cover image Angels' Visits: An Inquiry Into the Mystery of Zinfandel

Angels' Visits: An Inquiry Into the Mystery of Zinfandel

David Darlington. Henry Holt & Company, $19.95 (278pp) ISBN 978-0-8050-1608-6

``The roundness and depth of Zinfandel--it's sheer joy,'' comments Darlington ( In Condor Country ) on his favorite potent potable, but it would seem that the solution to the ``mystery'' of the wine's character and origins is angelically elusive in this delightful book. The author leaves no grape leaf unturned in his search: he tours wineries, cellars and vineyards, attends tastings and harvestings, interviews experts--and does it all with such insouciance that we`re drawn in by his fascination. Zinfandel, a ``racy, spicy'' variety most at home in the sun-drenched soil of Sonoma and Napa, Calif., has enjoyed a career rather like an old-time screen idol. After overcoming inauspicious beginnings it has won undreamed-of popularity, most recently in the palates of baby boomers. Combining the enologist ' s ``magnificent obsession'' in making wine with the connoisseur's prodigious joy in drinking it, Darlington has produced a book as satisfying as a well-balanced vignoble.i.e., a high-quality wine/mm (Mar.)