There is undoubtedly no organization that has done more for a single varietal category than Zinfandel Advocates & Producers, a.k.a. ZAP. When ZAP started back in the early 1990s, Zinfandel was on the ropes. Many of the bigger, higher profile brands were dropping the varietal from their line-ups. Cabernet Sauvignon had become California’s most important varietal red. The popularity of Merlot was growing rapidly, and Pinot noir was being aggressively planted in the cooler climate pockets of the state where it belonged. This was despite the fact that, for over 100 years, Zinfandel was the tried-and-true grape, adapting far more easily to California’s Mediterranean climate than any other variety of Vitis vinifera (i.e., cultivars belonging to the European family of wine grapes) aside from Carignan. At the time, the future of Zinfandel was in serious jeopardy…