Lodi grower Phil Abba and McCay Cellars winemaker/owner Mike McCay in Abba Vineyard

Some things just creep up on you – like the unsuspected appeal of red wines made from the black skinned Grenache grape. Especially those grown in Lodi.

Earlier in the month we endeavored to take a measure of varietal bottlings of Lodi grown Grenache; gathering 15 of the finest examples grown and produced in California for a “blind” tasting. Meaning, the bottles were poured from paper sacks, their identities unknown to the tasters, which included three of Lodi’s most respected vintners: Markus Bokisch of Bokisch Vineyards, Chad Joseph of Harney Lane Winery and Oak Farm Vineyards (plus three more Lodi based wineries), and Michael McCay of McCay Cellars.

Bokisch Vineyards owner/grower Markus Bokisch

In among the wines were the 2012 Bokisch Terra Alta Vineyard Clements Hills-Lodi Garnacha (Bokisch grows a clonal variant of the Grenache grape from Spain) and the 2012 McCay Cellars Lodi Grenache; which we compared to Grenache reds grown in Sonoma Valley, Mendocino, Paso Robles, Santa Clara, Santa Barbara, Amador County and El Dorado. The results were surprising.

But before we get into that, a little background: Although, in California, Grenache does not produce varietal reds that are nearly as popular as, say, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Pinot Noir, the grape itself is one of the most widely planted in the world.

Prodigious quantities of Grenache, for instance, are planted in every nook and cranny of Southern France – some 250,000 acres of it – where it is the dominant grape in both red wines (usually blended with Syrah, Mourvèdre and Carignan) and a vast ocean of rosés produced each year. Grenache is almost as popular in Spain, where the grape probably originated, going into both everyday and prestige reds such as Priorat, and also a sea of pink rosado (often blended with Tempranillo).

The Grenache grape found something of a heyday in California during the 1960s and 1970s, when it was employed by wineries such as Almadén Vineyards to make soft, fruity rosés, sold primarily by the “jug.” Planted acres of Grenache began to decline once consumers moved on to 750-ml. bottles of varietals such as Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and White Zinfandel.

Acreage of California Grenache bottomed out about 10 years ago, but recently it’s made a mild comeback. As of 2013, total acreage stands at 6,137 (according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service), with smidgens of new plantings in places like Monterey and Paso Robles. This puts it slightly ahead of Barbera; but still far less than grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon (over 86,000 acres), Merlot (over 45,000 acres), Zinfandel (48,000+), Pinot Noir (41,000+) and Syrah (19,000+).

During the 1980s and 1990s – when the “Rhône Ranger” movement began to gain traction – California grown Grenache was used primarily in its traditional role as a red wine blender with Syrah and Mourvèdre – what the Australians began calling “GSM.”

But lately a few specialty wineries have taken to producing Grenache as a pure (100%) or nearly pure (over 90% or 95%) varietal red; choosing to highlight the grape’s naturally gentle, fragrant quality, and its subtle complexity of red berryish fruit (often suggesting cherry, strawberry or raspberry) tinged with spice (black pepper or brown kitchen spices).

Garnacha clusters during veraison in Bokisch Ranches

This recent transition, of course, has been made possible only by a subtle change in consumer tastes for lighter, subtler wines. They are still a minority, but for many of today’s wine aficionados, a wine need no longer be “big” or “powerful” to be impressive. For Grenache, it is a matter of no longer needing the aromatic intensity of Syrah or tannin structure of Mourvèdre to be considered “complete.” It’s a mental thing, as much a shift in taste: the more you appreciate delicacy as a quality, the more you appreciate varietal Grenache!

McCay Cellars’ Michael McCay has been fond of describing Grenache as “Lodi’s Pinot Noir.” McCay is alluding to the Lodi AVA’s Mediterranean climate – which is the natural environment for Grenache (but not so much for Pinot Noir, which reaches a height in colder climate regions) – as well as to the finely perfumed, mildly spiced, Pinot Noir-like qualities of the varietal.

Last year, as it were, the San Francisco Chronicle headlined a story on Grenache’s recent “star turn,” describing the varietal as “the perfect Mediterranean grape” while proclaiming, “Now is the moment to embrace one of California wine's great successes.” 20 years ago, there was no way anyone would use words like “star” or “great” in the same sentence as Grenache. Utilizing Star Wars lingo, we sense a “strong disturbance in the Force” – or rather, those with say in the wine world.

So what did our Lodi winemakers sense in their blind tasting of California’s top Grenaches?

First, none of our Lodi winemakers recognized their own wines in this blind tasting. This means they were not predisposed towards Lodi grown wines while evaluating and, in the end, picking out their favorite Grenaches in this tasting.

Not only were our expert winemakers unable to identify the Lodi Grenaches among the others, following the discussion and final evaluation of the wines, they were shocked to discover that the Grenache everyone lauded as being the most distinctive, the spiciest, the most richly aromatic as well as the most structured wine in tannin and acidity was, in fact, grown in Lodi – the 2012 McCay Cellars Lodi Grenache.

Lodi’s 2012 Bokisch Terra Alta Vineyard Garnacha was also praised for its bright, floral, strawberry-like perfume and soft, zesty feel on the palate. Chad Joseph and Mr. McCay felt that the Bokisch Garnacha exhibited fruit-forward, easy-going qualities associated with warm climate regions; but no more so than the Grenaches in this tasting coming from the Sierra Foothills, Mendocino, Santa Clara or Santa Barbara.   

Garnacha Rioja Baja grapes in Bokisch's Terra Alta Vineyard

Our tasting notes on the Bokisch and McCay Grenache bottlings;

2012 Bokisch Vineyards, Terra Alta Vineyard Clements Hills-Lodi Garnacha ($23) – Notably refined, zesty, yet soft, rounded strawberryish qualities – described as “bright” and “lifted” by Chad Joseph – augmented by interesting leafy-green complexities; these gentle yet exuberant sensations stretching gracefully across the palate.  

2012 McCay Cellars, Lodi Grenache ($28) – From trellised vines in Phil Abba’s meticulously farmed Abba Vineyard, located on the east side of Lodi’s Mokelumne River AVA; notably the most pungent, perfumed, sweet black peppercorn spiced (veering towards Pinot Noir-like peppermint) Grenache in the tasting, with Old Worldish whiffs of earthy loaminess; soft, round, fairly fleshy, with a mouth-watering zip. Mr. Bokisch described its nose as “Santa Rosa plum and strawberry,” while Mr. Joseph noted its “mineral texture” and “strawberry jam.” The other five wines rated among the "top 3" by our winemaker/tasters:

• 2013 A Tribute to Grace, Santa Barbara Highlands Vineyard Grenache (about $50)
• 2012 Baiocchi Wines, Sharon’s Vineyard Fair Play (El Dorado) Grenache ($39)
• 2012 Epoch Estate Wines, Paso Robles Sensibility (about $50)
• 2010 Harrison Clarke Vineyard, Ballard Canyon-Santa Ynez Valley (Santa Barbara) Grenache ($55)
• 2011 Harrison Clarke Vineyard, Ballard Canyon-Santa Ynez Valley (Santa Barbara) Grenache ($32)

And alphabetical order, the rest of the Grenache bottlings in this blind tasting; each and every one, a deliciously fine wine in its own fashion:

• 2013 A Tribute to Grace, Shake Ridge Ranch Amador County Grenache (about $50)
• 2013 A Tribute to Grace, Besson Vineyard Santa Clara Grenache (about $50)
• 2013 Beckmen Vineyards, Purisima Mountain Vineyard-Block Eight Ballard Canyon (Santa Barbara) Grenache ($52)
• 2012 Big Basin Vineyards, Coastview Vineyard Monterey County Grenache ($44)
• 2014 Neyers Vineyards, Rossi Ranch Sonoma Valley Grenache ($35)
• 2012 Skinner Vineyards, Estate Grown El Dorado Grenache (about $30)
• 2013 Skinner Vineyards, El Dorado Grenache ($26)
• 2012 Testa Vineyards, Mendocino County Grenache ($30)

2014 McCay Cellars Grenache harvest

Wine lovers at 2015 Lodi ZinFest

Recently, folks at local wineries have been reporting a growing influx of wine lovers of a different stripe. They’ve been coming in from major cities – San Francisco, L.A., Dallas, Chicago, New York, Vancouver – after reading about it in national magazines or the blogosphere, or catching a taste of it in a few bottles that say “Lodi.”  Sleek women in citified heels (awkward for walking between the rows of grapevines for selfies), and guys in goatees and/or hipster hats.

Have Lodi wines and the Lodi Viticultural Region suddenly – or should we say finally – attained a “coolness” factor? 

Visitors lovin' the Lodi wine country life

It’s a matter of both history and current state of affairs: Lodi still exists primarily to supply grapes to the country’s biggest wine producers. Companies like E. & J. Gallo Winery, which is based in Modesto. E. & J. Gallo, of course, sources grapes in nearly every wine region in California in order to produce some 60 million-plus cases of wine each year, under a multitude of labels.

The number of wineries with a mailing address in Lodi has only recently reached 80. Hallelujah. By comparison, there are over 120 wineries in Walla Walla Valley, which has about 1,200 acres of planted wine grapes. Paso Robles cultivates about 26,000 acres of grapes, and is now home to over 200 wineries.

Lodi has over 110,000 acres of wine grapes – easily, the largest single wine region in the U.S. in terms of plantings of classic European Vitis vinifera. We’re working on the homegrown, boutique-y winery part.

Yet apart from Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi and Michael David Winery, the average yearly production of Lodi’s wineries is less than 10,000 cases. Lodi, it seems, is also the largest “small” wine region in the U.S.

If anything, Lodi grown wines are beginning to attract the attention of lovers of premium quality wine with enough common sense to know premium quality when they taste it – not by what they’ve heard. There is still a stigma attached to the fact that Lodi supplies grapes to big wineries. But think of it this way: Up until 30 years ago, wineries like E. & J. Gallo used to take over half of the grapes grown in regions like Napa Valley and Sonoma County. It wasn’t because Napa Valley and Sonoma County weren’t great places to grow wine. It was because these are fantastic places.

Vineyard bus in Bokisch Ranches' Las Cerezas Vineyard

Lodi is also attracting attention because many consumers are finally able to see through the misconception that Lodi is a “hot climate” region. In terms of “heat summation” – the method of measuring growing season temperatures originally devised by U.C. Davis – Lodi’s average is in “Region III,” occasionally dipping into upper “Region II.” This is approximately the same as the upper sections of Napa Valley, the eastern sides of Sonoma County, inland Mendocino, Paso Robles, the eastern half of Santa Barbara’s Santa Ynez Valley, and much of the Sierra Foothills. 

Bad raps die hard, but eventually the smart consumers are able to cut through the poop and appreciate any good wine region for what it is, not by how it compares to other regions. Lodi is not the same as the north end of Napa Valley, Paso Robles or the Sierra Foothills; and vice-versa. The quality and characteristics in the taste of wines are always a summation of topography (soil, slope, elevation, et al.) and tradition (i.e. history of human input) as much as climate, and each region has its own complex of conditions that makes its wines unique.

Which is why people love fine wine – it is so much a part of its terroir.

Smart consumers know that because of the Lodi AVA’s comparatively narrow diurnal swings – in the Delta region, nighttime lows are not as low, and daytime highs are not as high, as in most of California’s coastal wine regions – Lodi grown wines tend to end up with a softer, gentler quality. Red wines are not quite as hard in tannin, and white wines not quite as sharp in acidity.

Yet because of its moderated Mediterranean climate, Lodi grown wines can still attain a remarkable intensity of aroma and flavor, with their own, kinder, gentler sense of balance.

One thing Zinfandel lovers in particular have noticed: It is a myth that Lodi grows a riper, higher alcohol style of Zinfandel. If anything, Sonoma County – long considered a classic home for Zinfandel (although far more Zinfandel is grown in Lodi) – grows Zinfandels with higher average alcohols, more raisiny fruitiness, and also a more tannic edge.

Not that there is anything wrong with Sonoma style Zinfandel, which is a beautiful thing in itself. It’s just that if you want a softer, finer, more feminine (if you will) style of Zinfandel, you are more likely to find it in Lodi. As Popeye once said, “I yam what I yam, and that’s all that I yam.”

We believe that this, among other things, is a major reason why Lodi has suddenly become “cool.” These new, smart Lodi wine lovers are starting to appreciate Lodi for what it is; not for how it compares to other regions, or going by any of the misconceptions that have somehow clouded the picture in the past.

“Oh lord,” John Fogerty famously sang, “I’m stuck in Lodi again.” Fogerty, however, never slept in Lodi – he just used the name because it fit nicely into a memorable song. The “cool kid” wine lovers know this, too: That the wines grown in Lodi today are not like what grandpa and grandma drank. They’re not going to fall for the Kool-Aid.

Man, it's good to be “stuck” on Lodi! 

momofuku New York sommelier Jordan Salcito visiting Lodi winegrower Mike McCay

Photo by Evgeniy Lankin (image available through fineartamerica.com)

We have this recurring dream. It’s almost mid-day. We wake up late, after some wine-soaked conversation deep into the night before, and still haven’t yet eaten. So after stopping at a tiny charcuterie for some cooked sausages, marinated olives, a round of local bread – tasting as sweet and silky as pancakes in the inside, crunchy as toasted crusts on the outside – and a bottle of wine, we follow a winding brook at the foot of a steep hill outside the village, in search of a table in the sky.

The residual chill from earlier morning hours is still sharp in the air as our shoes crunch over some loose, gravelly rocks, but we quickly begin to warm up as we steady our footing, making headway up the slope. The landscape is a primeval mix of twisted scrub, giving off resiny, herby smells as we brush against them, avoiding the lethal, gigantic sized agaves shooting up 30, 30-foot flowering spikes. The feeling is surreal.

Red-eyed Lodi wine lover

Finally, a passing brook leads us to a small, pristine pool. We feel like jumping in, but when we dip our hands into it we’re almost shocked by the icy-cold. So tucking our pack behind a rock and weighting our bottle beneath the water, we head off around a bend to catch a fuller view of the civilization below.

The sun is now just post-meridian, beginning to bathe the town's distant red roofs and winding streets in swaths of brick and gold, and beyond it the earth appears to rise and dip with misshapen squares of scattered farms, separated by taupe toned rock walls making lines between the homesteads like a Navajo blanket. Imbued by the entire fantasy, we look at each other’s smiling face and whisper those three magic words…

Shall we eat?

And if we're not yet snapped back into reality by a ringing phone or knock at the door, this is where the dream really starts to cook. The garlic and chili-spiced sausages jolt the palate, and the bread crackles and flakes; but it’s the steely cold wine – which is red (isn’t real wine red?) – that really gets us. Since we’re shooting it directly from the bottle, we’re not exactly savoring the “bouquet.”

However, the taste is like pure, undulating velvet – smooth, seamless flavors of some kind of sweet, purple stone fruit, mingling with cracked pepper, brown spices, a dangerous touch of earthiness – and the aromas rush into the head from behind the palate, even long after the wine is swallowed. Better yet is the knowing – this is our dream, mind you – that the wine was cheap, and there’s a lot more where it comes from.

Which is why, when you think of it, we feel lucky to live in a place like Lodi, with access to wines not everyone has of yet quite heard about. While dreams are nothing more than wishes, the reality is that there are always such wines to be found; despite the often overwhelming plethora of bottles and brands, at increasingly painful prices, that assault you every time you walk into a store.

Isn't real wine red?

There once was a famous Napa Valley winemaker who put it as plainly as you can: "Americans pay too much for their wine." Ironically, today it's regions like Lodi that still cling to the seemingly ridiculous (by today's standards) idea that a wine’s quality has as much to do with the honesty of its price as it does in its taste.

The basic question is, why pay $50 to $100 for a wine when you can find one you like even better for $12 to $29? What was it that Charlie the Tuna was once told? We're not looking for fish with good taste, we're looking for fish that tastes good.

Fact of the matter is, rating systems and the spectacle of brands jockeying for market positions has hoisted this other plain fact upon many an unsuspecting consumer: there is simply no correlations between the pleasure you receive and the price you pay when it comes to premium quality, commercial wine.

Yet Lodi grown wines, while not hoity-toity, effortlessly attain one of the qualities everyday consumers value the most: a sumptuous, velvety smoothness. Often enough, with a dangerous touch of earthiness, stamping their authenticity. They do this by dint of the Delta region's sandy loam soils and steady-as-she-goes Mediterranean climate; not too cool and not too hot, throughout the growing season. Grapes respond in kind; ergo, kinder, gentler, crazy-good wines.

And if you drink wines grown in Lodi – a winegrowing region which has the advantage of being the largest (in terms of acreage of classic wine grapes) in the U.S., mostly owned by the same families who have been farming the area for over 50 or 100 years – you also stand a better chance of breaking this senseless chain of excess pricing set by nattering nabobs of negativity. But not if we can help it.

It's not really a dream. Wake up and smell the Zinfandel!

Lodi Zinfandel harvest

Our favorite drinking Lodi reds

"When you go," Sheryl Crow once sang, "all I know is that you're my favorite mistake." It is a mistake to forget that good wines are for drinking, not for collecting or showing off. And great wines go great with food – they don’t clobber or overwhelm them.

So forget those overpriced hefty wines, forget the writings on the walls and tenement halls, 90 or 95-point ratings waving lasciviously at your pocketbooks like painted ladies in hot pants glowing in the dark. It's the taste of wine, stupid, that matters most.

Over recent years our favorite Lodi grown products have been red wines (isn't real wine red?) that consistently deliver because their pedigree is real – they are crafted from grapes in vineyards that know what they're doing, year-in and year-out.

Here are a dozen choices, plus a lagniappe, making up our dream case, which we highly recommend to anyone just getting into Lodi reds:

2012 Harney Lane, Lodi Zinfandel ($22) – We hesitate to describe this perennial winner as a "quintessential" Lodi Zinfandel. But it certainly has the qualifications: unfailingly perky, upbeat, smooth yet zesty aromas and flavors redolent of fresh, happy-to-see-you berries (reds veering into blue and boysen). Ironically, at least half of this wine is technically "not Zinfandel" – Harney Lane owners Kyle and Jorja Lerner sneakily blend at least 50% Primitivo (a clonal variant of Zinfandel) into their yearly "Lodi" bottling, along with small doses of Petite Sirah (usually less than 5%). The important part is the consistently delicious pleasure this wine gives as "Lodi Zinfandel."

2012 Peirano, The Immortal Zin Lodi Zinfandel ($14) – Talk about your all-time classics, this bottling stands out each year because of its ludicrous price plus its dependably bright yet soft, gushy, high-kicking raspberryish varietal character, unfettered by any excesses of alcohol, drying tannin or annoying oakiness. If you want to taste pure, unadulterated, old fashioned Lodi Zinfandel, Peirano's Immortal – made from stubby little head trained vines dating back to the 1890s – captures the very soul of that astonishing authenticity.

Lance Randolph with his Periano family’s Zinfandel, planted in the 1890s

2012 Barsetti, Lodi Zinfandel ($13) – Barsetti is another brand of Lodi Zinfandel that is incomprehensibly under-priced, under-appreciated, under-estimated. While round and fleshy, it is still just medium (not big or cumbersome) in body, exuding pure, unimpeded raspberry/blackberry fruit like a fruit-filled chocolate box confection, while emphasizing zesty natural acidity rather than hard hitting tannin or oak. But maybe we better not spread the word too aggressively – we’d just as soon keep this absolute steal of a wine to ourselves!

2013 Ironstone, Rous Vineyard Lodi Zinfandel ($28) – Every time we taste this Zinfandel we just want to cry tears of joy because a fairly good sized winery has been smart enough to let this east-side single vineyard (vines planted in 1909!) shine on its own; and because it's just so darned good and delicious. Intensely violet-like, mildly peppery, wild berry perfumes billow from the glass like a flower blossoming before your eyes; and finely etched, viscous, unencumbered varietal flavors unravel across the palate like gentle, delicious, foaming waves sliding up upon smooth tropical shores. This is what a Lodi wine lover lives for.

Lodi’s Michael McCay at his favorite activity (crushing red wine grapes)

2012 McCay Cellars, Lodi Paisley ($28) – If this blend of Zinfandel (mostly) and Petite Sirah said "Napa Valley" on the label, it would probably cost $45. Paisley is a good name for it, because it has sort of a playful, curvaceous, sexy, medium bodied texturing; silky, a little snappy, and bright in red berry perfumes and cracked sweet blackpepper (veering towards cardamom) spiciness. Winemaker/proprietor Michael McCay claims this is the best possible wine for a steak grilled with earthly/prickly, blackened Cajun spices – if that's the case, where do we sign up?

2012 Onesta, Bechthold Vineyard Cinsault ($29) – We're using the word "ridiculous" a lot, so we're going to stop it, right now. Let's describe this wine as "inconceivable" (for all you Princess Bridesters out there). Inconceivable because it tastes so soft yet tense and springy with kitchen spiced, nostril tingling strawberry rhubarb pie goodness, yet only costs $29. Inconceivable because it's made from the oldest vines in Lodi, planted in 1886. Think about it: in 1886 a young, citified dude named Teddy Roosevelt was spending his first days in the Black Hills of Dakota, looking for America. In 1886 Geronimo finally surrendered, after a 30-year chase through the deserts of Arizona and Mexico. It's ridiculous (we mean inconceivable) that you can enjoy this luscious nectar of a wine for just $29. It could be $529, but winemaker/owner Jillian Johnson DeLeon is too sensible for that. But it's that good, and that significant.

2013 Klinker Brick, Lodi Carignane ($25) – Here's a wine that comes from spectacular 106-year-old vines – truly, one of Lodi's heritage plantings – and comes across as deeply grounded as its natural rootstocks, without a sense of heaviness or clumsiness. Instead, you get fresh, lively black cherry aromas wrapped in whiffs of black tea; and upbeat flavors suggesting sweet leather and earthy dried sage. Easy to drink, yet tasting very much like the real thing – that's Lodi!

2012 Fields Family, Estate Lodi Syrah ($24) – No exaggeration, this wine easily has the intensity and depth of other American Syrahs selling for more than twice the price. In fact, it is downright regal in its purity of violet varietal perfume; underscored by notes of crushed blackberry and a finely sculpted medium-full body that is fresh, zesty, meaty and juicy at the same time. There is also a little more tannin muscle than all the other reds in our "dream" case, but more than enough characteristic Lodi lushness to stamp its origin.

Fields Family Wines’ Ryan Sherman

2012 Borra, Lodi FUSION Red ($20) – This red wine blend is as honest as they come – 100% native yeast fermented, minimally handled, and 100% estate grown by proprietor Steve Borra, a third generation Delta grower who also owns the oldest continuously active winery bond in the region (since 1975!). But like we said, it's the wine, stupid; and this one is, simply, sumptuously smooth and luxurious in aromas and flavors suggesting decadent black chocolates soaked in framboise (honeyed raspberry liqueur) – good gosh, almighty! The 2012, incidentally, is a smart blend of 60% Syrah, 20% Petite Sirah, 17% Zinfandel, and 3% Alicante Bouschet – all the things a no-nonsense Lodi wine lover adores.

2010 Viñedos Aurora, Lodi Petite Sirah ($21) – Petite Sirah lovers don't ask for much – they just want something black as night, smooth and round as a baby's bottom, and at the same time thick as a brick with flavors that knock your socks off. No problemo for Viñedos Aurora winemaker Gerardo Espinosa, who ages his powerful, family grown Petite Sirah an extra year longer in the barrel than most Petite Sirah producers in order to perfectly hone this chunky, chocolaty, peppery spiced and earthen nuanced varietal rendering – indubitably, everything (maybe even more) a Petite Sirah lover asks for.

2012 Michael David, Lodi Petite Petit ($18) – Every year this family owned winery fashions a blend of (mostly) Petite Sirah and the little-used Bordeaux grape called Petit Verdot into a wine that absolutely shames every other red wine in its price category. How can a wine so reasonably priced overwhelm the senses with so much flamboyance of rich, exuberant, plummy aromas and flavors, infused with notes of peppery beef bouillon and smoked bacon, while tasting so full yet so smooth and even keeled? Don't ask, just enjoy.

2013 St. Amant, Leventini Vineyard Lodi Barbera ($18) – You expect red wines made from the Barbera grape to have a naturally tart edge (the better to drink with zesty tomato sauced pastas!); but in Lodi's gentle environment, renditions like St. Amant's come across a little rounder and fleshier than most styles of Barbera, which can be lean and scrawny. Here, the varietal character is snappy without being sharp; the aromas lush with black cherry, veering towards strawberry; coming across as medium bodied, dry yet bouncy with an autumnal new-school-year freshness of fruit. In other words, with that Rico-suave Lodi smoothness.

2011 Vicarmont, Lodi Merlot ($20) – No matter what anyone tells you, it is still hard to find a red wine that is as velvety and pristinely voluptuous as a good, solid Merlot; and Vicarmont consistently crafts a good, solid, fantastically priced Merlot – theirs, plump with black cherry and cedar-box complexities, tasting pillowy-plush yet firm, long and chocolaty rich on the palate. A wine with thatwiggleinthewalkandgiggleinthetalk that makestheworldgoround. Praise the lord, pass the Vicarmont!

Vinedos Aurora’s Gerardo Espinosa harvesting his Lodi Petite Sirah

PRIE Vineyards co-owner/winemaker John Gash in his Cabernet Sauvignon estate planting 

The Lodi Viticultural Area’s latest artisanal wine producer, PRIE Vineyards, quietly opened its tasting room at 15628 N. Alpine Rd. (practically across the street from Klinker Brick Winery’s tasting room), this past April.

Owners John and Lisa Gash may be newbies – “home” winemakers since 2005, and commercial winemakers since 2011 – but they are dead-serious about their winegrowing operation; having invested in an 8.5-acre vineyard previously planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, surrounding their low-key winery facilities designed for a maximum yearly production of 2000 cases.

PRIE Vineyards winery and barrel room

When you drive along N. Alpine Rd. on Lodi’s east-side, you drive past vineyard homes primarily occupied by one branch of the Mettler family or another. "It has taken us almost three years to get to this point," says John Gash, who still commutes and works in the Bay Area tech industry during the week.

"When Lisa and I first decided to get into the wine industry we were still living and working in Livermore. Our first vintage, 2011, consisted primarily of grapes from Livermore, but we also began with Zinfandel from Lodi’s Soucie Vineyard, largely because we liked what Layne Montgomery has been doing with the vineyard at m2 Wines.”

The 2011 PRIE Lodi Zinfandel ($27) – currently available for tasting and purchase during PRIE’s tasting room hours every Saturday/Sunday (11 AM-5 PM) – has indeed come out nicely. Lush in the nose with richly ripened fruit tinged with baking spices and sweet oak; and a zesty, medium-full body and velvet texturing enhanced by more than two years (32 months) in American oak barrels.  Mr. Gash himself describes this wine as "classical old vine Lodi," which it is.

“We were so pleased with how the 2011 Zinfandel turned out,” adds Mr. Gash, “that we began seriously looking into moving to Lodi in 2012. We loved the environment and laid-back culture of Lodi. It has a beautiful little Downtown area, and the vineyards and small wineries have a genuine feel – everything fits, without that commercialized buzz all too common to other wine regions.

“We could also see that Lodi has great grapes not yet fully discovered by the rest of the world. It seems headed in the right direction, and we could easily see ourselves being a part of that.”

With the help of Ryan Sherman – the co-owner/winemaker of Fields Family Wines, who also holds down a day job as a Lodi area realtor – the Gashs were guided to a 10-acre property owned by Clifford and Barbara Mettler; and with that, a vision of becoming a boutique Lodi wine estate, specializing in Cabernet Sauvignon. Sherman recommended the talents of architect Gerardo Espinosa – the Project Manager of WMB Architects based in Stockton, and also the winemaker/partner of Lodi’s Viñedos Aurora vineyards and winery – and everything seemed to come together for the Gashs.

Says Mr. Gash, “As a winemaker himself, it was so much easier for Gerardo to translate our verbal ideas into an architectural design. So far we have converted two small structures from a deconstructed barn and horse stables (there are plans for a third small building on the vineyard property). One is for our barrels and winemaking staging area, and the other is our tasting room. Gerardo understood our wish for ‘small rooms’ to achieve the feeling of a ‘small vineyard’ estate.’ There are large roll-up doors so that we can bring the outdoors in; and the use of wood to get a feel of handcrafted wine, rather than an industrial one.”

The cozy, understated, integrated feel of a “vineyard/farm/winery” that you get when walking into the PRIE tasting room is enhanced by small original paintings done by Lisa Gash, who is studying for her Masters of Fine Arts at Academy of Art University in San Francisco. “Lisa is eventually hoping to start ‘Painting In the Vineyard’-type activities here at the winery,” says Mr. Gash.

It was Ms. Gash, in fact, who was the original instigator behind the couple’s foray into winemaking. She tells us, “It started when I took a weekend class in winemaking offered by Thomas Coyne in 2005. He also sold grapes to home winemakers, so I started making wine at home for us. After five years of bringing the wine to share with friends and the inevitable, ‘why don’t you open your own winery?’ questions, John decided that it sounded like a great idea. That’s when he started putting things in motion.”

Continues Ms. Gash, “When we saw the property on Alpine Road, we knew we couldn’t have found a better location. The vineyard is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, to which we just grafted about a ½ acre to Cabernet Franc and another ½ acre to Petit Verdot. We made our first estate Cabernet Sauvignon in 2013, which is still in the barrel.

“We plan to continue our Soucie Zinfandel program. We’ve sourced Petite Sirah from Jason Eels (vineyard manager of the Mettler Family’s Arbor Vineyards), and Petit Verdot from Barbera Huecksteadt’s Hux Vineyards. We’ve also sourced Carignan from Jessie’s Grove and Merlot from Mr. Schatz (owner/grower of Peltier Station and Mokelumne Rim Vineyards) last year.”

With this type of energy, devotion and sensibility, we should expect big things from this small specialty vineyard/winery estate! 

PRIE Vineyards barrel room

Oak Farm Albarino: California State Fair’s “Best of Show White”

At the The Best of California Awards Ceremony this past Tuesday, June 23 in Sacramento's Cal Expo, a significant number of Lodi AVA grown wines were awarded Blue Ribbons or Golden Bear trophies for finishing at the very top of several categories at the 2015 California State Fair Commercial Wine Competiton.

Michael David Winery’s Dave Phillips, who accepted Blue Ribbons for his famiy’s Rapture Cabernet Sauvignon and Inkblot Cabernet Franc

At this year's competition, 72 judges sniffed, sipped and evaluated 2,881 wines submitted by 743 participating winery brands. The tasting format is "blind" – judges are not biased by knowledge of the brands or regions from where each wine comes.

It was a 3-day process (June 3-5, 2015), ending with the sifting through of the best of 254 Gold and 57 Double Gold (when all judges in a committee agree that a wine deserves a Gold) medal winners to determine "Best of" wines by category, region, and the entire "Show."

Typical of past State Fair judgings, the top tier turned out to be wines grown in regions as diverse and far-flung as El Dorado, Amador County, Lake County, Napa Valley, Sonoma County, Livermore Valley, Paso Robles, and Santa Barbara.

Yet Lodi also garnered its share, including a "Best of Show White" going to the 2015 Oak Farms Lodi Albariño; and in "Best of California" categories, for Lodi grown wines produced by Lodi's Bokisch Vineyards and Michael David Winery, plus winery/brands based outside of Lodi (but utilizing Lodi fruit) such as Fenestra, Torn and Wise Villa.

According to Mark Chandler, the California State Fair Chief Judge (also a Wine Business Consultant as well as the City of Lodi's current Vice Mayor), "Lodi wines are finally getting that recognition that they are due… it gives Lodi bragging rights."

For the record, the California State Fair Wine Competition is the oldest (since 1855) annual wine judging held in the U.S.; and considering the fact that California produces over 90% of the country's commercial wines each year, it is one of the most prestigious.

For a complete listing of all the medal and blue ribbon winners, please visit the California State Fair Commercial Wine Results.

Below are our own tasting notes on the Lodi grown wines finishing at the very top of their respective categories in the 2015 California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition.

Torn Lodi Zinfandel: California State Fair’s “Best of California” Zinfandel

Best of Show White, Best of Lodi White & Double Gold

2014 Oak Farm, Lodi Albariño ($19) – The selection of this wine as the very best white wine of any type in California is a big victory for Lodi – a region most consumers and critics associate more with red wines such as Zinfandel. Albariño – a grape native to the Rías Baixas region at the north-west tip of Spain (along the Atlantic Ocean) – is now grown successfully (albeit in small quantities) all along the California coast, from Santa Barbara to Mendocino; and so what did the judges like about Oak Farm's? This Albariño is bone-dry yet light, airy and lemony crisp with a faint mineral feel, and delicate perfumes of white flowers and white peach skin. The judges responded positively to the wine's balanced, finesseful feel, and lauded its purity of varietal character, unobstructed by excesses like oak or high alcohol. Finally, giving credit where credit is due: Oak Farm winemaker Chad Joseph tells us that two-thirds of this wine came from Portuguese clonal material grown in Ron Silva's Silvaspoons Vineyards in Lodi's Alta Mesa AVA, and the rest (a Spanish clone of Albariño) was grown by Jonathan Wetmore's Round Valley Ranches.

Oak Farm Managing Partner Dan Panella shows off Golden Bear trophy

Best of California-Zinfandel, Best Value Red & Double Gold

2013 Torn, Lodi Zinfandel ($9) – This is not the first time a Delicato Family Vineyards brand crafted for the $7.99 or $8.99 market has taken top honors like this – "Best Zinfandel" in all of California (getting the nod over Zinfandels more than twice the price) – and it undoubtedly won't be the last. The 2013 Torn is grown in Lodi, after all – the home of more acres of 40-plus-year-old Zinfandel vines than any other region in the state – and Delicato's winemakers are able to blend from extensive lots to craft lush yet balanced styles of the varietal. The 2013 Torn's fruit definition is as bright and inviting as its purplish ruby color – black cherry veering toward blackberry, with just a slight jamminess – with plump, juicy, zesty sensations teeming out from an easy, pliant, medium-full body.

Best of Lodi Red & Gold

2012 Michael David, Rapture Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon ($59) – Michael David's ambitious little army of growers and winemakers, led by the Phillips family, has never made any bones about the intent of this ultra-premium priced, meticulously crafted varietal: they want you to feel the sumptuous quality of Lodi grown fruit like a religious (i.e. rapturous) experience. And its qualities are compelling – beginning with a multifaceted nose of concentrated blackcurrant-like fruit, notes of smoky cigar box, the grape's sweet mint/herbaceousness and subtle touches of cedar, and ending with deep, lush yet fluid sensations framed by sturdy tannin and a medium-full body. This is not "Napa Valley," which tends to produce edgier, more dramatic styles of Cabernet Sauvignon; nor "Paso Robles," where Cabernet Sauvignons that blast the palate with silken-sweet varietal sensations are frequently made. Rapture is very much "Lodi" in its gently rounded, luxurious texturing – couched in a wealth of French oak that Cabernet Sauvignon lovers crave – and therefore should be appreciated for being a top flight example of Cabernet Sauvignon from Lodi as much as the entire state of California.

Best of California-Cabernet Franc & Gold

2013 Michael David, Inkblot Lodi Cabernet Franc ($35 ) – For most wine regions in California, it's darned near impossible to produce a thick, inky, fruit focused style of Cabernet Franc – a Bordeaux grape that, more often than not, wants to taste more like fresh-cut bellpeppers than berryish fruit, when grown in California's fertile soils. There are a few terrific examples, of course, grown in more rugged slopes in parts of Napa Valley, Lake County and Paso Robles; but in Lodi's deep, porous, sandy loam soil, the Phillips family has been proving, in recent vintage after vintage, that this grape can thrive and produce a wine of almost unexpected depth and sturdiness. The 2013 Inkblot is aptly named – a black purplish color, signaling a remarkable concentration and focus of raspberryish fruit enriched by mildly smoky oak spices

Best of California: Michael David’s Inkblot Cabernet Franc and Rapture Cabernet Sauvignon

Best of California-Malbec & Gold

2013 Wise Villa, Alta Mesa-Lodi Malbec ($32) – Wise Villa is located on Wise Rd. in Lincoln, which falls within the Sierra Foothills appellation; but credit for farming of this Malbec goes to Ron Silva's Silvaspoons Vineyards in Lodi's Alta Mesa AVA. This is not a big, blustery style of Malbec most consumers are familiar with in Argentine bottlings; but rather, more of a finesse style, medium bodied Malbec, exuding ripe blackberryish fruit tinged with flowery, dried hibiscus-like notes and cedary oak, with moderate tannins shoring up a balanced feel.

Best of California-Other Red Varietal & Double Gold

2012 Bokisch Vineyards, Lodi Graciano ($23) – In Spain, the Graciano grape is grown as a companion to deepen Tempranillo based red wines, which was Bokisch Vineyards' original thought when they planted the two varieties in their Las Cerezas (in Lodi's Mokelumne River AVA) and Terra Alta (Lodi's Clements Hills AVA) Vineyards. To see Markus Bokisch talk about Graciano grapes, watch this video on All need to know about Graciano. But five or six vintages ago, Graciano began to emerge as a more-than-stand-alone varietal for the Bokischs; consistently producing a varietal red, like this 2012, of curvaceous, downright sexy layers of plummy, flowery scented fruit, with complexities suggesting Mexican spiced chocolate and sweet, almost cumin-like earthiness. Both tannin and body are moderate in scale, and so the wine is a delight just to sip and savor with easy aplomb as much as absorbing curiosity.

Best of California-Other White Varietal & Gold

2014 Wise Villa, Alta Mesa-Lodi Torrontes ($29) – Because of their multiple Gold and "Best of" award winners, Lincoln's Wise Villa Winery also took a Golden Bear trophy for being the California State Fair's 2015 "Winery of the Year." They also show impeccable taste by sourcing their Torrontés grapes from Silvaspoons Vineyards in Lodi's Alta Mesa AVA. Their 2014 edition is their most luscious rendering yet – gushing with tropical papaya and honeydew melony fruit with white pepper and musk spices, sliding onto the palate with lush, round, off-dry, easy-going sensations.

Best of California-Tempranillo & Double Gold

2010 Fenestra, Lodi Tempranillo ($22) – While located in Livermore Valley, Fenestra Winery has been sourcing Portuguese and Spanish grapes from Lodi for years. This one, grown by Lodi's Bokisch Ranches, is a suave, fruit focused rendering of this Spanish grape; couching red berry qualities in a medium body and smooth, suede-like textures.

Wise Villa Torrontes: Best of California-”Other Varietal” White

What happens when a young, curious, forward-thinking, Lodi raised chef, after rigorous training under one of Hawai`i’s most renowned chefs, is given the opportunity to create a menu to match the wines of the Lod Viticultural Area’s Acquiesce Winery?

Summery hot, fun, culinary fireworks, of course!“

"Acquiesce,” as owner/grower Sue Tipton is always quick to remind us, means “to surrender, to become quiet.” It is her mantra because it defines the style of her wines: crafted completely without the use of oak barrels to emphasize the natural qualities of the grapes that grow in her vineyard, located on Peltier Rd. along the north edge of Lodi’s Mokelumne River AVA.

Acquiesce owner/grower Sue Tipton

In less than five years since her inaugural vintage, Tipton has been enormously successful with this Zen-inspired approach. Emphasizing only white wines made from “Rhône” grapes such as Grenache Blanc, Viognier, Roussanne, and Piquepoul, plus one Southern French inspired dry rosé made from the black skinned Grenache, Acquiesce Winery has won consistent acclaim; selling out her wines within a few months of their yearly release.

So successful that Tipton has recently pulled out the 12 acres of Zinfandel on her property (which were always sold to a larger winery, never going into Acquiesce wines), which will soon be replanted with more native Southern French grapes.

This past Sunday, June 28, Ms. Tipton presented her latest releases at a lunch in Taste Restaurant, esconced in the tiny, Gold Rush Sierra Foothills town of Plymouth. Taste is owned by Chef Mark Berkner and his wife/educator (San Joaquin Delta College, Stockton) Tracey Berkner; but instead of Chef Mark concocting dishes for the Acquiesce wines, Ms. Berkner employed one of their young, up-and-coming kitchen chefs named David Fujimura. Sue Tipton

While greeting her lunch guests, Ms. Berkner explained: “Mark and I both teach Delta College’s culinary program, which gives us the advantage of being able to cherry-pick some of our best students for our own restaurant. One of them, David Fujimura, came to us and asked if he could do a wine/food menu in his own style.

Taste Restaurant's Tracey Berkner pours Acquiesce Grenache Blanc

“David had just returned to us from Hawai`i, where he had worked for two years with Alan Wong (of the multi-award winning Alan Wong’s Restaurant in Honolulu, and one of the originators of the acclaimed Hawai`i Regional Cuisine movement). I said ‘great, I know just the wines that would be perfect for your Hawaiian influenced cooking.’ I contacted Sue Tipton right away to see if she would like to do one of our Sunday wine and food events with us.”

Mr. Fujimura himself tells us, “I grew up in Lodi (the son of Bob and Jean Fujimura), and had always dreamed of going to Hawai`i to learn more about my half-Japanese heritage. I thought, what better place to go than the most Asian influenced place? Luckily Chef Mark knew Alan Wong, and he called him up and got me a job in his kitchen. I did my time there, got beat me up a lot, and learned an incredible amount. Now I’m excited about putting that experience to good use, especially in a wine pairing event.”

Chef David Fujimura with his parents, Jean and Bob Fujimura

The burgeoning chef's menu:

Fresh oyster with watermelon-cherry tomato salad, red shiso, ginger and green onion
2014 Acquiesce, Lodi Picpoul Blanc

Beef Tartare with yuzu, garlic, chive and Dijon mustard
2014 Acquiesce, Lodi Grenache Blanc

Roasted lamb with smoked paprika, corn, red pepper, polpini mushroom, ginger and chimichurri
2014 Acquiesce, Lodi Grenache Rosé

Ice cream sandwich with brioche, pineapple ice cream, wildflower honey and Hawaiian sea salt
2014 Acquiesce, Lodi Viognier

In the first course, Mr. Fujimura demonstrated the delicate touch he learned at Alan Wong’s with a dish that seemed to play with sensations tickling the nose as much as palate – the oyster’s scent of the ocean mingling with the fresh fruitiness of both the cherry tomatoes and miniature cubes of watermelon, tinged with the herby, leafy taste of Japanese shiso, pungent green onions and ginger, and a sprightly touch of pickled plum and Champagne vinegar. The ultra-dry, feathery-light, violet scented, lemony crisp qualities of the Acquiesce Picpoul Blanc seemed to pick up on the dish’s subtle, palate-freshening qualities with a harmonious ease – both the wine and dish “acquiescing” to each other.

The second course – raw chopped beef matched to Acquiesce’s light-medium bodied Grenache Blanc, typically redolent of lavender and honeydew melon fragrances – was even more of a surprise. Who would think to match red meat with a light, dry white wine? Says Ms. Tipton, “When David said he wanted to do a tartare with the Grenache Blanc I was skeptical, but when I tasted the two together I was amazed.” What really pulled the wine and dish together was the infusion of yuzu – a pungent, grapefruity Asian citrus juice – into the raw beef, along with touches of chili spices, which matched and mixed with the refreshingly tart, naked, unsullied qualities of Acquiesce’s Grenache Blanc.

The third course of roasted lamb had smoky highlights from both the paprika and the cooking process, complimented by the earthy/sweet tastes of corn, a miniature clump of elongated white mushrooms and dabs of chimichurri (parsley, oregano and garlic chopped into olive oil and white vinegar) inspired sauce. The effect was meaty, yet restrained enough to allow white peppery spiced strawberry taste of the Acquiesce Grenache Rosé to freshen the palate between bites of the smoky, earthy dish.

The fourth course was perhaps the unlikeliest of all: Pineapple ice cream sandwiched between brioche, with touches of honey and Hawaiian sea salt; matched to Acquiesce’s dry, medium bodied, flowery (violets, honeysuckle, white pepper spice) Viognier. While sweet desserts do not mingle easily with dry wines, the combination was fun, even successful, on another level – in the nose, where the pungent, flowery notes of the wine mingled with the exotic perfume of pineapple and wild honey in the dish.

“What a perfect day for a lunch with Acquiesce wines, which are made for balmy summer days,” Ms. Berkner proclaimed, at the start of the event. It was also a perfect way for a Lodi son to shine by showing what he’s learned after doing hard time in a kitchen under a more exotic sun, in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean.

Lodi's Jon Bjork grilling up some Korean style short ribs

Who doesn’t associate summer with barbecue? It’s an American thing, but you might also consider it a return to primal instincts. “Ugh, me Tarzan, you Jane, we smoke ribs and drink Zinfandel tonight.”

Over the years we have gathered perfectly intellectual thoughts on the art of enjoying barbecues with wine. Not. It’s really more of a sensory thing – you feel what are the best wines for different barbecues, you don’t think it.

And heat has a lot to do with it – heat from spices in the dry rubs, marinades or sauces, or heat from the summer sun beating down on our necks and causing us to think, “Ugh, must hydrate... preferably with good wine."

So here are some logical thoughts based upon many summer moons of experience:

Smoky pulled pork or baby back ribs in barbecue sauces

Grilled, smoky pork with classic tomato based barbecue sauces – laced in combinations of vinegar, brown sugar, honey, onions, mustard, and often, chili spices, liquid smoke, Tabasco, Worcestershire and, of course, good ol’ ketchup – are not exactly the ideal ingredients for refined, delicate wines like Pinot Noir, or powerful yet elegant, pinky-pointed wines like Cabernet Sauvignon.

When it comes to fatty, aggressively seasoned pork, the simplest solutions are usually the best. We douse our fatty, smoky, baby back ribs or pulled pork with strongly sweet, sour, spicy tastes simply because we like it that way. Hoity toity wine lovers might consider this vulgar, but you know where they should go.

So read our sticky lips: The best wines to drink with pulled or barbecued pork are those that have just enough tannin to digest the fatty meat, yet easily absorb, wash down and smooth over all those wet, sweet, piquant sensations. Like a good, soft, easy drinking Zinfandel – especially Zinfandels grown in the Lodi Viticultural Area.

You may now be thinking: Of course we say Lodi Zinfandel, because this is a lodiwine.com post. But think again. Where are the softest, fruitiest, most easy drinking Zinfandels grown in California? That’s right – Lodi. Our moderate Delta climate and sandy soils are more conducive to those styles. No, they’re not as big and thick in tannin and alcohol, or as concentrated in jammy varietal fruit, as many Zinfandels from, say, the coastal regions of Sonoma and Napa. Nor do they have the delicate, perfumed spice of Zinfandels grown on the volcanic slopes of the Sierra Foothills.

Lodi’s Zinfandels are more naturally gentle, lush, and more often than not, a little earthy (in a loamy, organic sense), whether you prefer this style or not. Which is why they are ideal in the context of barbecued baby back ribs or pulled pork in all those iterations of zesty, sweet, smoky, spicy sauces. Softer, fruitier styles of Zinfandels are simply easier to drink with sweet, smoky summer barbecues.

And here’s the thing: It doesn’t have to be the most expensive Zinfandel. Zinfandels in the higher price points (say, $32 and up) are usually oakier (since winemakers have the compulsion to age their “best” wines in brand new oak barrels, thinking that that’s what big spenders want), and also invariably fuller in alcohol, tannin and fruit concentration. Yet the best Zinfandels for saucy pork barbecues are invariably the softer, lighter, easy-to-drink Zinfandels – and those are the ones that usually cost less than $18!

But what happens when the weather gets especially hot, and red wines are suddenly not-so-palatable? You cannot be afraid of resorting to one of two things:

1. Chill your Zinfandel down a little bit (which is why they softest, least expensive, fruit focused Zinfandels are the best, since red wines with less tannin can take more of a chill, or even an ice cube or two in the glass).

2. Go to super-chilled, dryer styles of White Zinfandel, such as McCay Cellars or Turley Wine Cellars' White Zinfandel ($18), or else Stama’s Dry Rosé of Zinfandel ($14).

In fact, it doesn’t have to be a pink wine made from Zinfandel. There is now a bevy of dry rosés made from numerous grapes (especially Grenache, Barbera or Sangiovese) now being made in Lodi that are ideal with barbecue sauced ribs or pulled pork on a hot day – hard to go wrong with the first class dry pink wines made by Bokisch Vineyards, Klinker Brick, Estate Crush, Borra Vineyards, LangeTwins, Harney Lane, or Onesta.

Slabs of dry rubbed ribs

As we all know, the most finicky of barbecue lovers are the devotees of the fine art of dry rubs: Ribs lovingly caressed in variations of paprika, onion powder and cayenne, and taking it from there), and then slow roasted, smoked or grilled to achieve further complexities of char, smokiness and caramelization.

Again, this is a job for Zinfandel; although here, the idea of a pricier Zinfandel that has spent a little more time in new oak – thus, attaining a slightly smokier, pungent quality – is not such a bad idea. It’s a matter of smokiness – smoky foods like a good, smoky wine – plus the fact that more concentrated Zinfandels have an affinity with sweet, caramelized, complex tastes.

So now we’re talking about, say, trading up from a Michael David Winery 7 Deadly Zins ($16) to a Michael David Winery Earthquake Zinfandel ($28); from a Jessie’s Grove Earth, Zin & Fire ($12) to a Jessie’s Grove Royal Tee Vineyard Zinfandel ($32); or from a Harney Lane Lodi Zinfandel ($22) to a Harney Lane Lizzy James Vineyard Zinfandel ($35).

Thick, meaty, dry rubbed slabs of ribs are also a natural for wines with slightly more tannin to absorb the fat and soften the slightly bitter sting in dry rub spices. If you’re thinking of Petite Sirah (especially those of Mettler Family or Michael David’s Earthquake), you are entirely correct; although Syrah (Fields Family, Klinker Brick and Michael David’s 6th Sense are among Lodi’s best Syrahs), which tends to be more perfumed and spicy in the nose, might be an even better idea.

Wait, there’s more: Lodi also specializes in a few “alternative” style varietal reds that, similar to Zinfandel, are moderate in tannin and high in various fruit expressions: red wines made from grapes like Graciano, Tempranillo, Carignan and Grenache are ideal. Even Lodi style Barbera (such as St. Amant and Oak Farm Vineyards) tends to be softer, with a little bit more sexy curvaceousness, than Barberas grown in other regions; thus, ideal for dry rubbed barbecue ribs.

Bodacious barbecued chickens

Southerners like to throw their whole or half chickens on the grill or into smokers or Big Green Eggs after rubbing them with salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne, white or brown sugar, dry mustard, garlic and onion powder. The slower the roast, the more inundating the nostril tingling taste of smoke and spices, especially when served with bodaciously sweet, sour, spicy, savory barbecue sauces.

The Hawaiian or Asian styles of chicken calls for charcoal grilled or smoker cooked chicken marinated in mixtures of soy sauce, lime, ginger, brown sugar or honey, and a touch of cayenne or sambal, then generously rubbed with rock salt .

Whatever which way, these aggressively flavorful styles of chicken are an easy match with softer styles of red wine teeming with perky, zesty fruit, with or without subtle notes of sweet/toasty oak: Zinfandel again, although red berry/cherry scented Primitivo (a clonal variant of Zinfandel), Grenache or Sangiovese also fit the bill.

But when it comes to smoky, saucy styles of chicken, do not underestimate the usefulness of traditional Chardonnay – especially those highlighted by subtle oak qualities, such as those of Lodi’s Harney Lane, Oak Farm, Watts' Upstream, Borra, Stama or Van Ruiten Family. Although vinified with less oak, Lodi grown whites made from Vermentino (look for Uvaggio’s or Borra’s) have the fleshy qualities that easily absorb smoky styles of chicken, with a natural varietal minerality that adds another dimension to the taste.  

Marinating Korean style shortribs (kalbi)

Soy based Asian style marinades

Japanese teriyaki, Mongolian and Korean style barbecues usually involve either thinly sliced beef flank or sirloin, or (in the case of Korean kalbi jim; see recipe below) slimly cut short ribs of beef.

But the magic is in the marinades of soy sauce, garlic, ginger and generous doses of sugar (you need the sweetness to balance out the saltiness of soy sauce). After that, the variations are endless – additions of beer, chili spices, sesame seeds, Worcestershire, hoisin, pineapple, saké, rice or white wine vinegars, mustards or wasabi, ponzu or yuzu, star anise, green onions or mint… you name it, it’s been done.

Since soy sauce is basically a salty/umami sensation, you find the best balance in a naturally crisp, light or medium bodied white wine that either hints at or contains tiny bits of residual sugar in its fruitiness. Borra Vineyards winemaker Markus Niggli now makes a variety of such off-dry white wines from German and Austrian grapes under his markus label; although the dryer, perfumed, pure fruit focused whites of Bokisch Vineyards (made from grapes like Verdelho, Verdejo, Garnacha Blanca and Albariño) or Acquiesce Winery (Grenache Blanc and Viognier) are also surprisingly good with Asian influenced marinated grills.

Soft styles of reds with unabashed fruitiness, of course, are also an easy match with Asians style grills. The use of ginger and mustards seem to bring out the intrinsic peppery spice of varietals like Zinfandel, Grenache and Petite Sirah; while the tannins are easy enough to smooth over sweet/salty sensations in the marinades. Ultimately, it never really is a matter of what is the “best” wine for certain types of barbecue. The reality is, you inevitably find that one wine goes great for one reason, while a completely different wine goes great for other reasons. It’s all good.

But if summer is indeed the time to barbecue, that’s when Lodi style wines really start to shine!

Kalbi (Korean style shortribs) on the grill

Korean kalbi jim (short ribs of beef)

The thinly butterflied (or “flanken”) short ribs preferred by Koreans are usually found in any Asian supermarket. These ribs sear instantly on a grill. The Hawaiian version calls for slightly thicker cuts of beef short ribs (quarter to ½ inch) that can be charcoal or wood grilled, leaving some juicy rareness at the center with caramelized (but not burnt) char on the outside. Also note:  Koreans do not usually include ginger, but we have it here because we like its fragrant touch.

• 5 lbs. beef short ribs
• 2 cups soy sauce (for a milder, less salty marinade, use Hawai`i’s Aloha brand)
• 1 cup white sugar ¼ cup sesame oil
• 4-6 garlic cloves (pressed or rough chopped)
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ginger (grated or julienned)
• 3 tbsp. green onions (finely sliced)
• 1 tbsp. toasted sesame seeds

Place ribs in Pyrex or Tupperware deep enough to marinate (zip-top plastic bag also works). Mix all ingredients in a pan and warm until the sugar melts, then cool. Pour marinade over ribs, reserving ½ cup on side, cover container and place in refrigerator for at least 4 hours (or overnight), turning occasionally to make sure all ribs entirely marinated. Grill the ribs, moderating the flames and turning a couple of times to avoid sugar burning; brushing with reserved marinade. Open bottles of Zinfandel, and enjoy! Serves 6-8.  

Taking Lodi’s temperature over the past century 

There are things about the Lodi Viticultural Area that are not exactly common knowledge among wine lovers.

The growing of wine grapes in this Delta region, for instance, dates back to the 1860s. Yet Lodi is still considered an “up and coming” wine region. Fair enough. Although Lodi is easily the largest wine grape growing region in the U.S. in terms of acreage (table grapes and raisins play almost no role in Lodi’s viticultural industry), top quality varietal wines that say “Lodi” on the label didn’t actually appear in the market until the late 1990s. In that sense, Lodi is very up and coming.

Because of Lodi’s relative newness, there are still some mistaken assumptions about the region’s terroir – or growing conditions (which include human input and circumstances) that have a direct effect on the quality of resulting wines – floating about among consumers, and even among wine industry people in other parts of the state. That’s okay – all “new” wine regions take some time getting used-to.

One of the most common misperceptions is that Lodi is a “hot climate” wine region. When you look at a map, and see that the Lodi AVA occupies the northern section of California’s Central Valley, it stands to reason to think that Lodi is a much hotter growing region than, say, coastal regions between Mendocino and Santa Barbara. Lodi grapes grow in blistering desert sands, don’t they?

If that’s the case, it’s a wonder that Lodi produces perhaps the most refined, delicate Zinfandels in California; or Cabernet Sauvignons, Petite Sirahs, Chardonnays, and even Albariños, Cabernet Francs, Syrahs and Tempranillos that routinely win “Best of Class” awards in yearly wine judgings such as California State Fair and San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.

This constantly happens, but not because the wine world is full of miracles and flukes. It is because Lodi’s climate is not like the rest of Central Valley.

If anything, the region Lodi resembles the most in terms of climate is Napa Valley; particularly vineyards in the vicinity of this region’s famous sub-appellations of St. Helena, Rutherford and Oakville. Longtime connoisseurs of Napa Valley wine might consider this preposterous, or a gross exaggeration; yet the facts bear this out.

All you need do is compare the temperatures in the table below, showing the average highs (day-time) and lows (night-time) of Lodi and comparable regions in degrees Fahrenheit; during the months of March through October, which is the period of time when grape vines are active (from bud break to harvest).

These figures reflect the average high and low temperatures recorded by the Western Regional Climate Center over the past 122 years:  

The figures above reveal a number of things:

• Lodi’s average yearly highs are in the same ballpark as mid-Napa Valley (viticultural areas near St. Helena) and Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley and Alexander Valley AVAs (near Healdsburg).

• On average, Lodi is a tad warmer than mid-Napa Valley and mid-Sonoma County between May and August, but usually finishes about even during the harvest months of September and October (although today, white wine grapes are commonly picked in August in Napa Valley and Lodi, and in many parts of Sonoma County).

• Throughout the growing season regions such as Sonoma County, Napa Valley and Paso Robles have lower night-time temperatures than Lodi.

• Lodi has slightly more moderate diurnal swings (i.e. day vs. night temperatures) than Sonoma County and Napa Valley – one of the factors (among others) that contributes to soft, fragrant, fruit focused qualities of Lodi grown wines.

• Paso Robles has the most extreme diurnal swings; both hotter and colder than Lodi and other regions throughout the year, and especially in July/August – conditions that contribute to the ripe, lush qualities balanced by good natural acidity (preserved by cool night temperatures) in typical Paso Robles wines.

• Fresno is more representative of Central Valley temperatures, which are markedly higher during the day and night than Lodi and the other coastal regions cited.

• Santa Maria Valley in Santa Barbara County is typical of colder climate regions with extreme proximity to the moderating effects of the ocean (within 25 miles); having a combination of very narrow diurnal swings plus significantly lower day/night temperatures.

Wine grape terroir, however, is defined by far more than temperature. Topography (soil morphology, elevation, slope, exposure, etc.) is huge, and climate is also strongly influenced by latitude, fog, wind, aspect, not to mention the endless viticultural decisions (vine training, spacing, irrigation, pruning, thinning, etc.) which, in turn, are strongly determined by all the factors related to soil, climate, and seasonal events (including frost, rain, drought, etc.).

In fact, the softer, fragrant qualities of Lodi reds are often ascribed to the combination of the region’s relatively dry, moderate Mediterranean climate, its relatively modest diurnal swings, and a plethora of sandy loam soils on fairly low (0 to 300-ft.) topography, with minimal sloping. By comparison, the topographies and climatic pockets of Napa Valley, Sonoma County, as well as Santa Barbara and Paso Robles are considerably more complex and varied to dramatic degrees; although Lodi’s seven sub-AVAs (see The expansion and controversial division of Lodi) are indeed based upon soil driven differentiations.

Winkler’s classification by degree days

Within the wine industry, the prevalent way of looking at climate is in terms of the Winkler scale – also called the "heat summation" system, or "degree day classification" – originally devised by U.C. Davis’ A.J. Winkler with Maynard Amerine during the 1940s. The Winkler scale classifies climates into five regions, based upon accumulation of “degree days.”

Degree days are calculated by the amount that each day’s average temperature exceeds 50° Fahrenheit, between the growing season months of April and October. The reason why Winkler’s heat summation is based upon 50° F. is because at temperatures lower than this, grape vines do not effectively photosynthesize. In other words, during nights when the temperatures are hitting 49°, 45° or lower, vines become inactive.

Grape vines also shut down at high temperatures (above 95° F.), in high winds (daily in some regions) and during extreme periods of water deprivation. But for Winkler’s purposes, climate conditions based upon heat summations above 50° F. are classified in the following way; with the coldest Region (I) having the fewest degree days, and the warmest Region (V) having the most:

• Region I (2,500 degree days or less)
• Region II (2,501–3,000 degree days)
• Region II (3,001–3,500 degree days)
• Region IV (3,501–4,000 degree days)
• Region V (more than 4,000 degree days)

Where does Lodi stand on the Winkler scale? When you look at the table below and examine the average number of degree days accumulated in Lodi compared to other regions in recent years, you can see how much each region’s climate can vary from year to year, and what they average out to in the larger scheme of things. This is just one (albeit the most recent) snapshot, but here are the Winkler scale readings gathered over the past five vintages by stations monitored by the California Irrigation Management Information System:

What the CIMIS information shows is that even regions that are normally much cooler than Lodi can occasionally experience hotter growing seasons; such as the extremely coastal San Luis Obispo (Edna Valley and Arroyo Grande Valley), as well as Santa Barbara’s Sisquoc (in Santa Maria Valley) and Santa Ynez Valley in 2014. This is the impact of regional vintage variation – and why growers and winemakers always say Mother Nature still has the last word (although Global Warming is another growing concern).

The CIMIS data from the past five vintages also shows that, in recent years, Lodi’s climate has been only marginally warmer than mid-Napa Valley’s, notwithstanding year-to-year fluctuations.

Generally speaking, regions like Arroyo Seco in Monterey, Santa Barbara’s Santa Maria Valley, San Luis Obispo, and much of Sonoma County (near Santa Rosa) experience cooler vintages than Lodi. Fresno, on the other hand, is consistently much hotter. Lodi is “Central Valley” only in a political sense; certainly not climatically.

Sunset’s practical delineations

Still one more way to grasp Lodi’s climate is through the lens of Sunset Magazine – the self-described “Guide to Living in the West.” This magazine has always furnished highly detailed, time honored advice on how to garden in the Western U.S., based upon all the known variables pertaining to length of growing season, timing and amount of rainfall, winter lows, summer highs, wind, humidity, latitude, altitude, and so forth.

Therefore we also find it interesting that out of the 20-plus specific climatic zones into which California is divided by Sunset’s professional gardeners (please visit Sunset Climate Zones online), Lodi is fixed squarely in Zone 14. According to Sunset, Zone 14 encompasses “inland” areas moderated by “marine air” – especially those influenced by the “opening in Northern California’s Coast Ranges created by San Francisco and San Pablo bays.”

Other regions classified as Zone 14?  Most of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta between Pittsburg, Sacramento and Stockton; most of Napa Valley between the cities of Napa and Calistoga; the valley areas running through Sonoma, Santa Rosa and Healdsburg; in Mendocino, most of the areas near Ukiah and east of Boonville; and in the Central Coast of California, the hills around Paso Robles, the Salinas Valley south of Soledad, and most of the areas near Santa Barbara County’s Santa Ynez and Solvang.

The decidedly warmer thermal belts in the Central Valley area south of Modesto, on the other hand, are classified in Sunset’s Zones 8 and 9.

For a gardening authority like Sunset, these zones are matter of practicality: If you wish to know what best to grow and how, then you need to understand where your region stands climatically in comparison to other regions. Anyone who has been “stuck” in Lodi’s mild Mediterranean climate knows this. Soon the rest of the world of fine wine will, too.

The non-existent connection between quality and price

How much of what we perceive or think about wine is a mind trick - much less real than we may suspect?

Naturally, here in Lodi – where average bottle prices tend to be slightly lower than that of other wine regions because of a number of circumstances, beginning with grape prices – we have reason to dwell on this question. In our case: How much of what consumers (as well as critics and wine industry professionals) think of Lodi wines is real, and how much is simply unfounded perception?

A number of studies have been done on this very subject – the misperception of wine quality as it relates to price and popular ratings. Particularly one study reported in the Journal of Wine Economics (Spring 2008). The extensive research cited by this issue involved 17 blind tastings conducted by a food and wine critic named Robin Goldstein.

In these tastings, participating subjects were asked to rate wines on a scale of 1 to 4. The tastings were conducted “double-blind” – test subjects did not know the identity of the wines tasted – and the wines utilized ranged in price from $1.65 to $150 per bottle. In total, 506 participants tasted 523 different wines, resulting in 6,175 observations. The paper’s abstract, summarizing the results of Goldstein’s study:

Individuals who are unaware of the price do not derive more enjoyment from more expensive wine. In a sample of more than 6,000 blind tastings, we find that the correlation between price and overall rating is small and negative, suggesting that individuals on average enjoy more expensive wines slightly less. For individuals with wine training, however, we find indications of a non-negative relationship between price and enjoyment. Our results are robust to the inclusion of individual fixed effects, and are not driven by outliers: when omitting the top and bottom deciles of the price distribution, our qualitative results are strengthened, and the statistical significance is improved further. These findings suggest that non-expert wine consumers should not anticipate greater enjoyment of the intrinsic qualities of a wine simply because it is expensive or is appreciated by experts.

In the past we have also cited a 2008 study by Associate Professor of Economics at the California Institute of Technology named Antonio Rangel, who came out with a report on how price effects perception of wine quality (see Wine Study Shows Price Influences Perception) in a study in which subjects were told the price of the wines they were tasting.

On top of that, Rangel scanned the test subjects’ brains to monitor the “neural activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex” – an area of the brain believed to be where sensations of pleasure are hot-wired during encounters involving taste, odors, music, etc.

Rangel asked 21 volunteers to blind-taste 5 different bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon and rate their preferences. The taste test was run 15 times, and the wines presented in random order. However, two of the wines were presented twice; one with its true retail price, and the other with a fake price. They presented one bottle that actually retailed for $90 as a $10 wine, and still another bottle that retailed for $5 as a $45 wine.

The results of Rangel’s study: Neural activity demonstrated that higher priced bottles definitely enhanced the subjects’ experience of wines. Subjects consistently gave higher ratings to the higher priced wines, even when they were the exact same wine as a lower priced (hence, lower rated) one. To quote Professor Rangel, “This study shows that the brain’s rewards center takes into account subjective beliefs about the quality of the experience… if you believe the experience is better, even though it’s the same wine, the rewards center of the brain encodes it as feeling better.”

This comes as no surprise. No doubt we are all aware that we are susceptible to suggestion. When someone tells us a product is of higher quality, we want to believe that; and price is perceived as an indicator. We know that the power of hypnosis is based upon suggestion – like a rewiring of our brain’s receptors, causing us to respond in ways we are induced to respond, even against our better judgement.

Georges Riedel (RIEDEL Glass Co.) preparing for Zinfandel tasting

The important thing is being conscious of what these studies demonstrate. Particularly this simple premise: When it comes to wine, price does not necessarily correlate with quality. We are being duped, but it is not so bad if we are aware of it!

Sure, most great wines are justifiably higher in price, and lower priced wines are often the simplest. At the same time, many lower priced wines are probably a lot “better” than what is suggested by their price, and many higher priced wines are probably not nearly as good as we are led to believe.

Fact of the matter is, there are numerous factors that determine why some wines are priced much higher than others, regardless of quality. It could be because a wine is grown in a region where grape prices are two or three times higher than grape prices in other regions (there are great producers in high-priced neighborhoods, working right alongside mediocre producers turning out mediocre wines).

Or, as in the case of Lodi, it could be because a wine comes from region where grape prices are lower, yet can be crafted with as much care as wines from other regions. The average price of a Lodi grown wine may be lower than wines from other regions; but that doesn’t stop talented Lodi vintners from producing wines that can, and often do, impress both non-expert consumers and highly experienced professional wine judges.

Higher priced wines that we find disappointing can also be the result of cost of production; such as use of more expensive oak barrels (no amount of new, fancy oak can “improve” an average quality wine), or increased capital investment put into vineyards or winery equipment (someone has to pay for it – namely consumers). Another reason could be markups multiplied by either middlemen (particularly brokers or importers) or enhanced marketing or advertising costs, which invariably add to the cost of the usual winery-to-distributor-to-retailer route to our dinner tables.

Are the highest rated wines less pleasing?

Then there is the matter of rating systems – particularly 100-point scores that consumers are asked to consider alongside prices at the retail shelf. Higher scores, like higher prices, suggest higher quality, but let’s be real: In virtually all cases, ratings are set by individuals who taste a lot of wine, but who do not necessarily have the same taste as you.

Professional wine judging

Perhaps the most influential, best known wine critic of all, for instance, is famously inured to the presence of Brettanomyces – a yeast that gives red wines the smell and taste of leather, and often “barnyard” (i.e. animal waste) – in wines. He is also partial to wines that are very ripe in fruit (using words like “opulent” and “hedonistic” to describe them), and often high in alcohol. But what if you don’t like alcoholic, fruity wines that smell like a barnyard? What if you enjoy lighter, crisper, clean and minerally tasting wines, which almost always garner lower "scores" simply because subtlety is usually perceived as lack of intensity?

One thing to remember is that the 2008 paper put out by the Journal of Wine Economics actually found an inverse relationship between wine ratings and perceived quality, re one of their observations:

... in a large sample of blind tastings, we find that the correlation between price and overall rating is small and negative. Unless they are experts, individuals on average enjoy more expensive wines slightly less. Our results suggest that non-expert wine consumers should not anticipate greater enjoyment of the intrinsic qualities of a wine simply because it is expensive or is appreciated by experts.

Then again, this really is no different from brainy movie critics who give the highest ratings to films that you know darned well would utterly bore you. It’s a good thing most of us know our taste when it comes to movies – and other things, like books, music, and sports – but understandably, we want to trust someone else’s taste when it comes to wines because the nuanced qualities of the best wines can often be somewhat elusive.

But does it really matter? What good are qualitative nuances if they don't actually contribute to your enjoyment?

Gerardo Espinosa of Lodi's Vinedos Aurora conducting barrel tasting

And besides – even “experts” are often deceived by labels, preconceived notions, personal predilections, irrationalities, or the basic unreliability of individual sensory perception. Like that of any artistic expression, the evaluation of fine wine invites a subjectivity contingent upon mental as well as physical circumstances, whether a wine is tasted "blind" or not. To what extent? See this report on Wine Tasting: It's Junk Science; concerning a 4-year experiment involving professional wine judges at the California State Fair, which resulted in "disturbing" findings regarding the ability (or inability) of even the most respected judges to rank the exact same wines, poured from the same bottles, with any degree of consistency.

The worse wine critics, in fact, are probably the ones with a false sense of infallibility. Who believe their 100-point scores have the permanence of stone tablets despite the factor every experienced taster acknowledges - that not every bottle under the same label tastes the same. Good wine is an organic (in the original sense of the word) product, and it's silly to expect sameness. Suffice to say, human beings are never infallible. Even Popes know (or should know) this. Wine critics – because they are evaluating liquids that shift and change as rapidly as our senses and minute hands on a clock – even more so.

So what is the alternative... chaos? The answer is, an appreciation of wine the same way it was done for centuries, long before 100-point scores were even thought of, and before obscenely wealthy people in China, New York, Tokyo or Las Vegas weren't driving up the prices of the rarer stuff.

That is to say, each individual making a concerted effort to understand his or her own taste in wine, critics be damned. If your instinct is to be skeptical of prices, high or low, then you're already half-way there. Hey, let's open up a bottle and talk about it. There is, after all, no trust like trust in yourself, and in the experience shared with friends, family, and especially equally good food.

Bechthold Vineyard Cinsaut (ancient vines planted in 1886) during July 2015 veraison; source of some of the finest roses in California

Summer, as many Lodi wine lovers well know, is the time for backyards brimming with tinkles and laughter, hovering hummingbirds, and the pungently earthy scent of golden paellas or the wispy gray smoke of grilling vegetables and marinated white or red meats; the heat bending the optics of multi-colored flora through the dappled shades and blinding rays of sun penetrating through the typically towering trees nourished by our fertile Delta soil.

Our high season afternoons can be like Mediterranean ovens, as tyrannical as Tuscany’s or as palatial as Provence’s; but predictably, soothingly, cooling breezes kick up from the Delta islands to the west like magical rescue-genies from pent-up lamps towards the end of each day, when the light on sun drenched sidewalks transition into milder, deeper golds, and we close our eyes... raise our glasses to our lips and enjoy what, perhaps, the Lodi earth produces best for these summer moments: cool, refreshing, dry rosés.

And why not? Classic, modern day styles of rosé are not just much dryer and sleeker than the gooey-sweet, mushy styles of “vin rosé” many of us drank during yesteryears long past. They are also typically crafted to retain the titillating, tart sensations of natural grape acidity; at the same time, with the natural, gushy fruit qualities of high class black skinned grapes – since the best rosés are always made from the same, gently pressed grapes that are primarily used to produce red wines (hence, the pink colors and fruity flavors derived from pigments and flavonoids in the skins of noble grapes such as Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Carignan, Cinsaut, Sangiovese, Barbera, etc.).

The best rosés, in other words, are basically red wines gussied up to be light and refreshing like white wines. In that sense, the wine world’s ultimate cross-dressers; possessing the strength and audacity to go with meaty, even fatty, foods, yet delicate, chill and sprightly enough to freshen the sun parched palate and dance with the lightest, crunchiest, sharpest foods as well as notorious “wine fighters” such as artichokes, salad vinaigrettes, fiery sambal or salsa laced dishes.

Really... what doesn’t taste absolutely fantastic with a good, dry rosé? Sushi and sashimi, tartare and tuna, meatloaf and meatballs, salmon and spiedini, salade Niçoise and salade Hidden Valley®, pasta primavera and lazy pasta Boyardee, shrimp ‘n grits and fish ‘n chips, baby back ribs and shake ‘n baked chicken... you name it, dry rosé handles it with ease. It's good to be pink.

Backyard paella in Lodi

Having stated our organoleptic peace, here are six of our favorite Lodi grown rosés at this very moment, along with the reasons why we think each is as good as any rosé in the world:

2014 McCay Cellars, Lodi Rosé ($18) – There are a number of things that make this rosé special. First, it comes primarily from 110-year old Carignan vines – one of Lodi’s truly rare and unique viticultural treasures – along with a smidgen of Grenache. Second, McCay Cellars owner/winemaker Mike McCay works as hard on the crafting of his dry pink wine as he does with any other of his wines – starting with whole cluster pressing on the gentlest setting, transferring the juice into stainless steel “barrels" held in cold temperatures for over a month, then very slow (about 30 days) fermentation on 100% native yeast. The result is a sleek, finely delineated wine; as naturally tart as a high season strawberry, luscious as a white peach, feathery as a rose petal, and as dry and faintly earthy and dusty as, well, a typically balmy Delta summer day in Lodi. What’s not to like?

2014 Onesta Wines, Bechthold Vineyard Lodi Rosé of Cinsaut ($22) – Anyone doubting the premise that Lodi produces rosés that are a cut above most other rosés from elsewhere in the world need look no further than here. There is both sensory and historical significance here in this a bone-dry wine made from 128-year-old, own-rooted Cinsaut vines in Lodi’s Bechthold Vineyard – a national treasure, and the oldest block of vines amidst a sea of ancient vines. In appropriate fashion, Onesta winemaker/owner Jillian Johnson DeLeon lavishes meticulous; crafting a light-medium bodied wine that is dry yet plush, tender, delicate and pinpoint on the palate – effusive with compellingly airy fragrances suggesting strawberry, baking rhubarb, mild yet pervasive whiffs of loamy earth, gravel, and the proverbial breezes from the South.

2014 Bokisch Vineyards, Linden Ridge Vineyard Lodi Rosado ($16) - If you like your rosés desert dry, zesty, and light to medium bodied (12.5% alcohol) rather than fat, overly fruity and plodding, Bokisch Vineyards’ latest edition is tailored-made for you. Fashioned 95% from the Garnacha grape, with 5% Graciano – the latter, an earthy, exotically scented, voluptuously rounded black skinned grape – this rosado has the dramatic olé of a matador’s cape, and the rattling spike of a bailarina de flamenco’s heel. That is to say, a stilleto dryness penetrated by lush, aromatic fruit suggesting drippy strawberry guava; and fluid, mouth-watering sensations recalling the zing of fresh raspberry, with the bracing edge of cranberry and pomegranate.

2014 Acquiesce Winery, Lodi Grenache Rosé ($18) – This pale pink, bone-dry, delicate style of rosé is very much inspired by the Provençal (or “Rhône”) styles of dry pink wines of Southern France, and makes us absolutely salivate for brothy shellfish laced dishes like bouillabaisse, cioppino, and tarragon laced mussels. Pure stainless steel fermented Grenache; achieving a soft, fleshy, round yet pliant, delicate feel; at the same time, bursting at the seams with strawberryish fruit, tinged with black pepper spice, faint loaminess, and crinkly rose petals in potpourri.

2014 LangeTwins Family, Lodi Sangiovese Rosé ($15) – Here is a ginger haired stunner made from a classic Italian grape that grabs us by the color and shakes our culinary world with its deft, effortless food-versatility (especially sea salt scented seafood pastas and fresh herb pizzas!). Sleek, slinky, and dry as a bone, yet brightly aromatic in lush strawberry fruit, hinting at rosehip and berry infused tea; underlined by medium bodied palate sensations as wet, zippy and exhilarating as the flesh of blood oranges.

2014 Klinker Brick, Lodi Rosé ($15) – It is soooo hard to go wrong with this classically styled dry rosè: a rusted pink blend of the familiar Southern French grapes (Grenache with Carignan, Mourvèdre and Syrah), combining to hit harmoniously aromatic notes of refreshingly watermelony, honeydew-ish, pink grapefruit-like fruit tinged by whispers of wet stone earthiness and neatly tied in a nimble medium-weight body, tarted up by mild citrusy sensations, finishing soft, round... easy as summer mornings.

129-year-old Bechthold Vineyard Cinsaut during July 2015 veraison

Craig Rous among his 106-year-old Rous Vineyard Zinfandel vines

Over the next two weeks we will feature words from a few winemakers and growers, speaking out on one subject: what makes Lodi special.

That is to say, the things that make the Lodi Viticultural Area different from other American AVAs that go beyond terroir – the mostly natural elements of a wine region related to climate and topography.

We will start with Craig Rous, the Director of Operations and Planning of the Kautz family’s Bear Creek Winery. Mr. Rous not only oversees the processing of a myriad of wine grapes from all parts of the Lodi AVA, he also happens to be the owner/grower of Rous Vineyard – a 10-acre Zinfandel vineyard originally planted in 1909 on St. George rootstocks, located in the beach sand-like soils of the east side of Lodi’s Mokelumne River AVA.

Rous Vineyard has long been considered one of Lodi’s great growths. It is always one of the highlights in the line-up of single vineyard bottlings crafted by Macchia Wines each year. The 2013 Macchia Luxurious Rous Vineyard Lodi Zinfandel ($28) lives up to its moniker as a luxuriously textured, flowery scented expression of the varietal.  

Craig Rous harvesting his 2014 Rous Vineyard Zinfandel

Perhaps even more of a definitive rendering of the vineyard is the 2013 Ironstone Rous Vineyard Lodi Zinfandel ($28); aged in more neutral oak barrels to emphasize the grape’s natural, sweetly spiced (cracked peppercorn and clove), fleshy, silken layered fruit, merging black cherry and blueberry-ish perfumes.

There is both nuanced complexity and frank, easy accessibility in Rous Vineyard Zinfandels, which also reflect Mr. Rous’s assessment of what defines Lodi.  In his words:

What makes Lodi special? We can go on and on about warm days, cool nights, sandy soils, and a plethora of old vines. But when you think about it, I think it’s the fact that when you visit Lodi as an enthusiastic wine lover, you really get unfettered access to principals. This is practically the only place where, wherever you go, you find yourself talking to owners and winemakers, not just winery employees.

And in most cases, owners are the winemakers in Lodi, and they also grow the grapes. This means they are doing things that make the best wines, not just for profit. Sandy soils and old vines are important, but so is the close, personal attention that owners naturally apply to what they do.

In Lodi, it’s the personal touch that makes a difference. It’s like Napa Valley was, 40, 50 years ago. We are a large wine region, but within a comparatively small, tight community, with direct connections between winemakers, growers and grapes. Our winemakers and owners are out in the vineyard more than in other wine regions. They live among the vines, and so they are in tune with what’s going on, winter, spring, summer and fall. And it’s a relationship that goes way back – in many cases, for over 100 years.

It’s that close proximity that makes a difference, and it ends up in the wines. Sure, a lot of people still aren’t exactly sure what a “Lodi wine” really is. But our winemakers and growers do, and we’re doing a better job each year getting the word out.

Craig Rous speaking at 2014 Lodi ZinFest (with Turley Wine Cellars' Tegan Passalacqua)

St. Amant's Stuart Spencer with 2014 Marian's Vineyard Zinfandel harvest

In part 2 of our series addressing the question of what makes the Lodi Viticultural Area special, we turn to Stuart Spencer, winemaker/owner of St. Amant Winery.

Is there any winery more respected by other Lodi winemakers and growers than St. Amant? Founded in 1979 by Barbara and the late Tim Spencer (Stuart Spencer’s parents), St. Amant has remained pre-eminent in the Lodi winegrowing community while retaining its original, unpretentious identity.

St. Amant’s most acclaimed bottling – Mokelumne River grown Zinfandel from Marian’s Vineyard, planted in 1901 and farmed by the Fry family’s Mohr-Fry Ranches – is still considered Lodi’s most “complete” Zinfandel. Meaning, this is the Zinfandel that best exemplifies the lush, mildly earthy, generous qualities for which Lodi Zinfandel is known, couched in a structure that is full yet nearly always perfectly rounded, bright, buoyant and curvaceous, without being (so to speak) presumptuous or potty-mouthed.

Ancient Marian's Vineyard Zinfandel during July 2015 veraison

Mohr-Fry Ranches owner Jerry Fry credits Tim Spencer as one of the leaders who helped define Lodi as a place for Zinfandel. He recently admitted, “At one point we were so close to pulling out all our old vine Zinfandel along with the Tokay plants, but Tim Spencer was the one who stepped up to the plate and encouraged us keep it going.”

Stuart Spencer also serves as Program Director of the Lodi Winegrape Commission, while continuing to craft wines in the same authentic, artisanal style – true to the grape, not an ego – of this father Tim. Knowledgeable wine lovers flock to St. Amant’s tasting room expecting to find first class wines, not bells and whistles; and are still invariably greeted by Barbara Spencer herself. This is the Lodi camino real.

Or, as Mr. Spencer tells us in his own words:

The most obvious distinction that sets Lodi apart is our treasure trove of own-rooted old vineyards. There are literally hundreds of these old blocks throughout the region that, in many cases, have yet to be discovered or had the opportunity to truly express their real character.

However, what really sets Lodi apart for me from most California wine regions is the people. There is an authenticity and incredible sense of community. Their livelihood is dependent upon the land, and farming is their way of life.

They are content in the vineyard, on a tractor, and out in the sun. They are honest and straightforward. And to me, this ethos helps give Lodi a sense of place – one that we are just beginning to discover.

The great American importer of French wine named Kermit Lynch was once quoted to say that the “definition of terroir also involves the tradition of winemaking” – that is, the input of people who grow grapes and make wine, not just the natural attributes of regions and vineyards. To Lynch, terroir doesn’t exist without people.

Lodi has more acres of ancient vines than anywhere else in California. Why is that? In a sense, it is because these enduring vines are like the winegrowers themselves – having sprung from the land and heroically persisted through generation after generation to the point where they are very much a part of the “thereness” that has come to define the wines of Lodi.

2012 Marian's Vineyard Zinfandel harvest

Borra Vineyards winemaker Markus Niggli with wintering Vermentino

What sets Lodi apart from other American Viticultural Areas? We asked Markus Niggli, the Swiss-born winemaker of Borra Vineyards. Borra is currently Lodi’s oldest continuously operating family winery (bonded in 1975). Yet today, Borra is known as Lodi’s most innovative winery – a reputation garnered almost since the first day, in 2006, when third generation Lodi grower/founder Steve Borra welcomed Mr. Niggli onboard.

“I trust him implicitly,” Mr. Borra has been quoted to say in the local newspaper (Lodi News-Sentinel). “I like to say it is really Markus’ winery — I just happen to own it.”

Borra Vineyards owner/grower Steve Borra with Markus Niggli

It is also hard to say what speaks in more volumes – the fascinating array of contemporary style wines crafted by Mr. Niggli, or Mr. Niggli himself. While low key, Niggli is not shy about talking about the dramatic changes he has brought to Borra Vineyards: the implementation of European style winemaking – particularly native yeast fermentation and an instinctive aversion to anything “unnatural,” like acid adjustments and enzymes – and an aggressive embrace of Northern European grapes (such as Riesling, Kerner, Bacchus and Gewürztraminer) hitherto not associated with the Lodi AVA, known for its Mediterranean climate.

By the same token, wines like the 2013 markus Lodi Nimmo ($22) come across and gentle, bone dry and tautly tart, yet speak effusively in the nose and thunderously on the palate. A barrel fermented blend of Kerner (69%) with Gewürztraminer, Riesling and Bacchus, this white wine explodes with citrusy notes of candied tangerine and lime, with silky textures suggestive of whipped cream and twists of lemon peel.

And so naturally, when Niggli talks about what makes Lodi special, he talks about natural circumstances that invite versatility – there are few varieties of Vitis vinifera (i.e. classic European wine grapes) that can’t grow well in Lodi – which has led to an environment that fosters innovation.

In Niggli’s own words:

The more I think about what makes Lodi different, the more it comes back to change...

A change has happened here in Lodi over the past few years.

It is a changing of the guard – a “next generation” of vintners and winemakers already exploring the many new opportunities that the region offers.

It is a change in climate – we have been seeing earlier ripening growing seasons, which has pushed winemakers to get creative. The big winners are the new white wines with much higher acid levels than what people expect out Lodi. We have the climate – the Delta breeze cools off the valley every night with temperature drops up to 40° F. differences.

It is a change in grape varieties – this new generation of winemakers working with the many adventurous varieties now available to them. German grapes, Spanish grapes, Portuguese grapes, French grapes... and customers are responding with great enthusiasm to these new styles of white wine. Clearly, the market is hungry for it; and maybe more than any other region, Lodi is capable of delivering this!  

Borra's Markus Niggli with Mokelumne Glen Vineyard grown Kerner grapes

McCay Cellars owner/winemaker Mike McCay

If you ask Mike McCay, the winemaker/owner of McCay Cellars, about what makes Lodi special, he’s going to want to talk about ancient vines and Zinfandel; which, after all, are his specialty.

But Zinfandel grows well all over California; and certainly, ancient vine plantings in places like Sonoma, Napa Valley, Paso Robles, Mendocino, Contra Costa, the Sierra Foothills or elsewhere do not take a backseat to plantings in any other region, including Lodi.

So what does make ancient vine Zinfandel in Lodi different, besides the fact that Lodi has a lot more acreage of these plantings (vineyards planted 50, 75, even over 100 years ago) than other regions?

The answer can be found in the type of Zinfandels fashioned by Mr. McCay since his first commercial vintage in 2007: Zinfandels with a strong sense of earthiness, even rawness, apart from the usual varietal fruitiness. Zinfandels that give the type of distinctive organic sensations that many wine lovers would characterize, for lack of a better word, as “soulful.” Others, of course, would mutter words like terroir – with the proper French grrrowl.

Most of it has to do with the fact that Lodi does have a lot of vineyards that naturally express earthy qualities, which seem to pop out in lieu of more gently structured, lush fruit qualities. Maybe because they are not quite as intense in sheer varietal fruit as, say, Zinfandels grown in Napa or Sonoma. Or because they don’t have as much of the varietal “spice” as Zinfandels from Amador County, or the ultra-ripe opulence of Zinfandels from Paso Robles.

McCay's 2012 Trulux Vineyard Zinfandel cluster

A lot of it also has to do with the McCay approach to viticulture and winemaking. “I have an Old World palate,” he has said from the get-go. “I’m not a fan of the r.s. style of Zinfandel” – meaning, Zinfandels made from grapes picked so high in sugar that they result perceptively sweet fruitiness. “By picking fruit little earlier (usually between 24.5° and 25.5° Brix) than usual for Lodi, I can produce a dryer, less jammy style of Zinfandel, without the high octane alcohol.”

In other words, a more restrained style of Zinfandel – one that deliberately goes in the opposite direction of Zinfandels designed for maximum size and pedal-to-the-metal varietal character (“no wimpy wines,” as one of California’s more famous Zinfandel specialists proudly proclaims) – which, as it were, happens to be a style that makes vineyard-related sensations a little easier to delineate in the glass.

A current McCay release exemplifying this contrarian style? The 2012 McCay Cellars Lot 13-Faith Lodi Zinfandel ($32): a penetratingly perfumed, Bing cherry and dusty sandalwood scented bottling from a vineyard planted in 1915, owned and farmed by Mr. McCay himself, and rendered in a sleek, delicate, tart edged, downright waifish style (a vinous equivalent to a pretty but surly teenage girl – secret tattoo, pierced navel and all).

No wonder McCay Cellars has achieved more than its share of acclaim within eight short years. There is, after all, a growing segment of wine lovers who really never liked the gigantic, anti-wimpy style of Zinfandel, and for that reason stayed away from Zinfandel for many years. Wine lovers who think of lightness and moderation as positives, who eschew the taste of oak and high alcohol, and look for earthy, soulful, even down-and-dirty sensations in their Zinfandel.

Therefore, if you ask Mike McCay what makes Lodi special, he has to say it’s mostly ancient vines and unique Zinfandels. He’s found his schtick – multiple bottlings of single-vineyard wines, elevated in an Old World (mostly native yeast fermented) style – and he’s schticking to it.

Or, in his own words:

Lodi has one of California’s best climates for producing wine grapes. That, and our deep sandy loam soils, which allow vines to spread their roots and find their own natural sense of balance. It’s why Lodi is perfect for Zinfandel, either grafted or on natural rootstocks; as well as for Rhône grapes, which are an easy fit in this warm climate, cooled off by Delta breezes each night.

But Lodi is also like an archeologist’s dream, or like walking through Rome – the region is filled with hidden vineyards, like gems. Each one waiting to be uncovered, right under our feet. We’re talking about heritage plantings, many of them over 75 or 100 years old – vineyards that have been disappearing into the 100-ton fermentors of the big boys for decades.

Every year I am working with two or three of these “new” vineyards, which actually have been around forever. We just never noticed them before. Often it’s the case of a new generation taking over, who want to see their family properties finally get the credit they deserve.

And people are dying to taste them – the overwhelming success of the Lodi Native project is evidence of that. We’re tasting single-vineyard Zinfandels which share similar themes of bright, elegant fruit – that’s the overall Lodi character. Yet each of these old vine Zinfandels are different. It’s our job to figure it out and present them.

As winemakers, step 1 for us has been identifying those vineyards. Step 2 has been learning each site’s personality, what they respond to – what kind of crop loads, when and how much to thin, water, leaf pull, all those decisions you make to bring out the best in a field of old vine Zinfandel.

Native yeast fermentation helps us clarify each vineyard’s personality, but it doesn’t work 100% for every site. Some vineyards want to be bigger, more robust, sexier, earthier or richer. Some vineyards want to be more delicate, lighter, more perfumed, a little finer. We need to handle each one accordingly.

When we farm old vines and work with the grapes, the idea is not to try to put a square peg into a round hole. We’re learning each vineyard’s personality as we go along --that in itself is what makes this process so exciting. It’s what keeps me going!

Matthew McCay manning back-of-truck Zinfandel tasting in Lot 13 Vineyard

Markus Bokisch walking over cobbly clay terrain in Lodi's Cosumnes River AVA; site of one of Bokisch Ranches' latest vineyard plantings.

Is there any winegrower more sold on the Lodi Viticultural Area than Markus Bokisch of Bokisch Ranches?

Mr. Bokisch first started to come to Lodi during the early 1990s, while fulfilling his job of sourcing “Rhône Ranger” grapes (i.e. Syrah, Mourvèdre, Grenache, Carignan, Viognier, etc.) for Joseph Phelps Vineyards’ Vin du Mistral program (since deactivated).

Enthralled by the region’s Mediterranean-like terroirs, Mr. Bokisch and his wife, Liz Bokisch, left Napa Valley and moved to Lodi, purchasing their first vineyard property in 1995. Their dream was to specialize in Spanish grapes (like Albariño, Tempranillo, Garnacha and Graciano), inspired by Mr. Bokisch’s Spanish heritage. But as a matter of practicality, they also began developing vineyards planted primarily to the wine grapes in biggest demand (Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir, etc.).

Today Bokisch Ranches has grown to over 2,000 acres, located in no less than six of Lodi’s seven separate sub-appellations. He supplies over 50 wineries with some 40 different grape varieties; while producing hugely successful Spanish and Portuguese varietals (plus an ancient vine "Tizona" Zinfandel) under their own Bokisch Vineyards label.

Bokisch Ranches is emblematic of the bold, expansive, maybe even wild and crazy nature of the Lodi wine grape industry. Next door to the Bokischs’ original planting of Spanish grapes along the Mokelumne River, there is a vineyard planted to over 40 German and Austrian grapes. Across the road there are stands of ancient vine Tokay and young trellised Syrah and Merlot, right alongside Zinfandel and Carignan dating back to the early 1900s.

Markus & Liz Bokisch with their 2015 Terra Alta Vineyard Albarino harvest

There are over 100 varieties of wine grapes planted in Lodi; and they all find a home. According Mr. Bokisch, this why they came to Lodi in the first place: it represents a “freedom” unlike any other wine region in California.

In his own words:

What I love about Lodi is that it offers vineyardists and winemakers freedom to create wines without having to worry about the constraints of location. If you’re in Napa, the economics dictate Cabernet. In Carneros, it’s Chardonnay. Paso Robles is associated with Rhône and Bordeaux varieties. But in Lodi, the picture has yet to be painted. It's still wide open.

We planted Iberian, French and German varietals, all with equal success. This freedom of direction is due, in part, to Lodi’s historic ability to redefine itself. Starting predominantly with table grapes in the 19th century, Lodi transitioned through Prohibition into a grape packing-house industry for home winemakers across the country. The era of Zinfandel was soon followed by the transition to Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet in the 1990s.

Most recently we have seen an explosion of different varieties and winemaking styles – from the delicate aromatics of Picpoul to the robust, gripping muscularity of Tannat. This constant redefining of what Lodi has to offer is a direct result of the cooperative and cohesive spirit of the area’s growers.

This freedom which defines Lodi could not be possible were if not for the area’s moderating climate and varied soils. Lodi’s Delta breezes originate from the Pacific and cool us down every night. With regard to soils, Lodi’s seven distinct AVAs range from cobbled slopes, the volcanic clay loams of the Foothills, to the organic, peat soils found in the Delta. In Lodi you find almost every possible combination of climate and soils appropriate to distinct wine grape varieties.

Lodi is indeed a unique place in the world of wine.

Markus Bokisch with open-fire wood roasted goat

Harinder and Bobby Dhaliwal, who came to Lodi with their family from Punjab, India in 1983

They are, of course, no longer “foreigners,” but more correctly, foreign-born winemakers and growers who are now fully immersed in the Lodi winegrowing industry, contributing immensely to the community.

Immigrants, of course, have played huge roles in the history of the Lodi Viticultural Area since the mid-nineteenth century. For example, the Lange family, who own LangeTwins Family Winery & Vineyards, trace their ancestry back to Johann and Maria Lange, who arrived from Germany during the 1870s. Joseph Spenker – whose descendants own Jessie’s Grove Winery and still farm Spenker Ranch on Lodi’s west side – first arrived via wagon train and feet from Germany in 1868.

The multiple branches of the Mettler family settled on Lodi’s east side, after emigrating from Germany (via South Dakota), right around 1900. Families of Italian descent – with names such as Borra (of today’s Borra Vineyards), Manassero, Mencarini (Abundance Vineyards), Peirano (Peirano Estate Vineyards), and Maggio (a major partner in Oak Ridge Winery) – first began farming in San Joaquin Valley between the 1870s and early 1900s.

The late John Van Ruiten Sr. (founder of Van Ruiten Family Winery) arrived from Holland and established the first of his expansive Lodi vineyard properties in the 1950s. Japanese families – such as the Nomas and Mikamis (Mikami Vineyards) – trickled in as early as the 1890s. The Portuguese first began to farm or ranch (especially the dairy industry) in the region during the 1890s; and today, families like the Vierras (St. Jorge Winery) and Silvas (the renowned Silvaspoons Vineyards) play a major part in the Lodi wine industry.

And so it goes:  talented, resourceful, colorful people of many backgrounds continuously adding to the rich fabric and prestige of the Lodi Viticultural Area. Three inspiring examples of more recent arrivals...

Pieter den Hartog

Pieter den Hartog – Owner/Grower, Den Hartog International Farms

Den Hartog International Farms' Pieter den Hartog was born in Amsterdam, Holland, and schooled in Ag Management in the Netherlands, Mr. den Hartog arrived in the Lodi area in the mid-1980s, after lending his skills to farming companies in Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and elsewhere in California.

Just outside of Thornton (on the western edge of the Lodi AVA), Mr. den Hartog found what he has described as a “disheveled farm,” which he purchased with his father to start up what is now called Den Hartog International Farms, Inc.  He began to transition this 720-acre property from pears to wine grapes in 1991, and grew it to over 880 acres of planted grapes by 2002.

Since then, Den Hartog International Farms has become one of Lodi’s most influential growers; leading the way by adapting Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing when this landmark program was first initiated ten years ago by the Lodi Winegrape Commission.

Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith – Winemaker, Klinker Brick Winery

Belize is a tiny coastal country in Central America, and we mean tiny – it has a population of less than 350,000 (the population of San Joaquin Valley alone is more than 10 times that size).

Still, everybody knows everyone in the Lodi wine community, which may be why Klinker Brick Winery’s Belize born winemaker Joseph Smith feels right at home. Mr. Smith was born in the little town of San Ignacio, and is the middle child in a family of 14 kids. He migrated to Los Angeles at the age of 18 to work for an uncle in the construction business. His first project was the renovation of a small winery in Collegeville (near Stockton); and upon completion of the job, the owner/winemaker – the industry-wide respected consulting winemaker, Barry Gnekow – offered Mr. Smith a part-time position as a cellar rat.

From there, Smith’s career blasted off. Gnekow went on to consult with an amazing string of wildly successful wineries – including Hahn Family Wines, Michael David Winery and Jessie’s Grove Winery, among others – and Mr. Smith was with him every step of the way. “Keep in mind,” says Smith, “ I had never been exposed to wine up to that point, but I was always eager to learn something new.”

Smith, however, began to demonstrate formidable winemaking chops of his own – to heck with formal training! – and landed his first gig as official “winemaker” with the Global Wine Group (wines sold under the defunct Jewel label) in 2004. In 2007, when Lodi’s Klinker Brick Winery was in need of a full-time winemaker, Mr. Smith ably took the reins; and today, he remains one of the key reasons why the multi-award winning Klinker Brick Winery is successfully sold in nearly every state of the union.

Amrik Dhaliwal

Amrik Dhaliwal – Owner/Grower, Dahliwal Vineyards

One of the common sights on the west side of Lodi’s Mokelumne River AVA is Amrik Dhaliwal, cruising slowly in his big truck between the vineyard properties he now owns, leases or manages (over 1,000 acres of premium wine grapes) wearing his distinctly wrapped turban, beard and the uncut hair signifying devoted followers of Sikhism – the philosophical, monotheistic religion originated by Guru Nanak Dev Ji in fifteenth century Punjab, India.

Mr. Dhaliwal first came to Lodi in 1983, starting out as a grape picker earning as little as $11 a day. In his native India, however, he had been the head of the agricultural department in Punjab; Punjab itself, long being India’s #1 state in agricultural production, the dairy and cattle industries, as well as medical and engineering universities. “Sikhs make up only 2% of the population in India,” Dhaliwal tells us, “but we play an important part.”

For those unfamiliar with Sikh contributions to the economy of San Joaquin County, Dhaliwal tells us that Sikhs originally began arriving in California in 1890 to work on railroad lines. Subsequent generations coming to California have established themselves in agricultural and dairy businesses, and many in medical professions. Dhaliwal estimates that today there are about 10,000 Sikh-Americans living in San Joaquin County, and the Deshmesh Darber Sikh Temple is located right alongside some of Lodi's most distinguished vineyards (Mohr-Fry Ranches) and cherry orchards.

Mr. Dhaliwal’s own two sons are U.C. Davis graduates: Harinder Dhaliwal is the Vineyard Manager of Treasury Wine Estate’s Yountville and Carneros ranches (in Napa Valley); and Ravinder “Bobby” Dhaliwal is an educator – although both also put in time helping to manage the family’s Lodi vineyards.

Today, over 90% of Dhaliwal Vineyards' 1,000 acres is certified by the exacting standards of Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing. Says Bobby Dhaliwal, “You can’t be an absentee grower.” And in fact, the Dhaliwal family’s steady, hands-on commitment to the Lodi winegrape industry is exactly why they have been so successful.

Upcoming blogpost:  Lodi's foreign legion (part 2)

Stama Winery owner/grower Konstantino "Gus" Kapiniaris

Continuing our stories of outstanding growers and winemakers born in far flung places, and now fully immersed in the Lodi Viticultural Area's rich culture of winegrowing:

Konstantino “Gus” Kapiniaris – Owner/Grower, Stama Winery 

For Konstantino "Gus" Kapiniaris, the opening this past spring of his stunning, Mediterranean inspired Stama Winery and tasting room on Lodi’s west side is the culmination of a journey that began in October 1966, when he first arrived (by way of Canada) in the Delta region, the youngest of six siblings born and raised in Koroni, a small fishing village in Southern Greece's Peloponnese.

"When I first came to California," says Mr. Kapiniaris, "I took one look around and said, ‘My God, this is where I want to stay forever.’” Although Mr. Kapiniaris first worked as a machinist, and then as an independent restaurant owner (from 1979 to 1994), the goal from the beginning was to own a vineyard and make wine – a Kapiniaris family tradition in Greece going back four previous generations.

In 1987 Mr. Kapiniaris was finally able to purchase his first 30-acre vineyard on the east side of Lodi, and began selling his wine grapes to large commercial wineries. Since then the Kapiniaris family has expanded their vineyard operations to four more properties on Lodi's east side, now totaling 210 acres. The first vintage under his own Stama Winery label was bottled in 2005.

Stama is short for Stamatelopoulus, a legendary Greek patriot who is said to have escaped from captivity from Ottoman Turks by breaking chains holding him to a stone wall. For the Kapiniaris, these chains – also depicted on their Stama labels – are also symbolic of the freedom and passion they have found in the U.S.

Mr. Kapiniaris’s son, Frank Kapiniaris, is also very much involved as the Stama Winery General Manager. According to the younger Kapiniaris, “When I was a boy, my father told me that no matter what, I must make wine, from our own grapes, to honor the family’s tradition, which goes back five generations before me. It is unbelievable, but now that dream has come true!”

Franck Lambert – Winemaker, Stama Winery & Watts Family Winery

Monsieur Franck Lambert, who was born in Southern France and educated at University of Montpellier (where he attained a Master's degree in winemaking), is one of those super-talented winemakers who consults for several wineries at a time. In this fashion, he has been a quiet yet influential part of the Lodi winemaking community over the past 13 years.

After plying his craft in France's Alsace, Bordeaux and Languedoc regions, as well as a short time in South Africa, Lambert arrived in the Lodi wine region in 2002 to be part of Michael David Winery's rapid (or rather, explosive) expansion. As Michael David's Senior Winemaker, Lambert was an integral part of the team perfecting wines like 7 Deadly Zins and Earthquake, helping to take the Phillips family's winery from just 10,000 cases in 2002 to over 350,000 cases by 2010.

Over the past four years Lambert has branched out as an independent; lending his prodigious talents to Oak Farm Vineyards during its formative years, and today, to Watts Family Winery and Stama Winery.  When you taste a Watts Family or Stama label wine, you can always expect impeccable balance and bright, buoyant stylishness - reflecting the unerring hand of this French born winemaker as much as the giving quality of Lodi grown fruit.

South African-born Peltier Station winemaker J.C. van Staden

J.C. van Staden – Winemaker, Peltier Station

J.C. van Staden was born and raised on a game farm in South Africa, where his family raised cattle, sheep and game.  According to van Staden, he grew up riding bulls, wrestling crocodiles and catching warthogs – and that was for fun.

It also seems that he was born to raise cane; or rather, every crop imaginable, including table grapes, which he was doing by the time he was 14,  This eventually led to his taking a summer job at a well established South African winery called Robertson at the age of 19.

After beginning his career at Robertson Winery, Mr. van Staden joined the prestigious Boekenhoutskloof Winery in Franschhoek, South Africa.  He still jokes that he made wine at Boekenhoutskloof until he grew sick of having to explain how to pronounce its name.

And so Mr. van Staden branched out even further:  first with short stints in France, and finally, coming all the way to Lodi to take a job at Michael David Winery in 2003.  The winemaking position at Peltier Winery became available in 2005; which he admits being compelled to take because of the possibility of a little more personal creativity. 

Since then he has helped Peltier Station attained its solid rep for big and powerful reds – just the way Mr. van Staden likes it – including an amazingly original, deep, if somewhat austere, Lodi estate grown Teroldego. 

You can take a winemaker out of South Africa, but evidently you can't quite take the South African out of Mr. van Staden:  his favorite activity, aside from turning grapes into liquid gold, is now playing and coathing sports with his two kids - rugby, of course.

The Anaya family of Venedos Aurora:  Victor Anaya Rocha (seated) with (from left) Gerardo Espinosa, Armando Anaya, Gerardo Anaya, Leticia Anaya, and Ramon Anaya (missing: Victor Anaya Jr.)

Anaya Family – Viñedos Aurora Winery

The wines of Viñedos Aurora – headlined by powerful Cabernet Sauvignons and a manly, aromatic Petite Sirah – take a back seat to no others in Lodi.

Theirs is also a great American story, which begins with the grandfather of winemaker Gerardo Espinosa, Victor Anaya Rocha, who first came to the Stockton/Lodi area from Michoacán, Mexico to work the fields in 1944. For several decades, Anaya Sr. – Don Victor, as the family now calls him – traveled back and forth between California and Mexico. He successfully raised four sons – Victor Jr., Ramon, Armando and Gerardo Anaya – all of whom earned degrees in agricultural engineering from the University of Michoacán.

Viñedos Aurora winemaker Gerardo Espinosa is the son of Anaya Sr.’s daughter, Leticia Anaya. Like his grandfather and uncles before him, for much of his life the younger Gerardo traveled back and forth between San Joaquin Valley and Michoacán before finally staying put and finishing school at Lodi’s Tokay High, then later earning a degree in architecture.

Typical of countless immigrant families who found success by pooling resources, the four Anaya brothers transitioned from agriculture to owning and operating retail and restaurant businesses in Downtown Lodi. Yet farming was in their blood; and so in 1998, the Anayas purchased and broke ground on 40 acres of prime vineyard property east of Lodi in the Clements Hills AVA, planting Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah. Since then, they have added another 50 acres of wine grapes on a nearby ranch.

But like many growers in Lodi, the Anaya brothers anticipated the need to take destiny into their own hands, and began to make their own wine from their vineyards in the classic garagistes (“garage”) tradition, starting with Petite Sirah in 2002. The younger Gerardo jumped in with both feet in 2007; focusing more on the family’s winemaking ambitions while continuing to work for a prestigious Stockton architectural firm.

After a 2008 vintage of their estate grown Petite Sirah earned a double-gold in the California State Fair Home Wine Competition, the family decided to go commercial: launching Viñedos Aurora – named for Victor Anaya Sr.’s wife Aurora (while also expressing the idea of a “vineyard” that sees “first light of day” on the eastern side of Lodi) – was born.

Says Espinosa, “When I started making wine with my uncles, it was all about honoring our roots and traditions – especially the hard work my family did to get to where they are today. It all started with my grandfather, who was only 15 years old when he first started working as a bracero in the fields. The entire time he spent going back and forth, he dreamed of owning his own land – not just in Mexico, but also in California.”

The Anaya family has accomplished all of that, and much more – something you can taste in every rich, suave, satisfying bottling of Viñedos Aurora wine.

Vinedos Aurora Don Victor Reserva de la Casa Cabernet Sauvignon

Last year's SIP SAVOR LODI Harvest Dinner under Downtown Lodi's Lodi Arch

On the Friday night (6-9 PM) of September 25, 2015, Downtown Lodi's Pine Street (just below the landmark Lodi Arch) becomes one big, long open-air dining room, in the finest wine country town tradition.

At the SIP SAVOR LODI Harvest Dinner, you will be able to enjoy dozens of Lodi's finest wines with a lavish array of courses while cozying up next to many of the Lodi Viticultural Area’s finest winemakers, taking a much-needed breather between their usual breakneck around-the-clock harvest labors.

The dinner will be prepared by Elaine Bell Catering (for over 30 years, one of California's most celebrated wine country chefs); and the wines, of course, will be second-to-none. We have selected the best of the best for this event!

Although it is already almost completely booked, there are still a few seats left. Tickets are $125 per person, or $1,000 for reserved tables of 8 (21 years of age or older, please). To avoid disappointment, visit sipsavorlodi.com sooner than later to reserve your seats. You don't want to miss this!

The Menu & Wines

As you see below, SIP SAVOR LODI’S 2015 Downtown Lodi harvest menu will have something of an Italian inspired flair; with which, we will be pouring at least a dozen of Lodi's finest Italian style varietal bottlings (to be announced). The fare:

HORS D'OEUVRES

Ahi Tuna Tartare in crispy cone with ginger & sesame oil wasabi cream & toasted sesame seeds

Bruschetta with tomatoes, garlic & basil

Chilled Brentwood Corn Soup Shots Fresh Figs with lemon crème fraiche mint & light black pepper, garnished with crunch salt & black pepper

DINNER COURSES*

Chunky Red, Yellow & Chiogga Beet Salad with avocado, baby arugula, pickled sweet onions, crumbled blue cheese & citrus vinaigrette, garnished with micro-celery

Grilled Pesto Petite Tenderloin of Beef with cabernet demi-glace, rustic meyer lemon whipped red bliss potatoes & orange zest beans, garnished with crispy basil & roasted pepper strips

Layered Terrine of Spinach Ricotta Lasagna with spinach, Bellwether Farms ricotta, béchamel, basil, Vella’s Asiago & Fontina, Italian style tomato sauce, roasted carrots, garden peas & braised pearl onions

Assorted Basque Boulangerie Rolls and sweet butter

*Vegetarian alternative courses available upon advance request 

DESSERT

Golden Crêpes of Poached Apricots with raspberry apricot champagne reduction sauce, hints of orange & caramel sauce

Elaine Bell Catering French Coast Coffees & Tea Selection

Harney Lane winemaker Chad Joseph is excited about the "perfect" quality of Lodi's 2015 Zinfandel

September 2, 2015 - The Lodi Viticultural Area’s 2015 harvest – which, as in much of California, kicked off in late July – is now entering its second month. This week we asked a few growers and winemakers for their assessments thus far.

Calculated Joy In the Cellar at Harney Lane Winery

“Crazy,” is the first word coming out of the mouth of Kyle Lerner, owner/grower of the prestigious Harney Lane Winery, who farms and owns extensive acreage on Lodi’s east side.

“It’s been crazy fast and a logistical nightmare,” added Lerner. “We started with Albariño on August 15, and soon after we were picking Chardonnay at the same time as Zinfandel and Cabernet Sauvignon. Primitivo (a clonal variant of Zinfandel) came in yesterday, and we’ll bring in Petite Sirah next week. We’re basically compressing two months of harvest into three weeks. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but the challenge is having enough labor to pick, enough trucks to haul.”

Harney Lane owner/grower Kyle Lerner in his customary harvest-beard

Asked how these circumstances came about, Lerner tells us, “For us, it was a mild summer – vines were able to maintain their canopy structures and bring in a balanced fruit load. So grapes are, just, ready, even if sooner than normal. Yesterday’s Primitivo, for instance, came in at 27°, 27.5° Brix – that’s a little high in sugar, but the pH was about 3.3 and total acidity about .80. This is just amazing – very ‘North Coast,’ considering the ripeness of the fruit.”

Then asked about how this compares with previous vintages, Lerner says, “This is one of those year where each variety we pick, we’re very confident in what we’re bringing in. We had an idea this was happening when our Albariño came in – the sugars where ideal, about 22.5° (which should ferment out to a light, fresh and easy 13% alcohol), the pH was below 3.3 and total acid at .65.”

But it’s not just the “numbers” that seem to bode for an exceptional quality vintage, it’s also the pure and ringing flavors tasted in the grapes and fermentors. Quality-conscious winemakers like to base their picking decisions on the taste of grapes in the field, not on numbers, and this year Harney Lane winemaker Chad Joseph is as giddy as the proverbial baby on a swing.

Says Mr. Joseph, “Lizzy (i.e. Harney Lane’s Lizzy James Vineyard, dominated by vines dating back to 1901) is our barometer. This is our fastest vintage, not necessarily our earliest. We got a little hear spell two weekends ago (August 22-23), so Lizzy’s sugars were a little high by the time we picked – some blocks 25.5°, others 26.5° -- but results are phenomenal. Berry size is small, skins are thicker than normal, and color is the most intense I’ve ever seen. The flavor is already there, in all our lots” – referring to currently fermenting cuvées of Lizzy James Vineyard Zinfandel in macro-bins and tanks, 25% started on native yeast, and the rest with inoculated yeast.

To illustrate the dense quality of the 2015 Lizzy James Zinfandel, Mr. Joseph demonstrated a punch-down of the floating cap of skins formed at the top of a still-fermenting macro-bin (low, open-top, plastic half-ton container). “You see how difficult it is to push down on the cap,” says Joseph, applying muscle to press down with a stainless steel paddle, a tool designed to punch through the rising cap in red wine vats. “We never see this – the thicker skins tell us the wine is more intense than usual, since we get the flavor from the skins. But more telling, it’s in the taste – Lizzy is bursting with meaty, juicy flavor.”

Mr. Lerner chimes in on the unusual quality of the 2015 Lizzy James Vineyard Zinfandel: “It’s a good year, but it’s also the result of 15 years of knowledge working with this vineyard – knowing what the vineyard wants to do, year-in and year-out, and paying attention to every block, every vine. The winemaker often gets the credit, but the vineyard is the most essential thing of all.” Joseph nods in agreement, saying, “My motto has always been that you’re only as good as your grapes, and Lizzy is as good as it gets, especially this year.”

Non-stop Action In Bokisch Vineyards

At the Bokisch Vineyards winery, located further west of the town of Lodi, in the hills classified as Lodi’s Clement Hills sub-appellation, we found winemaker Elyse Egan-Perry pressing the last of this good-sized grower’s 2015 Albariño for a winery-client. The Albariño destined for Bokisch’s own estate bottling was picked more than three weeks earlier (August 5).

Bokisch Vineyards winemaker Elyse Egan-Perry pressing last of 2015 Albarino

“It may seem strange that we’re just getting to this Albariño today. The sugars are higher than our earlier pick – 26° Brix, as opposed to ours, about 23° -- but the acid in this lot is still high, pH about 3.45. That’s the insane thing about this year. It’s not just that we’ve been picking Albariño, Chardonnay, Merlot, even Syrah, all the whites and reds at the same time, in non-stop action over the past three weeks. It's also that the acid balance has been off-the-charts-good.

“All the whites across the board – Albariño, Verdelho, Grenache Blanc, which are finished, and Verdejo still fermenting – have this grapefruit/citrus note. The reds all have acid driven qualities, even the ones picked at higher sugars. Tempranillo (a Spanish black-skinned grape variety notorious for its low acidity) came in at 3.8 pH, which is unheard-of.

“This will not be a year in which any wines will be in need of acidulation. We usually never acidulate our white wines anyway – we just pick them when they’re in balance. But it’s certainly unusual for our red wines.”

Ms. Egan-Perry does not downplay the fast-and-furious nature of the 2015 harvest. “It’s unusual to be picking red varieties at the same time as whites,” she tells us. We’re about to bring in the last of our Graciano from our Terra Alta (in Lodi’s Borden Ranch AVA) and Las Cerezas (Lodi’s Mokelumne River AVA) vineyards. After that, all we’ll have left is a little bit of Malbec and Petit Verdot, which we’ll bring in within the next 10 days. As weird as it may sound, we’ll be all done by September 15” – an astonishing prognostication, considering the fact that Lodi harvests typically aren’t completed until the last weeks of October.

For fans of the Bokisch family’s new Tizona brand of Zinfandel, Egan-Perry has good news: “This year we also picked Zinfandel from another old vine vineyard Markus (i.e. Markus Bokisch, Bokisch Vineyards’ owner/grower) just started leasing, which we’re calling Seuss Vineyard, located off Hwy. 88 (on Lodi’s east side). We picked the Kirschenmann Vineyard (a 100-year-old east-side planting owned by Turley Wine Cellars’ Tegan Passalacqua, which Mr. Bokisch also farms and produces wine from) last week Monday (August 25). Kirschenmann came in at about 25° Brix, and the Seuss a little higher at 26° to 28°, but both had really high acids.”

m2 Wines winemaker/co-owner Layne Montgomery barrel-sampling "angry fermenting" 2015 Zinfandel

Angry Fermenting Grape Juice at m2 Wines

Our final stop for this blog report was at m2 Wines, an artisanal style small winery on the west side of Lodi’s Mokelumne River AVA. There we found a sobered Layne Montgomery, m2’s winemaker/co-owner, who told us: “How good is 2015? Our best year ever! Just kidding – we wine producers have to say this every year to get you to loosen up your wallets.

“But seriously, I have no idea how it’s going to turn out, but it’s looking really good. We picked our first lot of Soucie Vineyard (100-year-old Zinfandel planted on Lodi’s far-west side) – part of it for the wild-yeast Lodi Native program – more than two weeks ago. Sugars were at 25° Brix and acid around 3.6 pH, which ain’t normal. I am very impressed by the acid balance – we’re usually picking Soucie at above 27° sugars and 3.9 pH.”

“The Lodi Native lot is now sitting in barrel. It was picked on August 14, then sat in the winery and mocked me for the first five days before it decided to ferment. Then it went ‘boom,’ finished up, and was pressed straight into barrel. That’s just 11 days from field to barrel.”

Tasting us on one barrel of m2’s 2015 Lodi Native Zinfandel, we found the wine to be prickly sharp with acidity, but with lifted, exuberant cranberry fruit sensations along with a smidgen of cherry cobbler sweetness. “Yeah, this barrel is not quite done,” says Montgomery – “right now it’s just angry fermenting grape juice.”

Mr. Montgomery is not quite half-way through his expected picks this year. “We still have Zinfandel, Petite Sirah and Cabernet Sauvignon out there,” he says. “We’ve crushed 45, 50 tons so far, but we’re planning on 95 to 110 tons by the time we’re done. But I will say this – this time last year we hadn’t done half as much as what we’ve already done this year, and that was considered an ‘early’ year.”

“But hey,” adds Montgomery, “it’s also our best year ever!”

September 1:  Winemaker Greg La Follette and Jessie's Grove owner/grower Greg Burns with just-picked Zinfandel from Royal Tee Vineyard (field-mix planted in 1889)

Winemaker Greg La Follette (Sonoma's La Follette Wines), blessing 2015 Zinfandel harvest from Royal Tee Vineyard (planted on Lodi's west side in 1889) with a bagpipe rendition of "Scotland the Brave" (to listen, visit Heralding Lodi's 2015 Zinfandel Harvest)

It's exhausting, but you never tire of it:  the yearly grand spectacle of the wine harvest in Lodi wine country.

It's the time of year of bleary-eyed winemakers awakening at 5:00 in the morning for 6:00 AM pickings, then going another 14, 16 hours, if not pulling all-nighters, to get the grapes hauled to the winery, destemmed or pressed, into the fermenting tanks or barrels, and then monitoring the progress as more and more grapes come in as the day drags on into night.  

Yeah, they kill themselves for a month or two, but they're only so willing because you get only one crack at this each year.  Think of it:  you may be a grizzled, old, veteran winemaker with 30 years of experience.  But that means you've made wine, basically, just 30 times.  It's not like beer, or milking cows, when you get to ply your trade over and over again throughout the year.  Wine harvests are one-shot, do-or-die affairs.

Yet winemakers will freely admit that the "real work" is actually done in the fields.  The talent and resources of a grower, and the quality of each vineyard's terroir - the sum-total of climate, topography, and location, location, location favoring the ripening of grapes - are what ultimately determine the quality and character of each wine.   That old saying "wine is made in the vineyard" is not a quaint sentiment, but a statement of fact.

The farmer is "the man," but without a doubt, the yeoman's work is done by our grape pickers.  It is true that over 90% of grapes in Lodi - easily the largest winegrowing region (in terms of acres of wine grapes) in America - are picked by machine.  Harvesters that straddle over rows of trellised vines and liberate grapes from their cluster stems mechanically.  But thousands of acres are still picked by hand - many of these vineyards trellised, but especially head-trained vines (like free-standing "bushes"), which is still the favored way of growing Zinfandel  Head-trained old Zinfandel plants cannot be machine-picked - they must be harvested by hand - and Lodi, remember, is California's King of ancient vine Zinfandel (crushing over 40% of the state's total Zinfandel crop each year).

The pickers in the field are like Olympian long-distance athletes:  moving at break-neck speed (most get paid by the tonnage), filling trays topping off at 40 lbs. each and lugging them to gondolas or hitched-up macro-bins, repeating the activity hundreds of times for hours and hours on end, from chilly dark mornings through blisteringly hot, blazing afternoons.  In Lodi, this work is done primarily by seasoned multi-crop field workers; many of them migrant, although many of them year-round residents who do the specialized, skilled work of cultivating vines and vineyard properties 365 days a year.  They do the work, as everyone knows, that most people couldn't or wouldn't do, as hard as they try.  

Here's to our heroic vineyard laborers and grape pickers, as essential to top quality wine as our artistic winemakers and industrious farmers!  And so here is a a photo-log of some of our favorite images taken so far in 2015...

Our first shot... lady pickers (women make up as much as half, and sometimes more, of today's picking crews) in Mohr-Fry Ranches, picking Zinfandel in the famed 114-year-old Marian's Vineyard, going entirely to St. Amant Winery:

Like an old man with a cane... majestic, twisted ancient vine Zinfandel in Fry family's Marian's Vineyard - a benchmark Lodi growth - originally planted on its own rootstock in 1901:

The Mohr-Fry Ranches viticultural crew picking Marian's Vineyard at 7 AM on September 4:

Yeowoman's work - imagining lifting 40-lb. lugs of Zinfandel, picking them up from the ground, walking 10-30 feet and lifting them into field macro-bins... hundreds of times a day... awesome...

Field-sorting (picking out leaves and less-than-perfect clusters) in Mohr-Fry Ranches' Marian's Vineyard:

Dawn's early light behind perfect Zinfandel clusters in Mohr-Fry Ranches' historic, 114-year-old Marian's Vineyard:

In Marian's Vineyard... once each 2-ton load of macro-bins are filled to the top, tractors are rotated bringing another 4 empty macro-bins, while the filled bins are trucked over to St. Amant Winery, 10 minutes away:

Marian's Vineyard 2015 Zinfandel in the field, as fresh, zesty and luscious as it looks:

Rustic clapboard white-washed barn, nursery and aging bearded palm amidst head trained ancient vines in Mohr-Fry Ranches:

Typical of vines over 100 years old, this virile, venerable Marian's Vineyard Zinfandel's trunk has become hollowed and gnarled, while going stronger than an Eveready battery...

In Jessie's Grove Winery's Royal Tee Vineyard - Lodi's oldest continuously farmed Zinfandel growth (originally planted in 1889), a tractor and its haul of macro-bins kick up a mini-dust storm of the fine, deep (at least 30-50-ft. in depth), porous Tokay sandy loam, defining Lodi's Mokelumne River AVA:

Beautiful cluster of Zinfandel in Lodi's ancient Royal Tee Vineyard, picked this past September 2nd:

Man vs. ancient vine... Jessie's Grove Winery Owner/Grower Greg Burns (who stands 6-ft. tall), taking the measure of one of the grand old Tokay vines originally planted by his great grandfather Joseph Spenker in 1889:

Well worn hands snipping off less-than-perfect part of a Zinfandel cluster in the Royal Tee Vineyard:

Royal Tee Vineyard owner/grower Greg Burns (left) goes over the type of Zinfandel clusters preferred by wnemaker Greg La Follette (owner of Sonoma Coast's La Follette Wines), who will be vinifying these grapes for the Lodi Native project:

Just-picked clusters of Royal Tee Vineyard Zinfandel, glistening in the early morning sun:

These sumptuous, stunning Flame Tokay grapes (once Lodi's most widely planted grape, primarily for the table grape market) were picked as part of the Royal Tee Vineyard "field mix" of mostly Zinfandel (at least 80%) along with Carignan, Mission and Black Prince grapes:

In Royal Tee Vineyard, picker adding Flame Tokay into the macro-bins of Zinfandel, which will go into a co-fermented lot (according to the original design of the vineyard, planted by Joseph Spenker in 1889):

Up-close-and-personal peek at Zinfandel in macro-bins, glowing in the early morning sun in Royal Tee Vineyard:

In Royal Tee Vineyard... this field sorter is smelling the grapes he suspects has a little bit of acetobacter (a natural but undesirable bacteria)... if he smells a hint of a tell-tale vinegar scent, he tosses the cluster to the ground...

Rejected Zinfandel, tossed to the side in Royal Tee Vineyard:

In Royal Tee Vineyard, typically large, loose clusters of the historic Mission grape, interplanted among the Zinfandel (and going into the field-mix Lodi Native blend):

Incoming macro-bins of Marian's Vineyard Zinfandel at Lodi's St. Amant Winery:

St. Amant owner/winemaker Stuart Spencer (on left) forklifting Marian's Vineyard Zinfandel into the hopper leading to the sorting belt and destemmer/crusher:

At St. Amant Winery, Marian's Vineyard Zinfandel clusters is sorted on the narrow belt headed up and dropped into a destemmer/crusher:

At St. Amant Winery, the augur moving destemmed grapes on towards a fermentor:

At Harney Lane Winery, winemaker Chad Joseph laboriously hand-sorts through each and every incoming grape cluster... proving once and for all that the winemaking profession is more than just sitting around eating cheese and crackers:

At Harney Lane Winery, the brilliant, clear, deep color of fermenting estate grown Lizzy James Vineyard Zinfandel during a tank pump-over (done to mix the rising cap of grape skins in with the juice during the fermentation process), boding extremely well for the 2015 vintage:

Extremely happy winemaker... Harney Lane's Chad Joseph thrilled with the juicy, dense taste of the fermenting 2015 Lizzy James Vineyard Zinfandel:

At Bokisch Vineyards' winery, located on the east side of Lodi (near Lockeford, in the Clements Hills sub-AVA), winemaker Elyse Egan-Perry is monitoring the gentle pneumatic pressing of just-picked Albarino grapes (which, unlike red wines, are fermented without skins):

At Bokisch Vineyards winery, red wine barrels that have just been steam-cleaned are drying in the sun, waiting to be filled by 2015 red wines once they are done fermenting, with the rolling hills of Bokisch's spectacular Terra Alta Vineyard in the backdrop:

At m2 Wines winery, just-fermented and pressed Zinfandel is being pumped into American oak barrels:

8 AM this past Tuesday (September 2)... Royal Tee Vineyard, winemaker Greg La Follette packs up his 3 just-picked macro-bins of Zinfandel (just over a ton and a half of grapes) in his Dodge truck, which he is driving straight over to his winery in Sebastopol where the grapes will be immediately destemmed, and the whole berries going into a "cold soak" for a few days, before being warmed up to start a native yeast fermentation:

Something we never get tired looking at... beautifully pristine and delicious fruit in Lodi's oldest Zinfandel planting (Royal Tee Vineyard):

Lodi wine country farewell... winemaker Greg La Follette with his wife Mara La Follette, stopping by next door to pay tribute to the Bechthold Vineyard (Cinsaut vines planted in 1886 - Lodi's absolute oldest, and most revered, vines), which he believes should always be approached "on one's knees, with hat off"...