
