Winemaker focuses on zinfandel

Heather Munden started her career as a chef. Now, having switched careers, the head of artisanal winemaking at St. Francis winery is always thinking food when making wine.

"I don't want to have a wine that doesn't go with food," she said. "A wine needs to have elegance, substance and acids."

Since 2007, the woman who grew up in Marin County, Calif., wanting to be a lion tamer has been taming the style of St. Francis wines. The Sonoma winery has been known for its big reds - meals in a glass with dense flavors and sometimes high alcohol. These wines can overwhelm, rather the complement, a meal. Founded in the late 1970s, St. Francis championed merlot and, later, syrah. It still does well on those counts, but starting about 20 years ago, the winery embraced zinfandel and Ms. Munden makes several iterations on this quintessentially American grape.

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