Oak Farm Vineyards, producer of multiple award winning Lodi grown wines in 2016 (photo courtesy of John Curley Photography)

While Lodi grown wines are more popular than ever, the region’s growers and vintners have certainly not stopped to rest on their laurels. They are well aware that consumers have a choice of many wonderful wines from elsewhere in California and all around the world.

Their goal, of course, is not just achieving a competitive or industry leading quality level, but also to continue to define what makes Lodi grapes and wines unique... special. What is it about the region that cannot be duplicated in any other part of the world? What makes Lodi wines different, and more desirable, on a sensory level? The more we tell this story, the more we increase the value of Lodi grown grapes, and the growing prestige and demand for Lodi grown wines produced by wineries within and outside the region.

You need not look far, though, to find proof of Lodi’s increasingly competitive, pro-active edge: the many accolades and awards garnered by growers and producers just over the past calendar year.

Let us count the ways in which 2016 has proven to be another auspicious year for the Lodi wine region...

Mohr-Fry Ranches' Jerry (front) and Bruce Fry (photo courtesy of John Curley Photography)

Mohr-Fry Ranches is California’s Grower of the Year

The 2016 Grower of the Year selected by the California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG) – California’s only statewide organization focusing exclusively on issues of concern to wine grape growers – was none other than Mohr-Fry Ranches, one of Lodi’s most venerated growers.

According to CAWG: “The Grower of the Year award is the highest honor given by CAWG. It is bestowed to an individual, family or company that represents an outstanding example of excellence in viticulture and management. The recipient is an efficient and successful producer of quality wine grapes, recognized for innovation and leadership within the industry.

“Jerry Fry is the president and CEO, and Bruce Fry is the vice president of operations of the family-run Mohr-Fry Ranches in Lodi. The father and son are two of the most respected growers and leaders in the Lodi wine grape community and are known for their quality wine grapes. They advocate on behalf of wine grape growers and dedicate an enormous amount of time serving the industry and their community. Mohr-Fry Ranches was one of the original six Lodi growers to certify their vineyard under the Lodi Rules™ for Sustainable Winegrowing.”

Michael David Winery CEO Michael Phillips and President David Phillips (photo courtesy of John Curley Photographry)

Michael David Winery named Winery of the Year

Lodi’s first big achievement in 2016 came in a surprise announcement this past January 27 at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in Sacramento, when Lodi's Michael David Winery was named 2016 Winery of the Year. According a Lodi News-Sentinel report: “The (Winery of the Year) award was announced during the three-day event’s State of the Industry address, completely catching the faction from Michael David off-guard, according to Melissa Phillips-Stroud, VP of Sales and Marketing.” Ms. Phillips-Stroud is part of the 6th generation of the Phillips family, who own and operate Michael David Winery and have been farming in the Lodi area since the 1860s.

How big a deal is this? Put it this way: The annual 3-day wine industry exhibition and symposium in Sacramento draws more than 14,000 industry representatives attending from all over North America. There are over 8,990 other wineries in North America, and over 3,990 wineries in California alone. The Lodi News-Sentinel added: “The award winner was chosen by Gomberg, Fredrikson & Associates, a wine industry consulting firm. The firm used metrics that measured exceptional brand building and outstanding growth to determine the victor.”

The Phillips family’s success story is a dramatic one: Within the space of 20 years, they have grown from being one of many longtime Lodi growers supplying grapes to numerous wineries into a winery that not only uses 100% of their own grapes (from about 750 acres of planted vines), but also buys from over 40 other Lodi growers to produce iconic, consistent award winning brands such as 7 Deadly Zins and Earthquake, now sold in every state of the union and in numerous countries in Europe, Asia, North and South America.

On top of that, Michael David Winery – and its agricultural arm, Phillips Farms – has been an important advocate of the region’s Lodi Rules™ program of sustainability, contributing significantly to the ever-increasing quality and prestige of Lodi grapes. Like Mohr-Fry Ranches, the Phillips family was one of the first to embrace these third party certified (in partnership with Protected Harvest) sustainable practices. Going even further, Michael David Winery was one of the first major producers to incentivize sustainability by establishing a program of awarding substantial bonuses to their own grower/suppliers upon certification of Lodi Rules.

The McManis family, who farm Lodi Rules certified vineyards in four of Lodi's AVAs

McManis Family Vineyards honored with 2016 California Green Medal

In 2016 the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA) conferred the California Green Medal in Sustainable Winegrowing Leadership Award upon the Ripon based McManis Family Vineyards, which farms and produces wines from vineyards in San Joaquin (including four of Lodi's sub-AVAs) and Stanislaus Counties. According to CSWA, this award honors “the vineyard and/or winery that best demonstrates the ability to balance the ‘3 E’s’ of sustainability, (Environmentally sound, socially Equitable and Economically viable) and excels in each of these areas.”

McManis Family Vineyards earned this distinction by farming according to the Lodi Rules™ program of sustainability. According to the CSWA: “With a focus on constant improvement of practices and adoption of the latest farming and winemaking technologies, McManis Family Vineyards’ water use efficiency measures in the vineyard include the use of soil moisture sensors, flow meters and distribution uniformity tests; while their winery recycles water and averages one gallon of water to produce one gallon of wine, well below the industry average.

“Sustainable practices have also decreased energy use, diesel use and tractor work and limited the impact on soil. Making sustainability a core part of their business strategy has not only benefited the environment, surrounding community and employee retention, it has streamlined processes in the vineyard, winery and office, resulting in economic gains that help ensure a thriving business for future generations."

Photo-spread of Lodi winemaker Adam Mettler in Wine Enthusiast Magazine (photo by Paul Aresu, courtesy of Wine Enthusiast)

Lodi’s Adam Mettler among 2016’s “Top 40 Under 40 Tastemakers”

Now, for a touch of glamour: Adam Mettler – who serves as Director of Winemaking for Michael David Winery as well as Winemaker for his own family’s Mettler Family Vineyards – was featured in a Wine Enthusiast Magazine cover story as one of the “Top 40 Under 40 Tastemakers 2016.” According to this internationally distributed publication, “This year’s tastemakers are the forward-thinking men and women who are changing how America imbibes” – a list of 40 individuals “from winemakers to distillers, importers to distributors and sommeliers to cicerones.”

In their multiple photo-spread and profile on "Adam Mettler, 37," Wine Enthusiast wrote: “While he’s also responsible for wine production at Mettler Family Vineyards, it’s at Michael David Winery where Mettler’s stamina has been put to the test. Working closely with the Phillips family, which has farmed in Lodi since the 1850s, Mettler is laser-focused on maintaining quality while ‘continuing mind-blowing growth to over 700,000 cases of sales, and garnering top scores,’ he says. Michael David Winery’s 2012 Petite Petit was ranked Number 2 on Wine Enthusiast’s The Enthusiast 100 of 2015 list.”

Delicato Family's Lodi Rules certified Clay Station Vineyard in Lodi's Borden Ranch AVA, source of Hot Impact Brand Award winning wines (photo courtesy of Delicato Family Vineyards)

Wineries sourcing Lodi fruit among 2016 Hot Impact Brand Award List

Labels produced by Michael David Winery and Delicato Family Vineyards were among several brands recognized in the Domestic Wine Category of the 2016 Hot Impact Brand Award List presented at the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) Conference held in Las Vegas, NV.

According to Market Watch magazine: “The event, held on April 19th, honored 23 spirits, 17 domestic wines and 20 imported wines. All the brands must meet the following qualifications to receive the award: three consecutive years of double-digit growth or a 2015 volume increase of at least 15 percent, with special consideration given to top 10 brands that advanced at least 5 percent in 2015 and at least 15 percent since 2012. Spirits brands must deplete at least 200,000 nine-liter cases in 2015, while wines must have a minimum of 250,000 cases.”

Among the producers and their award winning brands utilizing Lodi grown fruit recognized by WSWA:

Bogle Vineyards - Bogle

Constellation Brands – Black Box, Meiomi and The Dreaming Tree

Delicato Family Vineyards – Bota Box and Noble Vines

E. & J. Gallo Winery – Apothic, Barefoot Cellars, Carnivor, Dark Horse, Liberty Creek and William Hill Estate

Fetzer Vineyards – Bonterra

Michael David Winery – 7 Deadly Zins

Pernod Ricard USA – Mumm Napa

Ste. Michelle Wine Estates – 14 Hands

Wente Vineyards – Wente

Bokisch Ranches' Lodi Rules Certified Green Terra Alta Vineyard, source of several award winning wines in 2016

129 Lodi Rules Certified Green wines garner 2016 wine competition awards

How much a part has the Lodi Rules™ program played in the growing prestige of the Lodi wine region? Lodi Winegrape Commission’s Lodi Rules Committee Chair Aaron Shinn recently reported: “When Kevin Phillips of Michael David Winery told an audience of 300 wine bloggers (at the 2016 Wine Bloggers Conference held in Lodi this past August) that he pays growers a premium price for certified sustainable grapes, there was applause in the room.”

The Lodi Winegrape Commission has recently released a statement on the accomplishments of no less than 129 currently released wines bearing the Lodi Rules™ Certified Green seal for certified sustainable winegrowing: “More than 333 awards and accolades derived from 23 prestigious wine competitions have been earned by currently released wines made from Lodi Rules™ sustainable grapes. These competitions include: Sunset International Wine Competition, San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, TEXSOM International Wine Awards, California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition, and more. Accolades also include several 90+ point scores and Best Buy awards from Wine Enthusiast Magazine and Wine Advocate.”

For a complete list of these 129 multi-award winning wines in their respective competitions, please visit this Lodi Growers page. And a big bravo to all these wineries and growers for doing Lodi proud!

According to Lodi Winegrape Commission’s Executive Director Wendy Brannen: “We are very proud of our growers and wineries and these exceptional honors and accolades. These individuals and companies are an inspiration to all of us to work hard and continue to raise the bar for Lodi. We are looking forward to seeing what accomplishments 2017 will bring.”

LangeTwins Family's Bradford Lange demonstrating the riparian restoration alongside his family's award winning Lodi Rules certified vineyards to visiting sommeliers (photo courtesy of John Curley Photography)

Planning a New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day get-together with family or close friends?

With holiday cheer still lingering in the wintry air, a warm kitchen beckons, firing up the senses. We’re in the mood to roll up our sleeves and do some cooking, but at the same time we want our party dishes to be as simple or do-ahead-able enough as possible in order to focus most of our attention on what really matters: spending time in good company, preferably with equally friendly wines.

With a leisurely spin through the internet, we have come across a number of fun, entertaining, delicious reading dishes inspiring a number of great ideas pertaining to wines – specifically Lodi grown wines, of course.

Because this is the beauty of Lodi wines:

• Food-friendly diversity (Lodi is a heckuva lot more than just about Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir),

• Unbeatable value (especially if austerity happens to be a New Year's resolution... why scrimp on pleasure?),

• And exceptional ease of drinking (smooth, rounded sensory qualities coming naturally to wines crafted from grapes grown in the Delta’s moderate Mediterranean climate).

Ancient Lodi Zinfandel in December

Ergo, the following ideal matches of Lodi wines and New Year’s celebration victuals:

Lobster mac ‘n cheese (Albariño)

How much fun is this combination of good ol’ macaroni, luxurious lobster meat, and the savory, melting taste of Gruyere and Cheddar in this recipe by Ina Garten. Lobster is always best complimented by lighter style white wines laced with naturally crisp, zesty acidity such as Sauvignon Blanc (a specialty of Lodi’s LangeTwins Family Winery and Vineyards, although Michael David Winery and Oak Farm Vineyards also produce a pure, ringing style of this popular varietal).

But Lodi is also a second home for Albariño, a Spanish grape that thrives in Lodi’s strikingly Mediterranean-ish terroirs; engendering feathery dry whites with floral, subtly exotic perfumes, along with palate slaking citrusy tartness and minerally textures – practically screaming for little bowls of lobster mac ‘n cheese. Bokisch Vineyards is known for a quintessential Lodi style Albariño; although first rate, typically steely dry bottlings are also produced by Harney Lane Winery, Klinker Brick Winery, Oak Farm Vineyards, Viñedos Aurora, Estate Crush, and Jeremy Wine Co.

Caprese skewers with balsamiic drizzle (dry rosès)

It’s hard to think of a more refreshing New Year’s Eve canapé than milky white mozzarella strung together with pungent, leafy green sweet basil and palate popping cherry tomatoes, as in this recipe by iowa girl eats.

The natural wine for this combination of soft cheese, herbs and zesty tomato is something soft (subtle yet refreshingly natural acidity), chill-able, and aromatic with minerals and herbs rather than simple fruitiness. In other words, a Lodi style dry rosé, made from an imaginative array of grapes; such as those by Onesta Wines (crafted from 130-year-old Cinsaut vines), McCay Cellars (from 100-year-old Carignan), Klinker Brick Winery (a classic Grenache based dry pink), Bokisch Vineyards (Grenache with a splash of Graciano), Harney Lane Winery (from Tempranillo, with Petite Sirah and Zinfandel) LangeTwins Family Winery & Vineyards (from Sangiovese), Borra Vineyards (from Syrah and Carignan), or Estate Crush (Zinfandel/Cabernet Sauvignon/Petite Sirah).

Jessie's Grove's Greg Burns in Royal Tee Vineyard (mixed block of Zinfandel, Carignan, Mission, Tokay and Black Prince planted in 1889)

Bacon stuffed mushrooms (Grenache or Cinsaut)

Who doesn’t love earthy mushrooms stuffed with smoky bacon, such as this bourbon laced version by Paula Deen? To wash these dreamy poppers down, you really need a soft, easy drinking red wine marked by minimal tannin, yet plenty of slightly smoky, spicy, brightly red fruited sensations.

Pinot Noir would immediately come to mind if not for the fact that in Lodi’s warm, steady Mediterranean climate, red wines made from the black skinned Grenache grape are even more of a natural fit. Those of McCay Cellars and Bokisch Vineyards (bottled as Garnacha by the latter), in fact, are truly as fine as any varietal bottlings of this grape produced on the West Coast: silky smooth, lacy reds that titillate the nostrils and tongue with subtle, intriguing notes of scrubby earthiness (mingling with the taste of mushrooms) and spice laden (cracked pepper, allspice, clove) perfumes.

But wait, there’s more: in a way, the Cinsaut based red wines sourced from Lodi’s venerated Bechthold Vineyard are also Pinot Noir-like in their soft, silky texturing, faint earthiness, and red berry perfumes (often suggesting pomegranate or strawberry-rhubarb pie). Look for the bottlings of Lodi Cinsaut by Michael David Winery, Turley Wine Cellars, Estate Crush, Fields Family Wines, McCay Cellars or Onesta Wines.

Lodi winemaker/owners: Macchia's Tim Holdener with St. Jorge's Vern Vierra

Slow cooker German style pork roast with sauerkraut and potatoes (Grenache Blanc, Verdelho, Vermentino or German varieties)

The ease and depth of flavors that you get through slow cookers make total sense for New Year’s gatherings, as in this rendering of caraway scented German style pork roast found on allrecipes.com.

Both the sauerkraut and licorice-like taste of this dish definitely calls for a light, bone dry white wine with great clarity of fruit and minerality. This is what gives Lodi a leg up on other American wine regions: we grow all kinds of white wine grapes that produce wines of this style. The Markus Wine Co. Nativo immediately comes to mind, with its artful blend of Germanic grapes (Kerner, Riesling, Bacchus and Gewürztraminer).

For slow cooked pork, we are also high on Lodi’s light and minerally style whites made from the Grenache Blanc grape (look for those by either Acquiesce Winery, Fields Family Wines, or Bokisch Vineyards’ Garnacha Blanca). In similar yet different fashion, the Verdelho grape produces silky, fleshy, lemon-lime nuanced dry whites (notably, by Bokisch Vineyards or Toasted Toad Cellars). Then there is the Vermentino grape, which yields crisply balanced, downright minerally, kitchen herb and floral scented dry whites (look for those by Uvaggio Wines, Fields Family Wines or PRIE Winery). So many choices for slow cooked German pork roasts; all of them delicious!

Common December scene in Lodi: old vineyards pulled up for replanting

Osso buco in white wine (Chardonnay or Barbera)

Classic osso buco – Northern Italian style slow braised lamb shanks – is another ideal do-ahead dish. There is one version, found on the Italian Food Forever page, that we find particularly fascinating because of its use of white wine (instead of red) and elimination of tomatoes: which makes it a heavenly match with a creamy rich yet light, airy feeling style of Chardonnay, such as those crafted by Lodi’s Harney Lane Winery, The Lucas Winery, Oak Farm Vineyards, Watts Family’s Upstream Wines label, and Michael David Winery.

But here’s the thing: this style of osso buco, deepened by the infusion of mushrooms in beef stock and wine, is also just as delicious with a red wine with a buoyant balance of natural acidity yet without an excess amount of tannin. The perfect fit? Lodi style Barbera – especially those by St. Amant Winery, Oak Farm Vineyards, Borra Vineyards, Uvaggio Wines, Jeremy Wine Co., Heritage Oak Winery, Macchia Wines, or Sorelle Winery.

Suggestion for a fun experience: sit down some special wine lover/friends around a table with osso buco Milanese; and open bottles of both a Lodi style Chardonnay and Barbera to decide for yourself which varietal you prefer. If you’re like us, of course, you’ll say “both!”

Cracked black pepper salmon (Zinfandel)

What turns us on about simple salmon preparations such as this one on food.com’s page? Answer: we are Lodi Zinfandel lovers; and if there is anything that brings out the peppery spiced qualities of Lodi grown Zinfandel, it is cracked peppercorn crusted salmon. This style of salmon also highlights the softer, gentler, friendlier nature of Zinfandels typifying the Lodi region – easy on the palate, and easy in the context this spiced up, fleshy, oily fish.

There are, of course, more great drinking Zinfandels from Lodi than we can shake a chopstick at. From the most ubiquitous commercial labels (like Michael David’s 7 Deadly Zins or Delicato Family Vineyards’ Gnarly Head), to more artisanal, specialty bottlings (such as The Lucas Winery’s ZinStar, Ironstone Vineyards’ Rous Vineyard, Macchia Wines’ Voluptuous, McCay Cellars’ TruLux, Tizona by Bokisch’s Kirschenmann Vineyard, Jessie’s Grove’s Westwind, Michael David's Earthquake, and more, really many more!): you will find that combination of gentle textures and pungently spicy, earthy, red fruit scented qualities which make Lodi style Zinfandel so ideal for dishes like peppercorn crusted salmon.

McCay Cellars' Mike McCay in Lodi's TruLux Vineyard

Lamb chop sandwich (Tempranillo)

For a New Year’s Day lunch or afternoon gathering, you can’t get much more bodacious than a lamb chop sandwich, such as this recipe posted by Better Homes & Gardens. And it is with the gamey, grassy taste of lamb where the earthy complexity and supple texture of Tempranillo – another Lodi specialty – really comes alive. We recommend celebrating this magical match and Lodi’s diversity of wine grapes with bottlings by any one of Lodi's legion of Tempranillo specialists: starting with Bokisch Vineyards (Lodi's premier grower of Spanish grapes), and including m2 Wines, Fields Family Wines, Harney Lane Winery, Peirano Estate, Jeremy Wine Co., The Dancing Fox Winery, Heritage Oak Winery, d’Art Wines, St. Jorge Winery, or McCay Cellars.

Steve Borra doing winter pruning of his Borra Vineyards

Red wine pot roast (Petite Sirah or Cabernet Sauvignon)

Still another perfect slow cooked wintry meal is a red wine pot roast, such as this “pioneer woman’s” recipe featured on The Dr. Oz Show. For this deeply flavorful, hearty dish, a classic, broad, generous Petite Sirah makes an easy match. We suggest any by Mettler Family Vineyards, Harney Lane Winery, Rippey Family Vineyards, McCay Cellars, Oak Ridge’s Old Soul, Michael David’s Earthquake, Viñedos Aurora, or Peirano Estate.

For a more traditional match, however, you might want to look into Lodi's particularly round, fleshy, forward styles of Cabernet Sauvignon. Some of Lodi’s finest include Michael David’s Rapture, Mettler Family Vineyards, PRIE Winery, Viñedos Aurora, Concrete Wine Co., Klinker Brick Winery, or Delicato Family Vineyards’ Noble Vines 337.

Have a Happy Lodi New Year!

Wintering old vines on Lodi's west side

Wine o'clock in Lodi's Bokisch Vineyards

Face it, it's fun to be geeky about wine. Sure, wine is basically an adult beverage; but many of us are also hooked on wine because its intrinsic complexity – cool, heady stuff like varieties of wine grapes, the influence of climate and soil, the intricacies, art and science of winemaking, etc. – makes the appreciation of it all the more compelling.

Which is why, since we started our lodiwine.com blog site in 2010, we have endeavored to make it as informative as just plain LoCA, or "crazy" fun. To know, know Lodi wine is to love, love, love it. 

There is a reason, after all, why the Lodi Viticultural Area is the most widely planted in the U.S. (more acres of premium wine grapes, for instance, than Napa Valley and all of Sonoma County combined). It is precisely because of Lodi's intrinsic complexity of wine grapes, confluence of ideal climate and soils, and intricacies, art and science of its viticulture as well as winemaking.

​

Barrel tasting in Lodi's St. Jorge Winery

Wherefore, some of our most interesting blog posts of 2016:

Blog-splainin' the taste of wine

Exactly what is it that gives so many of Lodi's red wines their black peppery spiciness? There is a microscopic aromatic compound released through the fermentation of certain grapes, such as Zinfandel, Syrah, Petite Sirah and Grenache. Hence, Ah, the smell of spice (that is, rotundone) in autumn wines.

Another sensory quality increasingly more common in Lodi grown wines is the sensation of minerality; primarily as a result of evolving approaches of growers and winemakers, in response to changing consumer tastes. Here, we answer Questions concerning the distinct minerality of Lodi grown wines.

Winter pruning in Lodi's Phillips Farms (Michael David Petite Sirah)

Changing approaches to winemaking (towards increased expression of place)

A number of growers and winemakers have been changing their approach to grapes such as Lodi's pièce de resistance, Zinfandel. The goal, more than ever, is not so much intensity of varietal character (i.e. sheer size and volume of fruitiness) as other qualities - such as balance, subtlety, and sense of place (often called terroir). And the more any Zinfandel expresses "Lodi" rather than just "Zinfandel" (which, after all, grows nearly everywhere in California), the greater the appreciation of what makes Lodi special.

We go into great detail in two posts on some of these new fangled approaches. First, What happens when a Pinot Noir specialist crafts ancient vine Lodi Zinfandel. Second, the lengths taken in the field and winery so that Neyers Zinfandels gently preserve the natural beauty of Lodi's Borden Ranch appellation.

The evolution towards wines expressing more regional typicity than simple varietal character may very well make Lodi better known for even Chardonnay, despite the this varietal's global ubiquity. In this post - Oak Farm's 2015 Chardonnay takes a giant step towards purer "Lodi" expression - we talk about gentle, pure, crispy/creamy smooth qualities natural to Lodi grown Chardonnay, detailing how one winemaking team is perfecting that.

Alder Yarrow - one of the blogosphere's most respected and widely read pundits - recently described the native yeast fermented, minimal intervention style wines produced by the Lodi Native project as “transformative, not only for my vision of what California Zinfandel had become, but also for my opinion of what Lodi was all about... I was back in bed with Zinfandel.” In Zinfandel (and ZAP) at a crossroads, we talk about the dynamic relationship between evolving consumer tastes (reflected by much of the media and trade) and the work of growers and winemakers. The times they are a-changin', and Lodi is in the thick of it.

Zinfandel cluster in Jessie's Grove's Royal Tee Vineyard

Lodi's emerging terroir

Speaking of which, much of the growing prestige of the Lodi AVA will come as a result of greater appreciation of its terroir; through, of course, increased perception of a Lodi's unique sense of place found in more and more Lodi grown wines. Believe it or not, it is the fact that Lodi's Mediterranean climate makes it ideal for rosé that may very well lead the way.

As it were, a number of recent visiting wine experts have come away with the opinion that Lodi's deep, sandy, porous soils are actually more ideal for the production of white wines, rather than reds. Whether you agree or not, more and more Lodi whites have been taking home ridiculously high honors, like Best of Shows in the California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition. You can look it up, or just re Acquiesce answers question - is Lodi best for white wine?

Terroir, of course, is originally a European concept, and Lodi's terroir is as unique as any wine region's in the world. In this post we say In Lodi, to thine own terroir be true because that is what is already making our region special; and will also undoubtedly lead to a future of even greater diversity of grapes and wines (a prospect that is less realistic for most other wine regions, constrained by economics and less flexible growing conditions).

Lodi's legendary Queen Zinfandel (1907 Tokay Carnival)

Lodi history (from lowdown to success)

As in other California wine regions, Lodi's commercial grape growing industry began in the 1850s. A turning point was in 1906, when Lodi became a City and quit its lowdown ways. The visionary Mondavi family, in fact, got their start in the wine grape industry in the historic City of Lodi; and today, The old Mondavi home in Lodi is still an artistic hub.

The most recent major turning point came in 1991 when Lodi's growers - many of them with roots in the community going back to the 1800s - came together to forcibly control their own destiny. In 2016 Lodi Winegrape Commission marks 25 years of unprecedented success; and what a success story it is!

Essence of Lodi diversity: Silvaspoons Vineyards Tannat

Just the facts, ma'am

This past August 2016 several hundred wine bloggers descended upon sleepy ol' Lodi; for whom we cobbled this post on Lodi 101 for visiting wine bloggers, like brand new wine in the same old bottle.

Apart from the old fashioned wine country hospitality, what really blew many of these bloggers' minds was the sheer variety of grapes and wines produced in the Delta. And we have the photos to prove it: What ARE the 100 grapes of Lodi?

Owlbox and ancient oak in Lodi's Heritage Oak Vineyards

Lodi's quiet viticultural revolution

The best wines, it's often said, are made in the vineyard. Which doesn't mean winemakers are superfluous. Still, if anything, in Lodi it's mostly about growers, who have been fomenting no less than what Viticulturist Stan Grant calls Lodi's "quiet viticultural revolution".

At the mid-point of each summer fireworks go off spontaneously in the fields, when cellular changes in grape skins exert their own riot of colors and flavor formation; which is why In Lodi, Christmas (a.k.a. veraison) comes in July.

Without a doubt, third party certified sustainable practices have also contributed immensely to Lodi's viticultural revolution - and with that, Lodi's newfound cachet as a premium wine region - which we explain in What the Lodi Rules seal means on a bottle of wine and to the Lodi community.

Fresh fruit field packing of Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon

Who exactly is drinking Lodi wines?

As more and more wines with Lodi on the label pop up on store shelves and restaurant wine lists across the country, it becomes useful to know who are among the growing number of American wine aficionados. According to extensive research, which may surprise you, Older Millennials are now America's most important wine consumers.

If there is any one segment of the media that accurately reflects true groundswells of consumer tastes, that would probably be the untold number of the world's wine bloggers, who have never needed anyone's permission or conditions of employment to ply their opinions. But to paraphrase Sally Field, they like us, they really like us. Hence, Snapshots and bloggers' fond memories of the Wine Bloggers Conference in Lodi.

Thanks to all, and looking forward to sharing more thought provoking posts in 2017!

The original home of the Mondavi family in the City of Lodi

March spectacle in Bokisch Ranches' Terra Alta Vineyard (Lodi's Clements Hills AVA)

The earliest use of the exact phrase, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” first appeared in an 1918 newspaper advertisement in the San Antonio Light (now the San Antonio Express-News), which read: One of the Nation's Greatest Editors Says... One Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.

As you might expect, there is a far older Chinese expression that goes, "Hearing something a hundred times isn't better than seeing it once" (百闻不如一见, p bǎi wén bù rú yī jiàn). And in 1861, the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev wrote in his famous novel, Fathers and Sons, "The drawing shows me at one glance what might be spread over ten pages in a book."

No matter what the origin, we’re in complete agreement. When we look at, for instance, the lichen crusted, gnarled and furrowed trunks and spurs of ancient vines, or the sight of thick, inky wine poured into a glass, we can’t help but feel and even taste both a long history and intense flavor with only our eyes. When transformed into a vivid image, whether drawn, painted or photographed, our minds still drink in that richness without a drop touching our tongues.

Hence, our favorite photos, month by month, of Lodi wine country during the past year. To thine own eyes be true...

January 2016

Naked wintering Zinfandel and century-old barn on Lodi's west side

Curvaceous 112-year-old Zinfandel in Harney Lane Winery's Lizzy James Vineyard

February

Southbound train cruising through winter mustard and ancient vines

Maley Bros.'s Joe Maley, whose family has been farming in Lodi since the 1860s

Marian's Vineyard (own-rooted Zinfandel planted in 1901) in February sunset

Lovers of wine and life during Lodi's annual Wine & Chocolate Weekend

Early bloom in forest of almonds (San Joaquin Valley's #1 crop)

City of Lodi's historic mission arch (originally built for 1907 Tokay Carnival)

Good life among vines and ancient oaks at Oak Farm Vineyards

March

m2 winemaker/owner Layne Montgomery in his signature Zinfandel source: Soucie Vineyard, planted and farmed by Lodi's Soucie family since 1916

East side Lodi Zinfandel among early spring mustard

Row crop discs and bare sandy loam soil alongside Ripken Vineyards' "Drink Lodi Wine" barn

McCay Cellars winemaker/owner Mike McCay with 6-ft. old vine Zinfandel he bottles as TruLux

Keyhole doorway in Acquiesce Winery's century-old barn/tasting room

Early spring sunset in Bokisch Ranches' Terra Alta Vineyard

April

Zinfandel bud break in Jessie's Grove's historic Royal Tee Vineyard (planted in 1889)

Native population around Jessie's Grove's 140-year-old barnyard

Barrel tasting in Oak Farm Vineyards

Owner/grower Tegan Passalacqua working his Kirschenmann Vineyard (known for 100-year-old vine Zinfandel going to Turley Wine Cellars and other prestige producers)

Merry month of May

Lodi ZinFest wine lover

All about Lodi grown wine at the annual ZinFest at Lodi Lake Park

Some serious wine appreciation during ZinFest Wine School

June

Familiar signs at corner of every vineyard block in Lodi wine country

In Mokelumne Glen (unusual Lodi vineyard planted to 45 varieties of German and Austrian grapes), Forlorn Hope winemaker/owner Matthew Rorick shows off his fantastical Gemischter Satz (blending some 30 exotic grapes)

July

Ancient vine Lodi Zinfandel undergoing mid-season veraison

Close-up of gorgeous colors of Zinfandel during veraison; showing both millerandage (uneven sized berries) typical of the varietal, along with coulure (berries that fail to self-pollinate, which will eventually drop out)

Late July Chardonnay harvest in Michael David Winery's Bare Ranch (often one of the first to ripen in the region)

Early morning in 116-year-old Marian's Vineyard; Zinfandel approaching maturation

Bare Ranch's modest sized Chardonnay (Clone 17) clusters in honeyed golden light of morning

Acrobatic ancient vine Zinfandel in Mohr-Fry Ranches' Marian's Vineyard

The action in August

Mettler & Son mechanical harvester driver at Lodi's Harney Lane Winery

2016's first crop at Harney Lane Winery: fresh, zesty Albariño

Visiting sommelier/industry professional Courtney Cochran sampling Abba Vineyards Grenache at the source

Visiting wine blogger trying his hand at early morning Viognier picking at Michael David Winery's estate

During Wine Blogger Conference in Lodi's Hutchins Stree Square, online wine journalists doing "speed tasting" of Lodi wines

Bokisch Vineyards' Liz and Markus Bokisch (right) entertaining wine bloggers in their Terra Alta Vineyard

In Lodi's Mokelumne Glen, ripening Kerner (rare German crossing) flanking bird's nest

Zinfandel harvest in Harney Lane's Lizzy James Vineyard

Mohr-Fry Ranches' Jerry Fry, recipient of 2016 Grower of the Year awarded by California Association of Winegrape Growers

Cinsaut harvest in Lodi's oldest growth, Bechthold Vineyard (own-rooted vines planted in 1886)

Barrel steam cleaning in Oak Farm Vineyards

Very rare (for California) Pinotage grapes in Mettler Family Vineyards

September

Fermenting Zinfandel in Macchia winery

Phil Abba explaining the quality advantages of his meticulous Scott-Henry trellising of Syrah in his Abba Vineyard

Pump-over in m2 winery

Break-of-dawn Petite Sirah harvest (for Michael David Winery) in Kevin Phillips' vineyard

Barrel samples of 2016 single-vineyard Zinfandel at Macchia winery

October

Thick, inky Clements Hills-Lodi grown Petite Sirah (just the way Petite Sirah lovers like it!) in Viñedos Aurora barrel room

Viñedos Aurora winemaker/partner Gerardo Espinosa with 2016 harvest of estate Petite Sirah

Alvalrelhão clusters just before harvest in Silvaspoons Vineyards, Lodi's Portuguese grape specialist

Second-crop Zinfandel (left on the vine) in Kirschenmann Vineyard on Lodi's east side

Open equipment shed in Silvaspoons Vineyards' Mingo Road Ranch in early October morning

Cobbled stones and clay loam of Lodi's Borden Ranch Viticultural Area in Bokisch Ranches' Vista Luna Vineyard

Discarded Zinfandel on floor of The Lucas Winery's ZinStar Vineyard

November

Firey red leaves of late season in Van Ruiten Family planting on Lodi's west side

Ancient oak and Carignan shrouded in typical November morning fog in Jessie's Grove (these own-rooted vines planted in mid-1890s)

Another Lodi classic: the Know Place Bar in the little CDP of Victor

Soulful survivor: barely fruitful Zinfandel in Noma Ranch (planted in early 1900s)

December

Mid-December pruning on Lodi's west side

Unpicked 2016 Zinfandel in Aaron Shim's Cemetery Vineyard

Craig Rous harvests his 2014 Rous Vineyard Zinfandel

It’s big news when a handcraft, artisanal style Zinfandel specialist produces, for the first time, a wine from Rous Vineyard, owned and farmed by Craig Rous. If there were, say, just four or five Zinfandel vineyards in the Lodi Viticultural Area that might be considered grand crus – the “best of the best” (albeit unofficially), based upon a conclusive history of excellence – Rous Vineyard would be one of them. The 10-acre Rous Vineyard was planted in 1909 on St. George rootstock; on the east side of Lodi’s Mokelumne River Viticultural Area, where piles of sandy loam are the deepest and sandiest in the appellation.

But perhaps even more exciting is the release of a McCay Cellars Zinfandel from Bonotto Vineyard. Never heard of it? Join the crowd. For virtually its entire life (planted on St. George rootstock in the early 1940s by the late Richard Bonotto) Bonotto Vineyard’s fruit went to giant sized wineries like E. & J. Gallo. 4th generation Lodi grower Vince Bonotto still cultivates this family heirloom – located on the west side of Lodi’s Mokelumne River AVA, just south of W. Sargent Rd. – and consented to allow Mike McCay to produce wine from it for the first time in the 2014 vintage.

Mr. McCay has always described finding special Lodi vineyards, where grapes have traditionally been “buried” in the gigantic tanks of big producers, as like "like walking through ancient ruins in Rome, finding buried treasure. The region is filled with vineyards that are hidden gems – heritage plantings, many of them over 75 or 100 years old...

“Every year I am finding another ‘new’ vineyard or two, which have actually been around forever. Often it’s the case of a new generation taking over, who want to see their family properties finally get the credit they deserve. As winemakers, step 1 for us has been identifying these overlooked vineyards. Step 2 has been learning each site’s personality, what they respond to... Our usual protocol, utilizing native yeast fermentation and very little new oak, helps us clarify each vineyard’s unique, underqppreciated personality.”

McCay Cellars' Mike McCay

The 2014 McCay Rous Vineyard Lodi Zinfandel ($32) ) is a deeply pigmented, luxuriously textured red with a nose that expresses a full spectrum of the grape's varietal character – black (plum and blackberry), red (black cherry) and blueberry fruit, with distinctive, flowery qualities – and fills the mouth without tasting heavy or cumbersome, and neither dry with tannin nor sweet with excess fruitiness. Craig Rous took one sniff of the wine and said, “It is very distinctively ‘Rous’ with its floral nose, which I think as being very violet-like – there is no other vineyard in Lodi that has this quality, at least not as intensely."

Mr. McCay remarks, “Another close friend, who has managed vineyards for Gallo, tasted the Rous and said, ‘this is the way Zinfandel is supposed to taste,' with its multifaceted aromas and intense flavors, without being overpowering. In 2014 the vines produced barely 2.5 tons/acre. It could have qualified for our Lodi Native program (i.e. native yeast fermented, and absolutely nothing added in terms of acidification, or water to lower alcohol). It took well over 3 weeks to ferment from start to finish (including 1 week cold soak; i.e. juice steeping on skins in a room too cold for fermentation to start, following destemming), and ended up at just above 14% alcohol.”

The 2014 McCay Bonotto Vineyard Lodi Zinfandel ($32), by contrast, shows less of the high toned, floral quality of the 2014 Rous Vineyard, but more of the deeper, darker toned fruit aroma and structure, with a subtle, organic earthiness seeping through broad, velvety, round texturing and almost date-like intensity of flavor. In another sense, the difference between McCay’s 2014 Rous and 2014 Bonotto is typical of differences often found between east side and west side Lodi Zinfandels: east side Zinfandels tending to be brighter, with zippier acidity; and west side Zinfandels tending to be rounder, plusher, with earthy undertones.

Says Mr. McCay, “As far as winemaking is concerned, we followed the same protocols – native yeast fermentation, 1 week cold soak, although unlike the Rous, the Bonotto took 5, almost 6 days to start fermentation on its own after coming out of the cold room. Like the Rous, the Bonotto is very elegant, well balanced, just 14.1% alcohol. You end up with an equally intense Zinfandel, yet with a completely different flavor profile.”

And that, dear readers, is the beauty of Lodi grown Zinfandels – now that they are finally allowed to stand on their own, and produced in a low intervention style focused more on vineyard expression than brand style or arbitrary varietal expectations!

Rous Vineyard's Craig Rous

Lodi Zinfandel on ancient vine (planted in 1904) in Harney Lane's Lizzy James Vineyard

Since ZAP’s (Zinfandel Advocates & Producers’) big, yearly ZinEx (Zinfandel Experience) is just around the corner – taking place in San Francisco February 23-25, 2017 – it’s as good a time as any to discuss one of the reasons why it exists.

ZAP was founded as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in 1991; at a time when Zinfandel as a red wine category was on the wane. During the 1980s California wineries had been dropping the varietal from their lines left and right, and a larger chunk of what existed in the fields were going into soft, fruity, pink colored White Zinfandel. If red wine drinkers weren’t looking for Cabernet Sauvignon, they were asking for (gasp) Merlot (Pinot Noir hadn't quite clicked with mainstream consumers at that time).

But as it turns out, the fears of red Zinfandel producers were unfounded; and their pro-active strategy of banding together with like-minded consumers to form ZAP proved to be a boon for the grape. Market enthusiasm for the varietal caught fire once again. Heritage plantings – once in danger of being pulled out – eventually transitioned back to production of red, rather than pink, wine; in the Lodi Viticultural Area, as much as anywhere in California.

And so today, all is aright with the world – at least where Zinfandel is concerned.

ZAP banner at U.C. Davis Winery

Funding from ZAP membership fees and events, however, also exist for another reason, with potentially Zinfandel-world shattering implications for the industry: to support an ongoing U.C. Davis research program called The Zinfandel Heritage Vineyard Project, initially spearheaded by Jim Wolpert and Mike Anderson at Davis’ Department of Viticulture and Enology.

For well over 100 years, California growers and winemakers have been aware that Zinfandel as a grape exists in a largely unknown, unidentified variety of “selections.” In the same field, for instance, a grower might plant a selection culled from another vineyard right next to existing selections; and the plants may bud out and ripen at different times of the seasons, cluster weights and berry sizes may vary, and resulting wines may have subtle differences in tannin structure, acid feel, or aromas and flavors (red cherry as opposed to raspberry, blackberry, or blueberry, or herbal, clove or black peppery notes as opposed to violet or rosemary blossom-like fragrances).

Heritage Zinfandel clone blind tasting at U.C. Davis Winery

Producers of grapes like Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, Riesling and Chardonnay have always been aware of differences among selections within those respective varietal categories; and in fact, universities of oenology and viticulture all over the world, including at U.C. Davis, have made a full range of selections or clones available to growers for over half a century. But up until recently, not so much for Zinfandel.

In a recent report filed for ZAP, Wolpert and Anderson have written that by 1985, “It... became abundantly clear... that growers and vintners were unhappy with the certified Zinfandel selections available from FPS (U.C. Davis’ Foundation Plant Services... consistent comments were that Zinfandel selections from U.C. Davis had large clusters and berries, were prone to bunch rot and had poor varietal character... well suited for making White Zinfandel but poorly suited to making a fine red wine.”

Industry Zinfandel experts tasting heritage Zinfandel clones at U.C. Davis Winery

This concern gave rise to The Zinfandel Heritage Vineyard Project, implemented by U.C. Davis and supported by funding from ZAP.

Prior to a blind tasting of 5 Zinfandel selections produced in small lot trials in 2014, 2015 and 2016 taking place last week (January 11, 2016) at the U.C. Davis LEED Platinum Teaching & Research Winery, ZAP founder and past president Joel Peterson talked about the evolution of The Zinfandel Heritage Vineyard Project since 1995:

“Jim Wolpert and Mike Anderson went out and collected 90 interesting Zinfandel selections from all over the state, and planted them in the (U.C. Davis’) Oakville station. Turned out that a good number of the selections collected had viruses, and so the first process was culling that number down – ultimately ending up with 20 selections that were completely virus-free. Studying cluster weights and other variables, it turned out that there wasn’t a lot of variation among the selections – perhaps, as Jim theorized, because Zinfandel hasn’t been here for a long time (California plantings of Zinfandel did not begin in earnest until the late 1850s/early 1860s).”

U.C. Davis Winemaker Chik Brenneman exlaining production protocols of Heritage Zinfandel samples

Despite the issue of the relatively brief time in which Zinfandel has had to mutate into significantly different clonal variants, Davis researchers have found slight variations among the selections in both organ morphology – shoot tips, leaf shapes, cluster sizes, berry counts, cluster density, maturation rates, etc. – and in aroma/flavor profiles. This is something growers have observed in the fields for over 100 years, and what we could also taste in the small lot trials last week at the U.C. Davis winery.

Last week’s tasting involved 4 Zinfandel selections held favorable by the Davis researchers, plus one selection of a variant called Primitivo: a grape variety, sourced fairly recently from Apulia in Italy, found to be genetically identical to Zinfandel. Subsequently, FPS has released three clonal selections of Primitivo to the winegrowing industry in 1984 and 1994. Over the past 10 to 20 years, Primitivo has found strong favor among California growers for its positive traits; such as consistently dependable ripening and even sized, fairly loose clusters (the latter quality making it less prone to bunch rot, which is not an uncommon issue for Zinfandel).

Lodi grown Primitivo farmed by Harney Lane's viticultural arm, Mettler & Son

Nonetheless, the primary mission of both ZAP and The Zinfandel Heritage Project has been to disseminate virus-free Zinfandel clones with traits conducive to high quality wine from selections sourced from heritage plantings in California. As Peterson remarked, “Old vine Zinfandel vineyards will not exist forever... the goal of the project is to preserve selections with remarkable characteristics before they disappear forever.” Rebecca Robinson, ZAP’s Executive Director, also added last week, “Right now, we are actually looking at the results of the first 20 years of a 100-year project.”

Although in 2009 19 separate Zinfandel selections identified as a result of this project were released to Foundation Plant Services – and subsequently made available to West Coast nurseries for sale to winegrowers – industry response has been slow on the uptake. As one plant nursery executive attending last week’s tasting at Davis put it, “A lot of nurseries have not been big on growing stock of these esoteric clones, largely because of the uncertainty over the demand. Primitivo is still the most popular choice among today's growers. But if we don’t get serious about getting this genetic diversity into our heritage clonal index programs, we may lose many of these selections.”

ZAP Executive Director Rebecca Robinson in U.C. Davis Winery

The four selections presented for tasting by Chik Brenneman – the U.C. Davis Winery Manager and Director of Winemaking – and his team included the following clones, listed by their Foundation Plant Services number and original vineyard associations, along with one of the FPS Primitivo selections:

• George Zeni FPS 26 Z (from an ancient vine planting in Mendocino Ridge)

• Teldeschi FPS 10 (Dry Creek Valley)

• Moore FPS 25 (Coombsville, Napa Valley)

• Lytton FPS 24 (Sonoma County)

• Primitivo (FPS number unidentified)

According to Brenneman, all the 2014, 2015 and 2016 samples presented were fermented in small steel tanks; none aged in oak, and all bottled under Stelvin screwcap. The plantings in U.C. Davis’ Oakville station (all grafted on St. George rootstock) were picked at a target sugar reading of 24° Brix (in actuality, between 22° and 25°, and not necessarily on same days), and acidity and water adjustments were made (or not) as needed to maintain group consistency.

Small steel tanks used for Heritage Zinfandel fermentation in U.C. Davis Winery

As a result of our own sensory analysis, we found attractive, and therefore desirable, qualities among virtually all the Zinfandel clones selected for this blind tasted presentation; including in the Primitivo.

There were a good dozen and a half Zinfandel producers as well as U.C. Davis staff sitting down to evaluate the wine samples. No doubt, each person found his/her own set of differences. My own notes on the sensory qualities of the selections found in the three vintages:

George Zeni FPS 26 – Consistently the most tart edged (perception of acidity, in a very refreshing sense) of the selections; soft to moderate in tannin feel or phenolic structure; and also in contrast with the other selections, portraying an aroma/flavor profile pulling more towards the red/black cherry or raspberry fruit spectrum (i.e. less blackberry or plum)

Teldeschi FPS 10 – Consistently the deepest, darkest fruit profile – blackberry or black cherry – among the selections; enhanced by the most consistency in tannin content and phenolic feel, emphasizing dense, meaty qualities.

Moore FPS 25 – Notable consistency of balance in both acid and tannin – balance, or a middle-ground in palate feel, being a quality in itself – with multifaceted fruit spectrums, from red cherry to blackberry, and from lush, ripe fruit tones to flowery fragrances.

Lytton FPS 24 – One of the less floral selections, yet consistently bright and high toned in fruit aromas, combining black cherry with blackberry; also consistently “lush” in feel (always a desired Zinfandel trait), with even keeled sensations merging moderately tart acidity with firming tannin.

Primitivo FPS – Contrary to many assumptions (including our own) about Primitivo, this selection displayed a consistency of dark fruit (blackberry, plum) aromas; tannins tend to be moderate yet ample (giving a rounded feel), and acids bright enough to compliment fleshy, meaty, sometimes broad sensations.

Double-blind tasting of 2014, 2015 and 2016 Heritage Zinfandel clones at U.C. Davis

Brenneman and his team at U.C. Davis also supplied the following harvest dates, Brix and acidity readings for comparison; which if anything, demonstrates the earlier ripening pattern and slightly higher sugars of the Primitivo picks compared to that of the heritage Zinfandel clones:

For more background information on protocols followed in The Zinfandel Heritage Vineyard, please visit this page on ZAP’s Web site.

For deeper reading into the historic background of the four primary vineyard-identified Zinfandel FPS clones now available to growers, please visit this ZAP page.

And our congrats to Zinfandel Advocates & Producers and U.C. Davis for their invaluable contribution to the needs of growers and producers, and ultimately to the pleasures of Zinfandel lovers everywhere!

Just in one ancient vine Lodi Zinfandel planting, slightly varying cluster and berry sizes possible when vineyards are interplanted with different selections over the years

Can anything be as much fun, or anyone look as smashing, as, say, a Lady Mary, Edith or Rose during their glorious flapper era? Why not you?

Which is why, for Lodi’s 20th Annual Wine & Chocolate Weekend – February 11 & 12, 2017 (11 AM-4 PM) – our suggested theme, for you and our wineries, is “putting on the Ritz,” in the Roaring ‘20s spirit of free-flowing fashion. We invite you to get out, dressed up to the nines, and go ALL out, which will make your experience of Lodi’s lusciously fresh, fruit forward wines, matched with plenty of chocolaty delicacies (and not just sweets!) at each stop, all the more memorable!

You won’t, mind you, need to know any secret speakeasy passwords as you travel between the 50-plus Lodi region wineries opening their doors to Valentine spirited wine and food lovers all during this weekend. You can bet that the wineries will be decked out – some of them with floors cleared for live music and dancing.

Oh, and of course: there will be a costume contest running on Instagram throughout the weekend. To enter, all you’ll need do is snap a shot of yourself and your sweetheart or posse, and upload to Instagram with the tag @Lodi_Wine, hashtag #LodiWineandChocolate by the end of the weekend. We’ll choose a winner (announced Monday, February 13), and the lucky one will receive a grand prize package bursting with Lodi Wine Country goodies.

May the best dressed WIN!

And of course, as part of our long-running tradition, you can also win by discovering a “Golden Ticket” in the complimentary chocolate treat you get when signing up to receive your Wine & Chocolate Weekend wine glass.

For a full list of participating wineries (plus guidelines and restrictions on limos and bus transportation) please visit this page on our Lodi Wine & Chocolate site. Visit this page to purchase Lodi Wine & Chocolate Weekend tickets online.

Some favorite photo-memories of Lodi Wine & Chocolate Weekends past:

Markus and Liz Bokisch won "big" at this year's San Francisco Chronicle Competion; including two Best of Class awards, one for the 2015 Albariño being harvested in this photo

Once again, during the second week of January, the San Francisco Chronicle gathered some of the country’s top wine professionals to adjudicate the annual San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition; proudly billed as the largest judging of American wines in the world.

And they mean America: For the 2017 judging, some 7,000 entries were submitted by wineries located in 28 states across the country. Mostly from California, of course, including a modest percentage from Lodi. But make no mistake, California appellations weren’t the only Gold and Double Gold winning wine regions: states like Washington, Oregon, Texas, Arizona, New York, North Carolina and Illinois all reaped their share of hardware, relative to their number of entries. Terrific wine, it seems, is made everywhere these days.

Nonetheless, the lion’s share of medals were awarded to California wineries; including no less than 245 medals garnered by wines grown in the Lodi Viticultural Area (please note: since many wineries outside the region source grapes from Lodi, not all the award winning Lodi wines were produced by Lodi-based wineries).

Jessie's Grove's Greg Burns was not only a 2017 San Francisco Chronicle judge, but his 2013 Ancient Vine Carignane was also a Best of Class winner

Who were the 63 judges? According to the San Francisco Chronicle, they included distinguished members of the wine industry (winemakers and growers), education field (particularly university instructors), media (print journalists, bloggers, television, etc.), retail stores, and restaurant and hospitality professionals. Some of Lodi’s finest were present and accounted for; including former Lodi Winegrape Commission Executive Director (and current Lodi City Council member) Mark Chandler, Van Ruiten Family Vineyards winemaker John Giannini, and Jessie’s Grove owner/grower/winemaker Greg Burns.

The judging was held over three days at the Cloverdale Citrus Fairgrounds in Sonoma County. Don’t ask how they did it without developing carpal tunnel syndrome of the mouth, but judges were tasked with tasting over 100 wines a day to select wines, divided by varietals and subcategories based upon price ranges.

Per the tradition of California wine judging, the top rated wines were awarded Bronze, Silver, Gold or “Double Gold” (equivalent to a unanimous rating by all members of a panel) medals. Only 7 entries (out of the 7,000 total) were honored with prestigious Sweepstake Awards.

Oak Farm winemaker Chad Joseph and GM/owner Dan Panella, whose Petit Verdot took a Best of Class and Barbera a Double Gold at the 2017 San Francisco Chronicle Competition

In 2017, no less than 8 Lodi grown wines merited Best of Class honors; meaning, they were judged to be the single best wines, period, in their respective categories.

10 Lodi grown wines earned lofty Double Gold medals (it is difficult to get an entire panel of judges to agree 100% on Gold medal winners); and a total of 40 Lodi wines earned Golds – great achievements, considering the huge number of entries!

For a complete listing of the 2017 San Francisco Chronicle medal winners, please visit this page on winejudging.com.

Kudos and congratulations to all the producers of Lodi grown wines, including the following top medalists, listed along with their respective categories (in parenthesis):

Larry Mettler, the Mettler Family Vineyards patriarch, and Double Gold winner for their 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon

BEST OF CLASS WINNERS

2015 Bokisch Vineyards, Terra Alta Vineyard Clements Hills-Lodi Albariño (Muscat/Albariño/Chenin Blanc)

2014 Bokisch Vineyards, Lodi Tempranillo (Tempranillo $24.99 or less)

2013 Jessie’s Grove, Lodi Ancient Vine Carignane (Carignane)

2014 Loma Prieta, Lodi Petite Sirah (Petite Sirah $33 or more)

2015 Macchia, Mischievous Lodi Zinfandel (Zinfandel,$20.00-$23.99)

2014 Oak Farm, Lodi Petit Verdot (Petit Verdot)

2014 OZV (by Oak Ridge), Lodi Zinfandel (Zinfandel $14.99 or less)

2014 Zynthesis, Lodi Zinfandel (Zinfandel $15.00-$19.99)

Michael David VP of Operations Kevin Phillips, whose family garnered a Double Gold for Inkblot Petit Verdot, and Golds for two Freakshows, Inkblot Cabernet Franc, Ancient Vine Cinsaut and Rapture Cabernet Sauvignon

DOUBLE GOLD

2014 Inkblot (by Michael David), Lodi Petit Verdot (Petit Verdot)

2014 Klinker Brick, Farrah Mokelumne River-Lodi Syrah (Syrah/Shiraz $24.99 or less)

2015 Main & Geary (by BevMo!), Lodi Petite Sirah (Petite Sirah $24.99 or less)

2014 Mettler Family, Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon (Cabernet Sauvignon $23.00-$26.99)

2014 Mikami, Lodi Zinfandel (Zinfandel $36.00-$39.99)

2014 Noble Vines (by Delicato Family Vineayrds), Lodi Merlot (Merlot $19.99 or less)

2014 Oak Farm, Lodi Barbera (Barbera $20.00 or more)

2012 Reed Cellars, Lodi Tempranillo (Tempranillo $25.00 or more)

2014 Rippey Family, Lodi Petite Sirah (Petite Sirah $24.99 or less)

2014 Zin-Phomaniac, Lodi Zinfandel (Zinfandel $14.99 or less)

For the second year in a row, second generation Lodi grower Jason Mikami's Mikami Zinfandel garnered a Double Gold at the 2017 San Francisco Chronicle Competion (a Mikami Zinfandel has won either a Gold, Double Gold or Best of Class five years in a row)

GOLD

2015 Acquiesce, Mokelumne River-Lodi Viognier (Viognier)

2014 Bokisch, Terra Alta Vineyard Clements Hills-Lodi Garnacha (Grenache $22 or more)

2014 Campus Oaks, Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon (Cabernet Sauvignon $10.00-$14.99)

2013 Creekview, Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon (Cabernet Sauvignon $27.00-$30.99)

2015 Drawbridge, Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon (Cabernet Sauvignon $10.00-$14.99)

2015 Fields Family, Mokelumne River-Lodi Tempranillo (Tempranillo $25.00 or more)

Fields Family's Ryan Sherman and Russ Fields earned Gold for their 2015 Tempranillo

2014 Freakshow (by Michael David), Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon (Cabernet Sauvignon $19.00-$22.99)

2014 Freakshow (by Michael David), Lodi Red Wine Blend (Syrah Dominant Blends)

2014 Harney Lane, Mokelumne River-Lodi Petite Sirah (Petite Sirah $25.00-$28.99)

2014 Harney Lane, Mokelumne River-Lodi Zinfandel ($24.00-$27.99)

2015 Hybrid (by Peltier), Lodi Chardonnay (Chardonnay $10.00-$13.99)

2014 Inkblot (by Michael David), Lodi Cabernet Franc (Cabernet Franc $25.00 or more)

2015 Ironstone, Obsession Mokelumne River-Lodi Symphony (White Blends $19.99 or less)

Jorja and Kyle Lerner's Harney Lane Winery won San Francisco Chronicle Golds for both Petite Sirah and Zinfandel

2015 Jeff Runquist, Liberty Oaks Vineyard Jahant-Lodi Tempranillo ($25.00 or more)

2013 Jessie’s Grove, Lodi Petite Sirah (Petite Sirah $29.00-$32.99)

2014 Judd’s Hill, Lodi Zinfandel (Zinfandel $32.00-$35.99)

2014 Klinker Brick, Mokelumne River-Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon (Cabernet Sauvignon $19.00-$22.99)

NV Lone Dove, Lodi Blanc de Blancs (Blanc de Blancs)

2015 Macchia, Meticulous Lodi Primitivo (Primitivo)

2015 Macchia, Outrageous Noma Ranch Lodi Zinfandel (Zinfandel $24.00-$27.99)

2015 McCay, Lodi Rosé (Dry Rosé/Blush)

Fifth generation Lodi grower Steve Felten's Klinker Brick Winery won a prestigious Double Gold for his "Farrah" Syrah, plus a Gold for Cabernet Sauvignon

2013 McCay, Jupiter Lodi Zinfandel (Zinfandel $28.00-$31.99)

2014 Ménage à Trois, Lodi Zinfandel (Zinfandel $14.99 or less)

2015 Michael David, Lodi Ancient Vine Cinsault (Other Red Varietals)

2014 Klinker Brick, Old Ghost Mokelumne River-Lodi Zinfandel (Zinfandel $36.00-$39.99)

2014 Peltier, Black Diamond Lodi Zinfandel (Zinfandel $24.00-$27.99)

2013 Rapture (by Michael David), Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon (Cabernet Sauvignon $59.00-$62.99)

2011 Reed Cellars, Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon (Cabernet Sauvignon $27.00-$30.99)

2015 Robert Lauchland, Mokelumne River-Lodi White Field Blend (White Blends $19.99 or less)

Lodi Vintners GM/partner Tyson Rippey's Rippey Family Petite Sirah earned a prestigious Double Gold at the 2017 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition

2013 Scotto Family, Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon (Cabernet Sauvignon $10.00-$14.99)

2015 Scotto Family, Lodi Dry Sangiovese Rosé (Dry Rosé/Blush)

2014 Serendipity, Lodi Blanc de Blancs (Blanc de Blancs)

2015 St. Amant, Marian’s Vineyard Lodi Zinfandel (Zinfandel $24.00-$27.99)

2014 St. Jorge, Mokelumne River-Lodi Souzão (Other Red Varietals)

2015 SVI (by Sunland Vintage), Lodi Tempranillo (Tempranillo $25 or more)

2013 The Lucas, Lodi Chardonnay (Chardonnay $34.00-$37.99)

2015 Van Ruiten Family, Lodi Pinot Grigio (Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio $9.99 or less)

2014 Vino Vargas, Clements Hills-Lodi Toro Tinto Tempranillo (Tempranillo $25.00 or more)

2014 Whiplash, Lodi Zinfandel (Zinfandel $14.99 or less)

2014 Zinderella, Mokelumne River-Lodi Zinfandel (Zinfandel $20.00-$23.99)

Macchia owner/winemaker Tim Holdener and grower Leland Noma, who teamed up to win a Gold for the 2015 Macchia Noma Ranch Zinfandel; on top of a Best of Class for the 2015 Macchia Mischievous Zinfandel and Gold for 2015 Macchia Primitivo

Adam Mettler, Michael David Winery's Director of Winemaking, with bottle of Rapture Cabernet Sauvignon, Double Gold winner at prestigious 2017 American Fine Wine Competition in Florida

There are wine competitions, and there are wine competitions. Then there  is the American Fine Wine Competition, co-founded in 2007 by Shari Gherman with Monty and Sara Preiser.

This past September (2016) Gherman and the Preisers spent a day and a half combing through the Lodi Viticultural Area for one specific purpose: to cherry-pick absolutely the finest Lodi grown wines they could find to invite to their 10th Annual American Fine Wine Competition; which took place earlier this month over the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend (January 14-17, 2017) at the Florida International University in Miami-Dade County.

Mr. Preiser – who, along with his wife Sara, is a longtime wine journalist, and publishes high-gloss Napa Valley and Sonoma County wine country guides called the Preiser Key from their second home in Napa Valley – has always described their AFWC event as “a different kind of wine judging." It has to do with the degree of difficulty to win a top medal in Florida.

St. Amant's Stuart Spencer in Leventini Vineyard; the source of both a red Barbera and Barbera Rosè garnering AFWC Gold

Unlike other wine competitions, Florida’s AFWC is strictly invitation-only. In stark contrast, the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition solicits wines from any and all wineries across the country – over 7,000 wines entered in this year’s judging alone, re Lodi hauls in medals at San Francisco Chronicle judging – for Gold, Double Gold (awarded when a panel of judges unanimously agree on a Gold medal winner), Silver or Bronze medal consideration.

Therefore, this year’s AFWC involved slightly less than 800 wines – a modest sum, the vast majority coming from California plus entries from states like Oregon, Washington, New York, Virginia, Ohio, etc. – and the judging panels consisted of just 25 wine, retail or hospitality professionals. Explains Preiser: “But for a small percentage, each of these wines were pre-screened even before being invited by people generally considered to have excellent palates. There is no reason, therefore, to believe that 100% of what is tasted is not Gold medal-worthy... We ask our judges to approach every wine as if it has already won a major playoff to get here.”

Although he has no control over the final decisions of his judging panels once the competition is underway, Mr. Preiser has never made any bones about how he feels about quality/price ratios. “I know there is a lot of disagreement about this,” he stated before the 2017 judging, "but I believe that a $30 wine does not deserve a Gold or Double Gold unless it is every bit as good as a $130 or $200 wine. I just don’t believe that a wine should be judged by a lower standard because it falls in a lower price range.”

Grenache Blanc harvested in Acquiesce Winery's estate; the base of a Double Gold award winning white wine

Under these daunting circumstances, exactly how do Lodi wines – many of them produced for more moderate price ranges – stack up against the best and most expensive wines in America? When visiting Lodi last September. Gherman told us, “Lodi wines always do well. At first, it used to be surprising. Nowadays we are making an effort to get even more Lodi wines into the competition because we already know they will be more than competitive, no matter what their price.”

The 2017 AFWC, as it were, proved to be no exception: Out of the total of 461 wines awarded Best of Show, Best of Class, Double Gold or Gold honors, a total of 18 Lodi grown wines made that cut. That might not sound like much, but when you consider the fact that over 98% of the wines invited to the AFWC came from places other than Lodi, you have to say that Lodi grown wines took their share of top medals.

E.g., among this year's AFWC Best of Class winners, the 2015 Oak Farm Lodi Grenache was the sole Lodi wine attaining this distinction. The only Double Gold given to a Grenache happened to be the 2013 Bokisch Terra Alta Vineyard Clements Hills-Lodi Garnacha. We’ve said it over and over again in these pages: Lodi grows some of the finest, and indubitably the spiciest and most refined, Grenache based reds in the entire U.S. We’re glad the judges in Florida concur.

Grenache (here, in Hunter's Oak farmed by Bokisch Ranches) has become one of the Lodi's signature grapes; earning Best of Class (by Oak Farm) and Double Gold (by Bokisich) honors in Florida's AFWC

Gherman and the Preisers happen to have a special affection for California Zinfandel, and so this is usually one of the largest categories at the AFWC judging. The 2017 judges awarded a total of 26 Golds and 12 Double Golds to California Zinfandels; including Golds accorded to the 2014 Earthquake (by Michael David), the 2013 Klinker Brick Marisa Vineyard, and the 2013 Lust (also by Michael David) Zinfandels.

Ah, but this is where price differential becomes a telling factor. While Lodi’s three Gold medal winning Zinfandels are priced at $26, $30 and $59 respectively, they were judged in categories occupied primarily by the likes of the Double Gold winning Robert Biale Aldo’s Vineyard ($78) from Napa Valley; or Gold medalists such as a Ravenswood Old Hill ($60), a Ledson Howell Mountain ($60), and Brown Chiles Vineyard ($55).

Because of the AFWC methodology of inviting strictly the “best of the best’ American wines, categories like Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc are absolutely stacked with ultra-premium brands. For instance, there were two Gold medal winning Lodi Chardonnays: the 2015 Harney Lane (retailing for $25) and the 2014 Michael David (just $16) Chardonnays. But these wines earned their hardware by going up against Gold and Double Gold winners such as Luna ($45), Artesa ($55), MacPhail Sonoma Coast ($65), Robert Mondavi Reserve ($55), McIntyre ($36), Sbragia ($48), and Rombauer Buchli Station ($70).

Klinker Brick owner/grower Steve Felten and daughter Farrah, winners of an AFWC Double Gold for their 2013 Syrah

Michael David’s premium priced 2013 Rapture Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon ($59) garnered a Double Gold; and their Earthquake Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon ($26) managed to snatch a Gold. For sobering perspective, look at some of the other top Cabernet Sauvignons that these Lodi wines competed against in the 2017 AFWC: a Yao Family ($225), Frank Family Patriarch ($225), Raymond Generations ($150), Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars’ SLV ($135), Pride Mountain ($140), Ledson ($110), Keenan ($105), and numerous others in these lofty price ranges.

As it often does in prestige competitions, Michael David’s 2014 Inkblot Lodi Cabernet Franc ($35) was awarded a Double Gold. Other Gold and Double Gold winners included Cabernet Francs by the acclaimed Crocker & Starr ($80), Howell Mountain ($85), Peju Province Rutherford Reserve ($145), Pride Mountain ($70)... well, you get the picture.

Maybe not? Let's put it another way: The Lodi Viticultural Area is easily the largest winegrowing region in the U.S. (more acres of grapes than, say, Sonoma County and Napa Valley combined). Yet Lodi is relatively virginal when it comes to actual number of premium producers. Napa Valley, for instance, is up to about 475 bonded wineries. There are over 425 wineries in Sonoma County; over 250 in Paso Robles; over 400 in Oregon, and over 900 in Washington. Lodi’s current count: just over 80 locally based brands; only about two-thirds of these working out of their own bonded wineries.

Which is why we say that, in events like the American Fine Wine Competition, Lodi humbly holds its own. Or, we dudes abide.

The top Lodi grown wines at the 2017 American Fine Wine Competiton:

BEST OF CLASS

2015 Oak Farm, Lodi Grenache

DOUBLE GOLD

2015 Acquiesce, Mokelumne River-Lodi Belle Blanc (Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, Viognier)

2013 Bokisch, Terra Alta Vineyard Clements Hills-Lodi Garnacha

2013 Klinker Brick, Farrah Mokelumne River-Lodi Syrah

2014 Oak Farm, Lodi Petit Verdot

2013 Rapture (by Michael David), Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon

GOLD

2015 Bokisch, Terra Alta Vineyard Clements Hills-Lodi Albariño

2014 Earthquake (by Michael David), Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon

2014 Earthquake (by Michael David), Lodi Zinfandel

2014 Freakshow (by Michael David, Lodi Red Wine Blend

2015 Harney Lane, Lodi Chardonnay

2014 Inkblot (by Michael David), Lodi Cabernet Franc

2013 Klinker Brick, Marisa Vineyard Mokelumne River-Lodi Zinfandel

2013 Lust (by Michael David), Lodi Zinfandel

2015 Michael David, Lodi Ancient Vine Cinsault

2014 Michael David, Lodi Chardonnay

2015 St. Amant, Lodi Barbera Rosé

2015 St. Amant, Leventini Vineyard Lodi Barbera

Secret behind Leventini Vineyard Barbera grapes going into multi-award winning St. Amant wines; small, intense clusters of old vines, grown in sandy clay-loam of Lodi's Jahant AVA

Oldies but moldies: 2014 Gewürztraminer harvest in Lodi's Mokelumne Glen Vineyard

Here, at the start of 2017, it’s customary for magazines, blogs and journalists to opine on what consumers will be drinking over the next year. A quick scroll through “the Google” uncovers some of these astute prognostications, such as...

• Cannonau – These are red wines made from the Grenache grape grown in Sardinia (i.e. Cannonau di Sardegna). If you haven’t yet even noticed this wine in your average retail store, that’s because it’s not there. Cannonau may be obscure, but in recent years the few artisanal bottlings of Grenache coming out of Lodi have been absolutely outstanding; proven Best of Class (out of the entire country, no less) winners. So while waiting around for a Cannonau epiphany, you just may want to settle with equally inspiring Lodi Grenache.

• Petite Sirah – This prediction makes sense. Retailers, wineries and growers alike have been reporting an upswing in interest in this grape (also known as Durif) in recent years; and there’s no reason not to expect that to continue in 2017.

• More red wine blends – Another markedly growing wine category over the past three years, which also makes sense. Why drink straight varietal wines (i.e. wines made primarily from one grape) when a combination of grapes can produce something more interesting, often funner? Re, for one, Michael David's most recent, award winning iteration of Freakshow (a blend of Syrah and a kitchen-sink of other Lodi grown grapes).

2016 Wine Bloggers Conference visitors in front of Michael David's Freakshow tanks

• “Affordable bubblies” – Who doesn’t love an $8 or $12 sparkler? So what if it’s not quite “French” – more bang for the buck! Which brings up the question: Why aren’t there more sparkling wines produced by Lodi’s artisanal wineries? Lodi certainly grows tons of grapes for sparkling wine producers throughout the state.

• “Any Greek wine other than Retsina” – The best contemporary style Greek varietal wines of today may be unpronounceable (Assyrtiko, Xinomavro, Agiorgitiko, Malagousia, etc.), but are absolutely delicious. Lodi growers, in fact, should probably take notice. Our climate is similar in many ways to Greece’s coastal and island Mediterranean conditions. Could Greek grapes be another way for the Lodi Viticultural Area to differentiate itself? Why not?

Thinking inside the box

• “Good wine from cans” – This prediction seems to come up once every 10 or so years. Sure, wine is basically a beverage; but even cheap wines taste better out of half-decent wine glasses. C'est la vie.

• “Better wine from boxes” – There will always be that element among consumers for whom price (and quantity) trumps all. Hence the slow yet steady growth of wine packaged in 3-liter boxes or Tetra Paks. Might as well make them better (preferably, with Lodi grown grapes)!

In any case, these random speculations and thoughts also pretty much illustrate this observation: Not much will change in 2017 where consumer preferences are concerned. Cannonau, alas, will not become the next Merlot any time soon, and it will take a few more years (best case scenario) before Assytiko becomes becomes as common as Sauvignon Blanc, let alone Albariño. One can hope; but hey, even White Zinfandel started off as an obscure "experimental" wine, around the time when Spiro Agnew was decrying "nattering nabobs of negativism."

Third generation Lodi grower Leonard Manassero harvesting 2014 Grenache from head trained vines planted in the early 1940s, long before the Chardonnazation and Caberneting of California wine regions

Furthermore, while in 2017 Americans will continue to buy, and appreciate, imported wines (currently about 31% of wine sales in U.S.), the vast majority of wine consumed in the U.S. will still be those grown and produced in California (over 61%); as it has pretty much, over the past 40, 50 years.

And as it has been the case since the early 1980s – when sales of generic “jug” wines began taking a precipitous drop – varietal wines packaged in 750 ML. bottles will remain the biggest sellers in the U.S.; led primarily by the following categories, according to latest figures (September 2016) compiled by Statista:

Another factor that has held steady for going on 50 years: Women will continue to purchase, and consume, more wine than men (a difference of 57% vs. 43%, according to Nielsen Spectra, 2016, re winebusiness.com).

Face of 2017's largest segment of wine consumers: Millennials at 2016 Lodi ZinFest

But lest you think everything remains exactly the same in 2017, consider this factor emerging only within the past two years: The largest segment of wine consumers in the U.S. is now Millennial (at 36%), followed by the steadily shrinking crowd of Baby Boomers (at 34%; according to Gillespie, 2016). Wineries who maintain tasting rooms have certainly noticed this trend: Their single largest group of buyers now tend to be between the ages of 22 and 39, skewing more towards the 30-somethings. (FYI, the youngest Boomers are now in their early 50s).

One of our favorite ways of parsing the state of the California wine industry has always been to look at what is actually out there in the fields. It always takes a few years, of course, for growers to make adjustments according to winery and market needs; but grape acreage continues to be a good barometer of what's trending in the American market.

Compare, for instance, California's leading grape varieties as of 2015 (according to the California Department of Food & Agriculture) with what was in the ground in 1971 (archived figures from California Crop & Livestock Reporting Service):

A few thoughts on the difference between 2015 and 1971 California plantings:

• We’ve come a long way, baby!

• In 1971, California vineyards were dominated by grapes utilized primarily to produce generic wines like “Burgundy” (blends of Carignane and Zinfandel with Barbera, Petite Sirah, Ruby Cabernet, Alicante Bouschet, etc.) and “Chablis” (lots of French Colombard and Chenin Blanc).

​

Soulful survivor: Lodi Carignan in Rauser Vineyard planted in 1906

• Therefore, in 1971, appreciation of ultra-premium wine grapes such as Pinot Noir (just 7,804 acres planted) and Chardonnay (7,368 acres) was in its infancy. Classic grapes like Merlot (just 426 acres), Cabernet Franc (156 acres), Malbec (94 acres), and Petit Verdot (unlisted in 1971) were unknown except to less than a handful of pioneering producers (particularly Louis Martini, Beaulieu and Sterling). As popular as they are today, interest in white wine varieties like Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio and Viognier was zilch, nada, 45 years ago.

• In the 1970s, the few plantings of grapes like Sangiovese (listed as “Sangioveto”) and Tempranillo (called Valdepeñas) were not bottled as varietals; but rather, used in generic or fortified wine production.

• Notice no Syrah listed in 1971? There were, in fact, stray plantings of this grape in Mendocino and Napa Valley – although usually sold as Petite Sirah – but it would not be until the mid-1970s that producers such as Joseph Phelps and Estrella River began to cultivate, then bottle, the first California Syrahs as a separate varietal.

Oh, those '70s jingles

• Also in the 1960s and '70s, fairly popular, easy drinking, Beaujolais style red wines were made from grapes sold as Napa Gamay and Gamay Beaujolais. Neither grape, however, was related to the authentic Gamay Noir of France’s Beaujolais region. These wines have gone out of fashion, although a handful of producers still grow and bottle first rate Napa Gamay under its true name, Valdiguié (in the late '60s “Gamay Beaujolais” was correctly identified as a variant of Pinot Noir, the nomenclature phased out soon after). 

• The wine grape industry wasn’t all that “backwards” five decades ago. Growers and producers recognized the high quality of the grapes they cultivated, even if many of those varieties are not as respected today. As it were, many of these grapes widely planted in the 1970s – such as Barbera, Mataro/Mourvèdre, Carignane, Alicante Bouschet and Black Malvoisie (the latter, recently "rediscovered" under its true name, Cinsaut) – are very much back in the good graces of many of today's aficionados (albeit a minority) of serious red wines.

2016 Cinsaut harvest in Lodi's Bechthold Vineyard; a planting underappreciated for over 100 years because its grapes were sold by a lesser known California synonym, Black Malvoisie

• The Mission grape – originally introduced to California by the Franciscan missionaries in the late 1700s and early 1800s – is making a comeback as both a fortified sweet red (called Angelica) and deliciously light, refreshing red wine in the Sierra Foothills. Meagerly planted Pinot St. George/Négrette and Trousseau Gris (called Gray Riesling in the ‘70s) have nonetheless become hip among the wine cognoscenti. Even the once-ubiquitous Chenin Blanc and Colombard grapes are currently making something of a comeback among the “cool kid” wine connoisseurs. Particularly those Millennials.

In other words, not only are some of these old fashioned grapes suddenly reviving the respect and interest of a modest number of growers and producers, they are definitely catching on with many a hipster wine lover here in 2017. 

So here's the scoop: Like other historic California wine regions, Lodi went through that phase during the 1970s and '80s of pulling up a lot of the "less desirable" grapes. Out went the Colombard and just about all the Chenin Blanc; and in went the Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, and other grapes that better met growing market demand.

Chenin Blanc in Lodi's Cresci Vineyard: another grape making a quiet comeback after falling from grace during the upheavals of the 1980s and '90s

But unlike other wine regions, Lodi never put all its eggs in a shrinking basket. Instead, Lodi growers retained a large pool of cultivars; keeping, for instance, a good amount of Barbera, Grenache, Carignane, Alicante Bouschet and, of course, Zinfandel; while expanding even further with dozens more. Ergo: Spanish grapes like Tempranillo, Graciano and Albariño; Mediterranean varieties like Piquepoul, Vermentino and Verdelho; exotic grapes like Pinotage, Torrontés and Aglianico; and even German varieties like Kerner, Bacchus and Zweigelt.

Why? Because Lodi's mild Mediterranean climate permits just about anything; and because there is a large enough segment of the production industry that can make good use of grapes other than the usual Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, etc.

Lodi, in other words, is in a driver's seat where wine consumers demanding more choices are concerned. Lodi is not the only California wine region that has retained, or expanded, its diversity of wine grapes; but it is by far the largest. Many of the young, hipster wine consumers may not quite be cognizant of that fact; but chances are they will be... soon enough!

Piquepoul in Acquiesce Vineyard: another new grape that make hipster wine lovers' hearts go pitter-patter

Hey, Carignan (here, in Lodi's Bishofberger Vineyard, planted in 1936), what's your game now, can anybody play?

The black skinned Carignan grape makes a totally delicious red wine of vivid, deep color and effusive fruit expression; usually suggesting black cherry or related sensations, such as strawberry, cranberry, raspberry or rhubarb, and sometimes violet or rose petal-like fragrances.

Red wines made primarily from Carignan tend to be dependably well balanced with moderate tannin and better than average natural acidity; usually embedded in a full, richly textured body (typically in the vicinity of 13.5% to 15% alcohol – no higher or lower, mind you, than today’s average sized Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon).

That’s your typical Carignan; but when produced from vines over 50, 75, or even 100 years old, a Carignan can be much more. Phenoms in their own right.

Typically generous Carignan clusters in Lodi's 110-year-old Rauser Vineyard

Still, why is Carignan never really considered among the “great” red wine grapes of the world? If Carignan were, say, a man, he might be described as a dependable, good-looking guy, usually a little buff, very popular in high school or college, with a genuine and kind personality. Only drawback, he only likes to talk about one thing; like sports, maybe games, or surfing. In other words, not particularly well rounded or deep; but still a great guy. Question is – does this make him a keeper; or someone bound to drive you nuts?

Wine consumers, being the way they are, have had a past history of drinking tons of Carignan – or at least, Carignan based red wine blends – but in recent years, many have moved on to other things.

And that’s the story of Carignan. Between the 1960s and 1980s, Carignan was the most widely planted red wine grape in California; grown primarily to produce “jug” reds, blended with other grapes. During that same period of time in France, Carignan was hugely popular – reportedly, over 400,000 acres planted in vast swaths of vineyards along the Mediterranean, which would be about 45% of the total amount of wine grapes of any color planted in California today.

Jessie's Grove's Greg Burns with 128-year-old, own-rooted, head trained, spur pruned Carignan, planted by his great-great grandfather on Lodi's west side

Here in 2017, however, plantings of Carignan in California have dropped precipitously; to the point where it is now well behind a dozen other red wine grapes in total acrage (Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Syrah being far more fashionable today). In France, Carignan plantings have also fallen significantly (at last count, in 2009) to about 131,000 acres; pulled out mostly in favor of grapes like Merlot, Grenache and Syrah (currently France’s most widely planted grapes). Even in Spain – the likely birthplace of Carignan – there are barely 15,000 acres of the grape in the ground today.

In its traditional role as a supplier of red wine grapes to big wineries, Lodi has retained a larger percentage of the 2,600 or so acres of Carignan still cultivated in California. Carignan thrives in Lodi because of the appellation’s moderate Mediterranean climate, not dissimilar to that of Mediterranean Basin wine regions (from Spain to Croatia, Southern France to North Africa) where the grape has been cultivated for as long as 700 years, minimum (in Wine Grapes, renowned wine author Jancis Robinson describes Carignan as “a very old variety that was dispersed a long time ago”).

Apart from its dependable, nice-guy personality, the popularity of Carignan has always been tied to its productivity. Although it ripens later in the season (making it more prone to inclement weather), its big clusters can yield larger tonnage than grapes like Zinfandel, Mataro (a.k.a. Mourvèdre), Syrah or Petite Sirah. As in Europe, growers in Lodi came to favor the grape because of its vigorous yields as well as other positives; such as its upright growth (ideal for head trained, spur pruned vines) and wines retaining good, zesty acidity. These are precisely the reasons why Carignan was typically an integral part of Zinfandel-dominated “field” mixes planted throughout the North Coast in the late 1800s and first half of the last century.

Klinker Brick owner/grower Steve Felten and his winemaker Joseph Smith, with 110-year-old Rauser Vineyard Carignan on Lodi's east side, sporting early spring growth

But something else has happened to the few remaining California blocks of pure, ancient vine Carignan: They have suddenly become more valued for their own varietal virtues, which seem to become accentuated with increased vine age.

Greg Burns, the owner/grower/winemaker at Lodi’s Jessie’s Grove Winery, first recognized the differences between his younger (50 to 75-year-old) and older (over 100 years) Carignan vines when he began started producing wines under his own family label nearly 18 years ago. Says Burns, “I believe Carignan vines really need to be at least 100 years to truly express the grape. Even so, not every year; which is why we don’t produce an Ancient Vine Carignane in every vintage.”

Burns is far from the only vintner noticing this. In a widely read blog posted back in 2004 – entitled Can Carignan ever be great? – Robinson made a sound argument for that premise by citing a number of remarkable bottlings now being produced from ancient vine plantings in Spain (particularly in Priorat and Montsant) as well as France’s Languedoc-Roussillon (citing phenomenal vineyards and producers in Corbières, Minerovois, Saint-Chinian, and other appellations).

Vino Farms Viticulturist Chris Storm, with his west side Lodi Carignan, planted in the mid-'60s (going into Michael Klouda's bottling)

Closer to home, Neyers Vineyards’ Bruce Neyers has recently acknowledge being inspired by French vignerons in their sourcing of 140-year-old Carignan vines from Evangelho Vineyard in nearby Oakley, Contra Costa County (where, as in Lodi, century-old head trained vines planted on their own rootstocks have thrived in sandy soil originating from the same decomposed granite washing down from the Sierras).

Carignan, in other words, is back to being cool again. Particularly ancient vine Carignan; which puts regions like Lodi, replete with heritage plantings, at a pole position in the charge to lead the grape back into consumers’ hearts. Need evidence? Take the Lodi grown 2014 Jessie’s Grove Ancient Vine Carignane, which garnered a Best of Class/Gold at last month’s prestigious San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition (meaning, "the best Carignan in the U.S.," at least according to these judges).

Ancient vine trunks of Rauser Vineyard Carignan (planted in 1906) in classic loamy sand of Lodi's east side

Needless to say, this development has perked our interest; and so last week four of us – including Greg Burns, MK Wines’ Michael Klouda, and McCay Cellars' Mike McCay – sat down to a tasting of six Carignans; five of them from Lodi (including the decorated 2013 Jessie’s Grove), and one of them from the 140-year-old vines in Contra Costa’s Evangelho Vineyard.

We tasted all six Carignans “blind” – none of us knew which wines were what – to maintain some semblance of objectivity in our study of what makes a Lodi grown Carignan “Lodi” (our goal was to get a feel for a regional style, not to pick the “best” Carignans). All the wines, as it turned out, were outstanding: Across the board, teeming in the upbeat, luxuriously textured, cherry/berry generosity reflecting the most positive sides of the varietal personality; with, as you would expect, nuanced differences reflecting vintages and specific vineyard source as much as winemaking and viticultural peculiarities.

MK Wines' Michael Klouda

The wines, in order of group preference:

2014 Klinker Brick, Lodi Carignane ($25) – In 2013, when Klinker Brick owner/grower Steve Felten took over the farming of Jean Rauser’s east-side Lodi Carignan block – which, according to her, was originally planted in 1906 – they picked about 60% of the fruit early, with lower sugars and elevated acidity, in order to enhance their growing dry rosé program. They picked the rest a little later, turning it into a classic varietal red; which turned out to be so successful that they now utilize the entire yearly crop from these phenomenal vines for red wine, and red wine only. When you taste the 2014, you can see why. Its dark red color is like a royal plumage, and the baking cherry pie-like varietal aroma is pure and lavish; unadulterated by overdone oak, while fleshy, round and seamless, coating the palate like thick velvet while finishing with a bright, bouncy, balanced feel. Mr. Burns (who should know) commented that this is “classic Lodi Carignan – beautifully rounded and deep.”

2014 Neyers, Evangelho Vineyard Contra Costa Carignan ($35) – If anything, this is a “let Carignan be Carignan” style of wine, barely distinguishable from the five Lodi grown Carignans in this blind tasting except for a touch more reliance on a bare naked black cherry fruit expression, unimpeded by oak or excess alcohol (13.7%). There’s a floral/rose petal note in the nose, and the feel is perfectly rounded, fleshy, velvety; supple tannin supporting wall-to-wall flavor. The approach, according to the proprietor, is “natural" – whole clusters of fruit (with stems) crushed by foot, open-top fermented with native yeast, and maceration on skins totaling 40 days before 10 months aging in strictly neutral French oak and bottling unfiltered, unfined, unnothinged. According to Mr. McCay, “I liked the almost cotton candy-like character of this wine – the nose is bright and the wine intense, while soft, elegant, airy.”

McCay Cellars' Mike McCay, juggling pressed grape skins

2015 MK (Michael Klouda), Lodi Carignane ($26) – Youth is served in this 2015 bottling (the youngest in this blind tasting); as our group rated this vivid, purplish-ruby red dead-even with the 2014 Neyers. The black cherry aroma is fresh, ripe and extravagant, without being jammy or overripe; the feel full, dense and broad (14.15% alcohol), without being heavy, drying or ponderous. The vineyard source – owned and farmed by Vino Farms Viticulturist Chris Storm – is a postage-sized block of tall, head trained vines; planted about 50 years ago, west of Lower Sacramento Rd., just north of Woodbridge (west side of Lodi’s Mokelumne River AVA). Commenting on his own wine (without knowing what it was), Michael Klouda made note of a “touch too much French oak,” although his praise of the wine's "darker berry fruit" indicates that he was clearly quibbling.

2014 Michael David, Lodi Carignane ($25) – A little bit of a stylistic outlier in this tasting, Michael David’s first varietal bottling of Carignane since the 1990s came across as laudably compact in its medium to medium-full body (alcohol closer to 13.5%); its lush, ripe black cherry fruit couched in notably zesty acidity, moderate tannin, and slightly leafy-green, herby notes. Mr. Burns noted the wine’s “cinnamony oak” and “bright acidity, giving a long, lasting finish.” While there is no vineyard designation on the front label, the back of the bottle pays tribute to “long time grower Bob Bishofberger,” owner of this 3-acre block of head trained vines, originally planted in 1936 along Turner Rd., on the west side of Lodi’s Mokelumne River sub-appellation.

Carignan tasting (iPhone shot by Mike McCay, from his side of the table)

2012 McCay Cellars, Lodi Carignane ($35) – Although sourced from the exact same 110-year-old, own-rooted,, east side ancient vines (owned by Jean Rauser) as the 2014 Klinker Brick Carignane, three things make this bottling radically different: It is two years older, 100% native yeast fermented, and saw longer time in French oak (mostly neutral). The result, believe it or not, is sensory qualities more akin to South-West French style reds than Californians – sprightly red cherry fragrances encased in pungently earthy, thyme and wild sage-like notes (Mr. McCay describes this as “mushroomy forest floor”), with smidgens of brown spices and toasted oak. The body is full (14.2% alcohol) but not over-the-top; moderate yet firm tannin and crinkly acidity giving the wine a spare, zesty feel – leaner, lankier, and somewhat dustier than typical California Carignans.

2013 Jessie’s Grove, Ancient Vine Lodi Carignane ($32) – Best of Class honors at a judging as large and competitive as the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition is never an accident. They like Lodi grown Carignan, they really do. While in our own tasting we may have been just as compelled by other bottlings, this wine trembles like a bowl full of jelly with luxurious, flowery, cherry/rhubarb pie-like aromas, tinged with an intriguing core of herby/leafy earthiness, more noticeable on the palate than in the nose. Its rounded, full body (14.6%) fills the mouth with generous varietal fruit, buoyed by moderate tannin and good acidity. Produced from a cherry picking of this estate’s treasure trove of ancient vines (planted between between 1889 and 1899); originally planted by Joseph Spenker, and owned and farmed by his descendants ever since.

Ancient vine Jessie's Grove Carignan in late October fog

Mettler family's Lodi grown Arbor Vineyards Pinotage, bottled sa Amorosa Vineyard by Loma Prieta Winery

When Paul and Amy Kemp founded their Loma Prieta Winery in 2003, high up on a 2,600-ft.-high site in Santa Cruz Mountains, they planted what other growers and producers in the region have going: Pinot Noir (mostly), with a little Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

And then seven years ago the Kemps took a busman’s holiday to South Africa and discovered wines made from the Pinotage grape – a crossing of Vitis vinifera (i.e. European wine grapes) developed in 1925 by South African viticulturist Abraham Izak Perold. Perold thought he was crossing Pinot Noir with Hermitage (a common, if errant, synonym for Syrah), and so he called his new creation Pinotage. In fact, Pinotage is a crossing of Pinot Noir and Cinsaut (just think, it could have been called “Pinotaut”).

Whatever the case may be, according to Ms. Kemp, “Paul fell in love with Pinotage... He got so excited about it, he couldn’t wait to get home to make some of his own. He found two vineyards in California with Pinotage planted, and a few years later (in 2013), he grafted it over our own vineyard (total of 3.5 acres) completely to Pinotage.”

Loma Prieta's Amy Kemp in her Santa Cruz Mountains estate

Adds Ms. Kemp, with not a little bit of pride, “Today we are the largest producer of Pinotage in North America.”

The two sources of most of Loma Prieta’s Pinotage bottlings are in the Lodi Viticultural Area: the Mettler family’s Arbor Vineyards, identified by the Kemps as Amorosa Vineyard (see our 2016 post on Mettler family’s Pinotage); and Amrik Samra’s S&P Vineyards, which the Kemps call Karma Vineyard (the planting’s original name).

In a conversation earlier this week, Mr. Samra – who has been farming Lodi vineyards his entire adult life (since the 1990s) – talked about the relationship between his 500-acre S&P Vineyards (located east of Galt, falling in Lodi’s Jahant AVA) and Loma Prieta Winery: “Paul is the one who taught us about Pinotage. When we purchased Karma Vineyards 10 years ago, there was just a little Pinotage on it. Paul wanted to increase his supply to 40 tons, and so we grafted over more vines. We’re now up to 10 acres of Pinotage. Paul doesn’t take all of it every year, but that’s not a problem because there are now a lot of wineries interested in Pinotage. It’s become a big thing in the Bay Area. I even made 2 barrels of it for myself last year.”

Loma Pietra Pinotage botlings

For some wine lovers, the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question is, why Pinotage? Without a doubt, as a varietal, Pinotage is an acquired taste; producing red wines of deep color and plump, palpable texturing, but with aromas and flavors tinged with qualities that have been described as everything from old socks and Band-Aid to bananas and nail polish remover.

Amy Kemp tells us, “Paul loves it especially because it is so different from other California wines. The last thing he wants is a wine that tastes like Pinot Noir, Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon. There are over 80,000 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon in California, and only about 58 acres of Pinotage. Right now, there isn’t enough Pinotage, Most importantly, our customers are loving it!”

Besides Pinotage, Mr. Kemp is bullish on most everything he buys from Lodi. At the most recent San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competiton, the 2014 Loma Prieta Petite Sirah, grown by the Mettlers, garnered no less than a Double Gold and Best of Class (translation: “best Petite Sirah in the U.S.”); and past vintages have achieved comparable honors in the Winemaker Challenge International Wine Competition, Florida State Fair International Wine Competition, and American Wine Society Commercial Wine Competition.

Petite Sirah, with its typical large eared cluster morphology, in Mettler family's Arbor Vineyards

Says Mr. Kemp, “Lodi may have a reputation for bulk wines, but I personally think grapes from Lodi are a good as any in the world. Great soil and better farming will do that. Besides Pinotage and Petite Sirah, I have received Chardonnay, Roussanne, Viognier, Cabernet Sauvignon., Merlot and Malbec from Lodi, and have done extremely well with all of them."

In a tasting of multiple vintages of Loma Prieta wines one stormy February afternoon at their Santa Cruz Mountains winery, we came away with three general impressions:

• The luscious cherry/blackberry/blueberry qualities of Lodi grown Pinotage in the Loma Prieta bottlings are so intense, the notoriously “odd” aromas of the varietal are effectively buried – amounting to faint whispers of, say, rubber boots (which, when you think of it, is more of a comforting odor... seriously!) or a compellng feel akin to minerality on the palate.

• Loma Preita’s Lodi grown Petite Sirahs are probably lauded because they are not overly big, ripe, and bruising with tannin or green-tasting oak – qualities typifying many, if not most, California Petite Sirahs – but rather, more floral and focused, with generous tannins tucked neatly into a moderately full body, with restrained oak.

• Loma Prieta’s finest wines may not be their pure varietal bottlings of Pinotage or Petite Sirah. In fact, their “Bodo’s Blend” – Lodi grown Pinotage artfully blended with approximately 20% Petite Sirah – is startlingly original, combining the funkadilic peculiarities of Pinotage with the dense, svelte and mouth-filling qualities of Petite Sirah.

That said, some detailed notes on Loma Pietra's most recent bottlings:

2012 Loma Prieta, Karma Vineyard Lodi Pinotage ($45) – Fragrant fruit qualities leaning towards the red cherry/cranberry side of the varietal spectrum, underlined by an dried-herby spice, a pipe tobacco smokiness, and earthy, bootstrap nuances. A full (14.2% alcohol) yet lanky feel zipped by bright acidity and moderate tannin, ending with a burst of the cherry/blueberry taste.

2013 Loma Prieta, Amorosa Vineyard Lodi Pinotage ($45) – Grown in the Mettlers' Harney Lane block, on the east side of Lodi's Mokelumne River AVA. Deep color and bold, ripe, dark berry (black cherry veering towards blueberry) aroma tinged with smoky, mineral-toned notes, which sink into a rounded, fleshy, medium-full body (13.5% alcohol), touching all parts of the palate. Top to bottom, a “complete” tasting wine.

2013 Loma Prieta, Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Pinotage ($55) - While grown in a cooler climate, high elevaton (+2,500-ft.) terroir, the Kemps count on the site's southern exposure, completely above the fog line, and narrow-diurnal coastal climate (you can see waves crashing along the Santa Cruz coast from the winery windows) to ripen their estate Pinotage. Nonethess, this is a considerably leaner, skeletal style (especially compared to the plump Lodi grown Pinotages), with even herbier, earthier, rubber boot-like qualities, filled out by toasty oak spices in its zesty medium-full (14.2%) alcohol) body. Should be interesting to follow how this mountainside planting evolves.

Original painting by New Orleans artist Martin LaBorde, created exclusively for Loma Prieta Winery (the artist's character, Bodo, depicted with wine glass floating dreamily over Loma Prieta Mountain)

2014 Loma Pietra, Amorosa Vineyard Lodi Petite Sirah ($45) – Notably focused, black cherry/blueberry concentration – similar in fruit profile to the Amorosa Vineyard Pinotage, but without the earthy “funk” or minerality – with restrained smoky/toasty oak flourishes. Densely textured, muscular yet svelte tannin giving a solid feel to a medium-full body (13.9% alcohol); blueberry sensations finishing with a seamless, generous feel.

2013 Loma Prieta, Bodo’s Blend Lodi Pinotage ($50) – Here, the faintly herby, funky, mineral/earthy, ripe toned Pinotage fruit is given an even meatier, muscular feel by a judicious dose of Petite Sirah (20%). Mineral notes seem to predominate on the palate, combining with low key, smoky oak spices to take the edge off the exuberant fruit qualities intrinsic in the Lodi grown Petite Sirah. Winner, winner, cumin, paprika or achiote spiced chicken dinner!

The beauty of Lodi’s plethora of alternative grapes, in other words, is also the expanded boundaries of culinary matches. Other delicious dishes for which earthy, full yet sleekly textured Pinotage based reds practically scream? Think of Middle Eastern style saffroned lamb shanks, Asian style (i.e. soy sauce/garlic based) marinated grilled meats, or according to Amy Kemp, a “Pinotage burger” – ground beef glazed or sauced in an infusion of caramelized onions and red wine. Could make the stormiest winter night worthwhile!

Loma Prieta's Amy Kemp with bottling of her off-dry Sparkling Pinotage

LVVR Sparkling Cellars owner/winemaker Eric Donaldson

We don’t usually talk about traditional Champagne style sparkling wines in our lodiwine.com blog because, frankly, the Lodi wine region has never been associated with finer styles of sparkling wine. Until now.

Quietly, with zero fanfare, Lodi’s LVVR Sparkling Cellars opened its tasting room doors to the public this past July 2016; in front of a 6,000-case level production facility tucked behind a big, old wooden door, in the back of the Tuscan Winery Village – located in Lockeford, just east of the City of Lodi.

Of course, production of the finest sparkling wines – those produced in the fashion of sparklers from the Champagne region in France, called méthode Champenoise – is laborious; taking years to craft. LVVR winemaker/owner Eric Donaldson started his project in 2012; when four close friends/sisters (named Leticia, Vanessa, Virginia and Rose – hence, LVVR) with a taste for bubbly prompted Donaldson to have a go at it.

One taste of Donaldson’s LVVR Brut Lodi Sparkling Wine ($20) tells you that you are experiencing authentic, meticulously wrought, Champagne inspired wine; beginning with

• Crystal clear, bright effervescence;

• A floral, subtly tropical nose reflecting a purity of Lodi grown Chardonnay (primarily suggesting citrus, apple and white flowers) laced with pungent, toasted biscuit-like aromas of Champagne-like yeastiness;

• A bracingly crisp, mouth-wateringly dry, lemon/grapefruit-like tartness – reflecting a dosage of just .5% residual sugar (dryer, as it were, than almost all the Bruts from France’s Champagne, and from California for that matter) – extending into long, silky, mineral sensations, light as the proverbial butterfly on the wing.

And that’s just a start. Donaldson has crafted three other star-bright, contemporary style sparklers from his initial Chardonnay based wines blended from multiple vintages (starting with a 2012), and he is perfecting an inaugural, Lodi grown, neutral barrel fermented Pinot Noir based “Reserve” sparkler as we speak.

LVVR's Eric Donaldson with his Italian manufactured gyropalette, with bottles undergoing secondary fermentation being rotated to an upside-down position 

Mr. Donaldson, a native of Ohio and product of Miami University (Oxford, Ohio), brought a little bit of familiarity with the science and craft of sparkling wine production from working in the wine production industry in his home state as well as New Mexico, prior to his arrival in California in 2009, and finding himself stuck in Lodi in 2011.

Donaldson tells us: “I was working as a cellar rat for a Lodi winery, while also working for Vanessa at the Cellar Door (one of Downtown Lodi’s wine bars). I happened to mention that I was thinking of starting my own business, and she suggested going into sparkling wines, Why? Because no one else in Lodi was doing it, and it seems like there is a growing market for it.”

Make no mistake: From the beginning – with just a half-ton of Chardonnay grown by Larry Castelanelli off Armstrong Rd., on the west side of Lodi’s Mokelumne River appellation – Donaldson has been determined to produce traditional yet new fashioned style sparkling wines (meaning, very dry, naturally tart, and airy-light) in the tradition of the world’s finest sparklers, which basically involves fermentation and extended aging in the bottles from which they are poured.

Say that you don’t know exactly how the best sparkling wines are made – you only drink the stuff. For a little bit of non-geeky 101, the Champagne method embraced by Donaldson involves

► Taking wine that has already been fermented completely to dryness (i.e. no residual sugar left to be turned into alcohol), and then

► Putting the wine into sturdy bottles, where a little more sugar is added along with yeast to start a “secondary fermentation,” which produces the bubbly character (the result of carbon dioxide trapped in the bottle) everyone loves in sparkling wine. Re this friendly image, courtesy of respected blogger Elaine Brown’s Hawk Wakawaka Wine Reviews:

The tricky part of the Champagne method is that fermentations taking place in the individual bottles (sealed by crown caps during the process) eventually expend dead yeast cells (called lees), which cloud up sparkling wines if left in the bottle. So as far back as the sixteenth century, clever winemakers have devised systems of coaxing the floating lees into the neck of the bottle while the secondary fermentation is doing its thing.

Then when the bottle fermentation is done, the lees are “disgorged” along with a tiny bit of the cloudy wine. Immediately after, a small amount of wine, usually with a tiny dose of sugar (i.e. dosage), is added back into each bottle; and the final product is corked with the usual wiring and capsules to prevent errant popping.

For centuries the process of remuage (“riddling” of the lees) was painstakingly done by hand, one bottle at a time. Since the late 1960s it has been commercially done with the use of gyropalettes – large, machine operated cages holding over 500 bottles at a time, gently shaking the fermenting bottles over a period of a week (or several weeks) until the bottles come to rest completely upside down.

LVVR Sparkling Cellars tasting room

LVVR’s Donaldson has invested heavily in all the accoutrements necessary for the best sparkling wine; including two separate bottling lines for the processes of post-primary as well as post-secondary fermentation, gyropalettes for the remuage, and cages to hold bottles en tirage (sitting in contact with lees) for weeks, months or years before the final disgorging, dosage and bottling.

The longer a sparkling wine sits en tirage, the deeper and more complex the flavor; and so far all of Donaldson’s finished sparklers have been blends of base wines up to five years old, in the traditional style of France’s nonvintage Champagnes, resting on the lees for six to nine months following secondary fermentation.

But as with everything in life, it takes more than tools to paint a masterpiece. It starts with grapes and terroir, of course, and Donaldson is totally convinced that Lodi can deliver everything anyone could want in a Champagne style sparkler: grapes of pure flavor picked at lower sugars (to produce delicate, lower alcohol base wines) and higher natural acidity (an untart, fat and flabby sparkler is a very unhappy one).

In a profile published in the latest Wine Business Monthly (Feb. 2017) – which named LVVR Sparkling Cellars as one of nation’s “10 Hot Brands of 2016” – Donaldson talked about being all about the “chemistry” of grapes, and picking particularly for low pH (which is generally associated with higher acidity). “To get the profile I want, grapes are picked at sugars no higher than 18° or 19° Brix, which usually comes around August 1 in Lodi. Lower pH gives you higher acidity and less phenolics, and we gently press our Chardonnay and Pinot Noir as whole clusters.

Vertical bottles of sparkling wine resting "en tirage" (in contact with lees)

“We pick for acid because, frankly, that’s where the market is going. People are looking for a firmer finish. Our wines are significantly higher in acidity than the products of typical, big commercial sparkling wine producers out on the coast. That puts us in a little bit of a niche market, but I’d rather produce this kind of wine – which may be totally unexpected, considering that 100% of it is grown in Lodi.”

When asked why he chose Lodi as opposed to, say, the North Coast, where cooler climates are more closely associated with Champagne style sparklers, Donaldson tells us: “There is no doubt in my mind that the ideal grapes for sparkling wine has as much to do with vineyard management as climate. Look, I’ve made wine in Ohio, in New Mexico and now in California, in basically all five climate regions (re the Winkler Scale of growing degree-days), from super-cold Cleveland to the desert of southern New Mexico. This gives me some perspective.

“Lodi is neither Cleveland nor New Mexico. Here, I get an ideal balance for the style of sparkling wine I'm looking for. I want it to be lean and high in acid, but I am also looking for a fruit forward style, which I can get in Lodi. In fact, to add a little bit more pop into the aroma, I blend a little bit of Viognier into the base wine – something I picked up the habit of doing in New Mexico.

“But good sparkling wine also has to be very light and delicate, which we get by picking at lower sugars. We get a depth and complexity of fruit in Lodi vineyards – just enough that it is never overpowering. You may ask how you get that in a warmer climate. I wouldn’t say that Lodi vineyards are over-cropped; but rather, that they are cropped just enough with dense canopies – particularly in vineyards trellised on quads – that the fruit is not exposed to direct sun, and just enough that it slows down ripening. And longer hang-time means more fruit expression, even when picked at low sugars.

"Purity" of Lodi grown Chardonnay

“So you can say it comes down to this: I am totally comfortable with using 100% Lodi fruit. I love Lodi vineyards, particularly Larry Castelanelli’s vineyards, because it works for what I want to do.”

When queried about the economy of scale concerning the health of his growing business, Mr. Donaldson is happy to say: “Production of LVVR wines is small right now, although we’ve grown steadily since 2012; taking about 5 tons in each of the past three vintages. But honestly, most of what I will be doing in the near future is custom work for other wineries. There’s a growing demand for Champagne method wine right now – I’m already up to 10 clients, mostly local. Charmat (i.e. bulk style sparkling wines) is just not cutting it for these wineries. They’re looking for more depth and complexity.”

Notes on Donaldson’s other three handcrafted releases:

LVVR, Rosé Lodi Sparkling Wine ($20) – Utilizing the same base wine as in the LVVR Brut – a blend of Chardonnay cuvées dating back to 2012, with a splash of Viognier – with a clear, rusty pink color attained by a touch of Alicante Bouschet. Fragrant notes of white flowers entwined with notes of red berries (tart raspberry/cherry) and rising bread yeastiness; silky smooth yet crisply focused sensations with whispers of sweetness (1% residual sugar in the dosage), finishing dry with a firm, palpable stoniness.

LVVR, Blanc de Blancs Lodi Sparkling Wine ($20) – Here, the tropical/flowery Lodi grown Chardonnay character in this multi-vintage (i.e. nonvintage) blend is heightened by a tad more residual sugar (1.5%) in the dosage; yet the lively, high acidity of keeps this wine beautifully sleek, bright, and finely balanced, finishing with a lip-smacking dryness, like a squeeze of fresh grapefruit.

LVVR, Demi-Sec Lodi Sparkling Wine ($20) – This style of sparkler is often assumed to be a “dessert” style; but seriously, the high toned acid balance keeps the residual sugar (3.2%) tasting off-dry rather than moderately sweet, while also bringing out a white peppery spiciness to the floral tropical fruit qualities; lingering with a silkiness in the middle, and lemon drop flourish in the finish.

LVVR Sparkling Cellars

Majestic Lodi icon: Rous Vineyard Zinfandel, planted in 1909, producing a classic, flowery, pure and lush style of the varietal (bottled by Ironstone Vineyards, Macchia Wines and McCay Cellars)

This is Zinfandel Advocates & Producers’ ZinEx week in San Francisco; which means, a great excuse to talk about one of our favorite subjects: California Zinfandel in all its wonderful, terroir driven varietal guises.

First things first: Lodi – our AVA (i.e. American Viticultural Area) – grows a lush, gentle, fruit forward style of Zinfandel; an overall style very much an expression of the region’s sandy loam soils and moderate Mediterranean climate (comparable to St. Helena, Healdsburg or Paso Robles, Calif.), influenced by cool coastal air funneled through a break through the coastal mountains and the adjacent Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

It is true, of course, that commercial bottlings of Lodi Zinfandel can (and do) come across as “big,” ultra-ripe, and almost as sturdy in tannin and oak as other classic styles of California Zinfandel, such as those of Sonoma County and Napa Valley. Generous proportions of Petite Sirah – which produces darker wines stronger in tannin than Zinfandel – as well as exertion of strong oak barrel influences and various winemaking techniques geared towards deeper extraction and concentration of fruit and phenolics give vintners the capability of turning Lodi grown fruit into more powerful styles of Zinfandel, similar to that of much of the state. You can do lots in a winery to (as the former Governator used to say) “pump them up.”

This past weekend: winter pruning of Zinfandel in Jessie's Grove's Royal Tee Vineyard, planted in 1889

Nonetheless, true-blue Lodi Zinfandel – undiluted by Petite Sirah or other grapes, and more subtly influenced by oak aging – is a softer, rounder, more crisply balanced and upbeat style a Zinfandel than what is usually found in the rest of California.  Although growers and winemakers have known this for generations, we’ve come to understand this much better in recent years, with the advent of more minimally crafted styles of Lodi Zinfandel.

By and large, Lodi style Zinfandels are also more fragrant, almost flowery, with red fruit qualities (cherry, raspberry, strawberry, cranberry, rhubarb, etc.) than most California Zinfandels, which often veer towards deeper toned, blackberry/plum qualities. This is not by growers’ or winemakers’ design. If Mother Nature meant for Lodi to produce naturally dark, tannin laden, ultra-ripe black fruit rather than flowery/red fruit oriented Zinfandels, she would have endowed the region with more mountains, red volcanic soils and colder summer nights.

There are, in fact, rockier, hillier grape growing spots on the eastern side of the Lodi Viticultural Area, falling in the far western foothills of the Sierras. However, the region’s 19th century pioneers chose to plant in the lower (50-100-ft. elevation), sandier flatlands – where nary a rock or even pebble is found – around the City of Lodi. Why? Because Zinfandel – and its historic table grape companion, Flame Tokay – produced much higher quality fruit in this terroir. This was tried-and-true.

Clusters of Zinfandel harvested in Stampede Vineyard, located in Lodi's Clements Hills AVA

Therefore, virtually all of Lodi’s old to ancient vine Zinfandel plantings fall within the official sub-appellation of Mokelumne River (with the exception of a handful of sandy swales in Lodi’s Clements Hills AVA, which happen to be located right alongside the winding Mokelumne waterway). Deep-rooted vines, 50 to over 100 years old, tend to produce the finest Zinfandels. But even young vine Zinfandel thrives in Lodi’s Mokelumne River AVA, producing consistently high quality, award winning wines. This is still tried-and-true.

The way we look at it is this: We love dark fruited, musclebound Zinfandels, just as we love finer, silkier, floral styles of Zinfandel. When we visit the Sierra Foothills to taste the meaty, strong boned, spice inundated Zinfandels of Amador County, or Mendocino Ridge where Zinfandels are leaner, sharper yet beautifully focused, or Paso Robles where the Zinfandels absolutely soar with bright, ripe, minerally sensations, all we can do is marvel at the diversity bestowed by each unique terroir. 

We don’t pretend that Lodi produces California’s “best” Zinfandel; the same way that we couldn’t choose an orange over an apple, the Beatles over the Stones, or a Jag over a good ol’ Ford truck.

Still, if you like a more gentle, lush, fragrant or “feminine” (if you will) style of Zinfandel, Lodi may be the region for you. It is for us!

This past weekend during a break in the winter storms: m2 winemaker/owner Layne Montgomery checking on ancient vine Zinfandel in Soucie Vineyard, planted and farmed by the Soucie family since 1916

Late February 2017 spur pruning of head trained ancient Zinfandel vines (planted in 1889) in Jessie's Grove's Royal Tee Vineyard

It may look quiet, here in the Lodi Viticultural Area at the end of February 2017. But out in the fields, hundreds of the local industry’s most trusted hands are furiously pruning the grape vines before they come out of dormancy, which is typically about this time of year.

Weeks of biblical rains, of course, have delayed the process, which begins as early as November the previous year because, well, there are just so many darned grape vines to attend to.

Especially in Lodi. Lodi has more acreage of fine wine grapes than major regions like Napa Valley and Sonoma County put together. Almost twice as much as the entire states of Washington and Oregon combined. It is that way because Lodi winegrowers can; for reasons of economy and because Mother Nature has blessed us with the natural environment to do so.

Winter pruning of trellised Petite Sirah in Michael David's Phillips Farms

If you consider that there are approximately 600 vines on each of Lodi’s 115,000 or so acres, that adds up to about 69 million individual plants that need to be touched, and artistically sculpted. That requires a lot of skilled hands, and probably a little more time than what they’ve actually been given to accomplish the task during the past two stormy months.

But it’s not as if Mother Nature is willing to wait. In a conversation last week, Mohr-Fry Ranches’ Jerry Fry told us: “I think bud break will take place about the usual time this year. The weather may have been wet, but temperatures above and below ground have not been any colder than normal. That tells us that 2017 is likely to proceed on schedule.”

Why, you may ask, do vines even need to be pruned? Simplest explanation: if left un-pruned, grape vines grow in unruly, tangled messes, leaving production of quality fruit greatly diminished. Plus, without the yearly removal of dead and possibly diseased plant tissue, vines eventually expire.

Turley Wine Cellars' Tegan Passalacqua spur pruning Zinfandel in his Kirschenmann Vineyard (planted on Lodi's east side in 1916)

But we like the way Greg La Follette puts it. La Follette is a Sonoma County based winegrowing consultant who has recently been spending some time in Lodi; and now produces a Zinfandel from Lodi’s oldest planting of the grape (Jessie’s Grove’s Royal Tee Vineyard) under his recently debuted Alquimista Cellars label. According to Mr. La Follette:

“I studied music before becoming interested in wine. So what I know is that a musician strives to understand the language of music, which is the science of music – things like timbre, meter, pitch, tone... You go to school to absorb these things, but what comes out is the art form we call music.

“Wine is the same way – what goes in is the science, and what comes out is the art. The art of winemaking is nothing more than the result of learning the language of yeast cell biology and vine physiology. It begins early each year when you approach each vine to do the initial pruning, and during the course of every season when you come back to it. The question is, how do you speak to a vine on its own level to get it to grow where you know it needs to grow and can grow?

Jessie's Grove's Greg Burns (left) and Greg La Follette examining 2015 Zinfandel clusters going into Alquimista Cellars Lodi Zinfandel

“Left to its own devices, all a vine wants to do is make a bunch of canes and leaves, but you want it to repartition its carbohydrate resources to make really yummy, dark and colorful berries. Then once you get a vine going, it finds a new mission in life, which is to be fruitful and multiply. We want to control the way it does that, too, to get the kind of berries that make better wine.

“The little dialogues that you have with the vines begin with understanding its language. That part is the technology. Once you know the technology, then you can forget all that and begin to make artistic wine. But you can never think you are ever bigger and smarter than a vineyard – the land, the rocks, the winds and weather. We’re all going to be dust in the wind someday, when all this stuff will still be here.”

That so eloquently said, a few more shots of winter pruning in Lodi:

February pruning of Phillips Farms Petite Sirah on Lodi's west side

Earlier this past February, Mokelumne Glen Vineyards' Brett Koth looking at one of his Mokelumne riverside blocks submerged completely under water (note the trellis stakes poking out)

Brett Koth cane pruning his Zweigelt; one of over 40 German grape varieties planted in Mokelumne Glen Vineyards on Lodi's east side

Close-up of ancient vine Zinfandel spur pruning in Tegan Passalacqua's Kirschenmann Vineyard

Winter pruning in Phillips Farms' west side Petite Sirah block

"Finished" ancient Zinfandel vine in Kirschenmann Vineyard

Pruning in sea of mustard in Michael David's Phillips Farms

Winter mowing between "pre-pruned" vines (awaiting finishing touches by hand) in Lodi's Mikami Vineyards

February pruning of old vine Zinfandel along Lodi's Ray Rd.

Brett Koth's pruning loppers and cap in Mokelumne Glen Vineyards

Winter mustard between old vine Zinfandel on Lodi's west side

Recent shot of Michael David Winery Co-Owner/President David Phillips and VP of Operations Kevin Phillips

One of the more interesting reports logged by the industry trade publication, Wine Business Monthly, is a yearly list of 30 largest American wine production companies in terms of case sales within the U.S.

In the February 2017 issue of WBM, two companies with direct ties to Lodi – Delicato Family Vineyards (DFV Wines) and Michael David Winery – are listed among the 30 biggest selling companies, which account for "nearly 90 percent of domestic wine sold by volume" (according to WBM). The Lodi Viticultural Area, in fact, supplies a significant amount of wine grapes to many (if not most) of the country’s largest producers.

Turner Road Vintners, now owned and operated by Constellation Brands, was originally the third site of Woodbridge Vineyard Association, a Lodi growers' co-op in operation from 1946 to 1987 (when purchased by Sebastiani Vineyards)

While the gigantic, Modesto-based E. & J. Gallo Winery has retained strong, long-standing relationships with Lodi growers, two of the top five wineries locate their largest production facilities within the Lodi region: Constellation Brands (which includes Lodi's Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi, as well as Vendange, Rex-Goliath and other brands produced at Turner Road Vintners, located on Lodi's west side); and Trinchero Family Estates (spearheaded by Sutter Home, now largely produced at a 660,000-square-feet facility located in the Delta side of Lodi, just west of I-5).

But just to put everything in perspective, the following is WBM’s 2016 listing of top-selling companies:

While based in nearby Manteca and managing their ever-expanding vineyard driven operation in San Joaquin Valley as well as Monterey County and Napa Valley, the Indelicato family behind Delicato Family Vineyards has farmed significant acreage in the Lodi AVA since the company's founding in 1924.

The Indelicatos, for instance, were among the first to recognize the enormous potential of the Lodi's Borden Ranch AVA; cultivating over 1,300 acres of ultra-premium wine grapes there since the 1990s, all farmed according to Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing. Today, most of their top selling wines – including their Gnarly Head and Brazin Zinfandels, and their Noble Vines Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot – are grown in Lodi, either from their own vineyards or by numerous other growers.

Gaspare Indelicato (left), an Italian emigrant who planted his first Lodi vineyard in the early 1900s; and subsequent generations of Indelicatos of Delicato Family Vineyards

In a conversation last month, Michael David Winery Co-Owner/President David Phillips made note of the fact that, “While sales of our wines in the U.S. are up to about 650,000 cases, we sell another 70,000 or so cases to export markets in Europe, Canada, South America and Asia.”

Michael David’s total annual sales of 720,000 cases remains puny compared to the 75 million cases sold domestically by E. & J. Gallo, but their growth has been dramatic. Thanks to uncanny winemaking and crafty marketing, they have gone from being grape suppliers to major grape buyers practically overnight.

According to Kevin Phillips, the family’s Vice President of Operations: “In 1998 about 95% of what we grew in our own vineyards (about 800 acres) were sold to other wineries. Today, we use 100% of our own fruit, and buy from another 75 growers in the Lodi region. I would say that we now take approximately 10% of all the Zinfandel grown in Lodi.”

February 2017: century-old Zinfandel in Soucie Vineyard, one of Michael David's original "7 Deadly Zins" vineyards

Although runaway successes like Freakshow Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Petit (a Petite Sirah/Petit Verdot blend) account for a good percentage of the winery’s recent growth, Zinfandel remains the family flagship. Kevin Phillips tells us: “Although it’s shifting, over 60% of our production (close to 475,000 cases) is Zinfandel. Out of that, almost 90% of it is 7 Deadly Zins. Each year we make a selection of our top 10% in terms of pure quality, which goes into our Earthquake Zinfandel program; and out of that, the very finest 1% is selected to go into our Lust Zinfandel."

Since arriving in Lodi in the mid-1860s, the Phillips family’s ties to the region have run deep in several ways. David Phillips reminisces: “When we produced our first vintage of 7 Deadly Zins (in 2000), it represented a blend of Zinfandels from seven of the best, and oldest, winegrowing families on the west side of Lodi, most of them related one way or another to our own family. But once the brand took off, naturally we had to expand our list of grape suppliers. At least 45 growers are now contributing to the wine. All of them, we’re proud to say, in the Lodi region!”

Michael David's Kevin Phillips, tasting Zinfandel in his Northern Interior Wine Partners barrel facility

Coming out of a wet 2017 winter: old vine Zinfandel in Burness Vineyard on Lodi's east side

Quietly, individual members of the Lodi Native group have been offering their bottlings of 2014 Zinfandels – the third vintage of wines produced under the auspices of this independent project – at their respective wineries; while a 6-bottle selection packed in handsome wood boxes is available through the Lodi Wine & Visitor Center.

Two things distinguish the 2014 Lodi Native Zinfandels:

1. There were nine different Lodi Native Zinfandels produced in 2014; an increase from the six bottlings of the previous two, inaugural vintages.

2. In the 2014 6-pack box, two of the vineyard selections have changed from the previous two vintages.

Let us back up a little and talk about what the Lodi Native project is all about. It began at the start of 2012, when six of Lodi’s top Zinfandel specialists got together to establish a group project dedicated to producing wines under a single label, each one showing off the distinct sensory qualities engendered in different heritage plantings (i.e. vineyards over 40, 50, and in some cases, 100 years old) within the Lodi Viticultural Area.

Zinfandel clusters in late July in Lodi's iconic Marian's Vineyard

The Lodi Native “Mission,” as such, has been to demonstrate to the world that distinct vineyard sites, or “terroirs,” exist in Lodi, in the same fashion as other great regions of the wine world. Period.

The Lodi “Natives,” in other words, are these individual heritage sites (not the winemakers or growers); although the name of the project is also a reference to one of the key approaches undertaken by these producers to achieve maximum vineyard distinctions: through the use of native yeast (as opposed to inoculated yeast) fermentation – an approach that presupposes that the natural yeast flora found in each vineyard has as much of an impact on subsequent wines as any other factor, such as soil, macroclimate, aspect, wind, rootstock, clonal mix, vine training, etc.

The six original Lodi Native producers have since been justifiably lauded for their willingness to take the plunge, despite the counter-intuitive measures that were required to achieve the original goal. They were asked, for instance, not to utilize brand new or second-year barrels. Only older barrels, “neutral” in oak flavor, are allowed. No use of amendments such as oak dust or chips, commonly applied in the world of Zinfandel to bind pigments and enhance phenolic structure (qualities in which Zinfandel grape skins are often deficient). No use of water to lower potential alcohol in well ripened grapes, nor any acidificaton or de-acidification to balance out a fermenting wine’s chemistry. No fining or filtering to clarify and help stabilize a wine.  And so forth (for the complete list of protocols, please visit About Lodi Native)...

The original Lodi Native winemakers and growers: (from left) Michael McCay, Stuart Spencer, Layne Montgomery, Chad Joseph, Ryan Sherman, Tim Holdener and Todd Maley

Or as Tim Holdener of Macchia Wines has been quoted to say, “With all our ‘winemaker tools’ taken away, we were basically asked to produce wines with our hands tied behind our back.” m2 Wines’ Layne Montgomery, who admits being dragged into the group “kicking and screaming,” asked the simple question, “What about quality... do you not want us to produce the best Zinfandel we can?”

The objective of the Lodi Native project, as it were, has never been to produce the “best” possible Zinfandel – although many Zinfandel lovers may very well prefer the pure, “naked” qualities of these wines over the more sculpted styles typifying well over 99% of the Zinfandels grown and produced in California.

From an insiders’ perspective, how do you assess Lodi Natives? Answer: for what they are, not what you think “Zinfandel” should be. On a macro-level, these wines have been almost the opposite of what you expect out of commercial Zinfandel. They tend to be gentle and pliant, rather that big and blustery. Aromas are flowery, properly peppery, and somewhat earthy, sometimes downright earthy; rather than predominantly jammy-fruity.

25-ft. deep soil pit dug in the heart of the west side of Lodi's Mokelumne River area to demonstrate the depth and consistency of fine sandy loam in the Tokay series, defining the region

Lodi Native Zinfandels taste like “Lodi,” in other words, not Sonoma, Napa, or Amador; especially since they are bereft of Petite Sirah (historically, not planted in Lodi Zinfandel blocks), the most common ingredient used to beef up California Zinfandel to meet commercial varietal expectations.

On a mesa-level, individual bottlings from specific vineyards have been demonstrating almost predictable sensory delineations; the broader lines drawn between what locals have long known as “west vs. east” side Lodi characteristics – primarily the manifestations of slightly varying depth and profile within the Tokay sandy loam soil series that define the relatively flat Mokelumne River Viticultural Area (see East side, west side, Lodi Zinfandels getting around the block). Yet as in all classic wine regions, distinctions can be drilled down to micro-levels. Lodi’s Soucie Vineyard, for one, has most certainly been easily distinguishable from a Wegat Vineyard; despite both being far-west side plantings barely a mile apart. 

So here's the thing: wine reviewers are welcome to apply their 100-point scores to Lodi Native wines, despite the fact that this has never been the poiint. The goal has always been to produce Zinfandels that taste as much of their vineyard sources as possible. Think of a woman gutsy enough to venture outside with zero, zilch, nada makeup. That’s how rare this style of Zinfandel is!

Over the past three years the original Lodi Native producers have been frank in their assessment of the project. St. Amant’s Stuart Spencer, for instance, tells us, “In our tasting room we always pour our Lodi Native Zinfandel from Marian’s Vineyard alongside our commercial bottling of Marian’s Zinfandel, and the reaction has generally been about 50/50 – half the people like the Lodi Native better, but the other half still prefers the commercial version, which sees a good amount of new oak (about 25%).”

One thing that has changed since the start of the Lodi Native project, according to Spencer, is the increased use of native yeast fermentation, movement towards less new oak, and other minimalist approaches on the part of all the participating winemakers in their non-Lodi Native wines. According to Spencer, “We have been so pleased by the complexity and textural qualities we have gotten from our native yeast fermentations that we are now using it in much of our commercial production.”

Macchia’s Tim Holdener, who sources from well over a dozen top Zinfandel sites each year, adds, “I have begun applying Lodi Native protocols throughout my Zinfandel program – something I probably never would have done if we had not done this project.” McCay Cellars’ Mike McCay, on the other hand, was always partial to practices like native yeasts and non-filtration, long before the start of the Lodi Native program. Says McCay, “Although I’ve always preferred the natural approach to winemaking, the success of the Lodi Native project has given me all the more reason to find better ways of getting it right – because we’re all still learning!”

Another thing we know: wine media (especially in the blogosphere) have also gone bat-poop for the Lodi Native project. For a sampling of some of the more informative responses, please visit the Lodi Native Press page.

Meanwhile, the following are some detailed notes garnered from a recent blind tasting of the nine 2014 Lodi Native Zinfandels, along with vineyard facts and notations on each wine’s availability. The important thing being that that the sensory delineations are there; taking “Zinfandel” well beyond normal varietal definitions:

Klknker Brick winemaker Joseph Smith

2014 Burness Vineyard by Klinker Brick Winery; Mokelumne River, Lodi

Vineyard: Burness Vineyard consists of 5 acres of low to moderate vigor head trained vines, originally planted in 1955 on Dog Ridge rootstock (V. x champinii). Located on the east side of Lodi’s Mokelumne River appellation, the deep, fine sandy loam of this site characteristically yields Zinfandels of slightly elevated acidity and varietal fruit profile, even at restrained alcohol levels. Winemaker is Joseph Smith.

Wine: Very pretty, effusive red berry (cherry/raspberry) perfume; soft, curvaceous feel; medium weight body typifying earlier picking, yielding restrained alcohol (13.5%); the wine’s fruit forward qualities seeping into a rounded, easy finish. Available at Klinker Brick Winery tasting room.

Bob and Alison Colarossi in their "Stellina" Colarossi Family Vineyard

2014 Colarossi Family Vineyard by Stellina; Mokelumne River, Lodi

Vineyard: The Colarossis' Stellina block consists of 9.5 acres of deficit irrigated head trained vines planted in the late 1970s on Lucas Rd., towards the center of the west side of Lodi’s Mokelumne River; close enough to the river to sit on a flat mound of particularly deep sandy loam. Always one of the first Zinfandels picked in the entire appellation, this vineyard characteristically expresses peppercorn/clove spices and flowery, red/blue fruit qualities with a distinct sense of restraint and balance, similar to that of neighboring growths. Winemaker is Bob Colarossi, who is also the owner/operator of Downtown Lodi’s Estate Crush custom facility.

Wine: Pretty cherry perfume with suggestions of blueberry coulis and shavings of pencil wood-like cedar; lean, light feeling (13.8% alcohol), yet zesty with palate freshening acidity, unobstructed by firm yet moderate tannin. "Generous," while being the opposite of "big." Available at Estate Crush tasting room.

McCay Cellars' Mike McCay with 102-year-old Zinfandel in his Lot 13 Vineyard

2014 Lot 13 – The Estate Vineyard by McCay Cellars; Mokelumne River, Lodi

Vineyard: Lot 13 is a McCay family owned and grown estate; head trained, own-rooted vines originally planted in 1915, in a particularly deep, loamy-sand pocket located in a u-shaped bend of the Mokelumne River on Lodi’s east side, increasingly becoming known as the “Peninsula,” falling within the “Victor Triangle.” Old vine Zinfandels from this mesa-section tend to be sleek, feminine and perfumed in red fruit, often with and savory, purple flower, lavender-like notes. Winemaker is owner/grower Michael J. McCay.

Wine: The most floral, red berry perfumed Zinfandel of the bunch; red cherry and plummy fragrances with a touch of cinnamon (towards peppermint) spice billowing from the glass; sleek, delicate, outwardly feminine, waifish feel, yet notably firm in acid/tannin structure in fleshy medium body (14.1% alcohol), finishing with a zesty lift. Available at McCay Cellars tasting room or in Lodi Wine & Visitor Center 6-pack box.

Todd Maley in his family's Maley's Lucas Rd. Vineyard

2014 Maley’s Lucas Rd. Vineyard by Macchia Wines; Mokelumne River, Lodi

Vineyard: The Maley family (farming in Lodi since the 1860s) planted their Lucas Rd. block in the late 1970s; 9 acres of tall (up to 6-ft.), head trained, ladder-spur-pruned vines. Located, in fact, across Lucas Rd. from the Colarossis' Stellina block, in the center of Mokelumne River’s west side; grafted onto Freedom rootstock (labrusca/riparia/champini/vinifera). While at its peak in fruitfulness (finding their balance in the 6-ton-per-acre range) these fully matured vines are exuding unique qualities of their own – particularly peppercorn spices in violet, often blueberry-like fruit, couched in round, gently textured qualities. Grower is Todd Maley of Maley Bros., and winemaker is Tim Holdener.

Wine: One of the most “complete” 2014s; lavish qualities of blueberry, cranberry and peppery spice in the nose, with a mild, underlying, vaguely herby (towards eucalyptus), earthy, loaminess (a hallmark of west side Lodi Zinfandels). Lush yet beefy sensations fill the mouth from front to back, side to side; bright, seamless, laudably velvet textured. Available at Macchia Wines tasting room or in Lodi Wine & Visitor Center 6-pack box.

Majestic 116-year-old vine in Marian's Vineyard

2014 Marian’s Vineyard by St. Amant Winery; Mokelumne River, Lodi

Vineyard: Marian’s is a long revered 8.5-acre, own-rooted vineyard, originally planted on what is now Mohr-Fry Ranch in 1901 by the Mettler family. It is located south of the City of Lodi, on the west side of the Mokelumne River appellation, in extremely deep, well-drained, white colored sandy loam. While still productive (occasionally yielding up to 4 tons per acre), in most years these classically “gnarly” vines (looking like oversized bonsai) produce closer to 2 tons – a testament to the stewardship and meticulous farming practices of Jerry and Bruce Fry. Winemaker is Stuart Spencer.

Wine: Consistent with this vineyard’s history of broad, all-encompassing styles of Zinfandel – a lush yet beefy mix of red cherry and brambly dark berry in the nose, with a plummy quality that transitions into a full, meaty texture of notable breadth and feel. Available at St. Amant Winery tasting room or in the Lodi Wine & Visitor Center 6-pack box.

Pescador Vineyard in the middle-west side of Lodi's Mokelumne River appellation

2014 Pescador Vineyard by Watts Winery; Mokelumne River, Lodi

Vineyard: Pescador Vineyard is named after the vineyard manager who planted it in 1937. These unusually tall (topping 6-ft.) head trained vines are grafted onto St. George rootstock (Vitis rupestris); in the sandy loam soil of the middle-west side of Lodi’s Mokelumne River AVA. The old vines’ low yields and the slightly elevated water retention of this site invariably result in a unique combination of rounded, forward fruit and distinctly earthy, savory, strikingly garrigue-like complexities. Winemaker is Franck Lambert.

Wine: Ultra-bright red cherry and red licorice perfumes, with whiffs of sweet black peppercorn spice as well as an earthy “funk.” Lean (13.6% alcohol) and tightly wound in the feel; nonethess, savory, moderately full, and promising in its fruit/earth complexity. Available at Watts Winery tasting room.

Between February 2017 storms, m2's Layne Montgomery among century-old Soucie Vineyard vines

2014 Soucie Vineyard by m2 Wines; Mokelumne River, Lodi

Vineyard: Sourced from the oldest block of Soucie Vineyard, planted in 1916 and farmed by fifth generation Lodi native Kevin Soucie. The vines are own-rooted and head trained, and the soil – an extremely fine, loose silt with the consistency of talcum powder, shimmering with a beach sand-like whiteness – is a variation of the series found in Lodi’s Mokelumne River AVA’s far western edge, identified by the grower as Devries sandy loam. This far-west site is also one of Lodi’s closest Zinfandel plantings to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and its daily cooling, late afternoon breeze; resulting in distinctively lush, pungently earthy, consistently terroir driven styles of Zinfandel. Winemaker is Layne Montgomery.

Wine: Perfumes of bright red towards black cherry, with floral notes almost suggesting pink grapefruit. While Soucie’s fabled, pungently loamy earthiness seems hidden in the nose at the moment, the vineyard’s character asserts itself on the palate in full, rounded, fleshy sensations, with notably earthy/herby, savory notes mingling with tart edged red berry qualities, fleshed out by rounded tannin. Available at m2 Wines tasting room or in the Lodi Wine & Visitor Center 6-pack box.

Fields Family's Ryan Sherman in Stampede Vineyard this past February

2014 Stampede Vineyard by Fields Family Wines; Clements Hills, Lodi

Vineyard: The only Lodi Native bottling sourced from outside Lodi’s historic Mokelumne River Viticultural Area, Stampede Vineyard is located well east of the City of Lodi in Lodi’s Clements Hills (lower foothills of the Sierras); originally planted in the 1920s, with a second planting in the early 1940s, all predominantly own-rooted. Jeff and John Perlegos are the current custodians of these head trained vines; laid out in an unusual diamond pattern on 10 x 10 spacing. While the Stampede soil types (Tokay and Kingdon fine sandy loams) are not usually associated with Clements Hills, this vineyard is close enough to the winding Mokelumne River to take on a soil profile almost identical to the neighboring appellation’s, while differing primarily in elevation (about 350 to 400-ft., as opposed to the 50-100-ft. flatness of Mokelumne River). Winemaker is Ryan Sherman.

Wine: More transparent red color, which does not mitigate a sheer intensity and brightness of red cherry perfume, veering towards cinnamon/pepper spiced cranberry. A gentle, light feeling medium body gives a sense of delicacy and femininity, in seeming defiance of the label’s stated 14.3% alcohol; while snappy natural acidity furnishes structure, while turning up the volume the spicy red fruit sensations towards a buoyant, bouncy finish. Available at Fields Family Wines tasting room or in the Lodi Wine & Visitor Center 6-pack.

Typically long, loose Zinfandel clusters in Wegat Vineyard on Lodi's west side

2014 Wegat Vineyard by Maley Brothers Vineyards; Mokelumne River, Lodi

Vineyard: Wegat is a 21-acre planting of classically head trained, spur pruned vines, field budded on to St. George rootstock by the Maley family in 1958. It is a quintessential “west side” Lodi vineyard: planted in fine sandy loam, yielding less than 3 tons/acre, and planted to a unique clonal selection of unknown origin, characterized by consistently loose clusters – all contributing to the round, lush, slightly floral (violet/lavender) boysenberry/blueberry qualities long associated with Wegat. Grower is Todd Maley, and winemaker is Chad Joseph.

Wine: The blueberry/violet perfume typical of Wegat rings true in the 2014, along with earthy undertones suggesting eucalyptus-like herbiness and caramel candy. On the palate, the fruit comes across in a medium-weight body as lush, pliant, bright, as well as crisply balanced with gentle yet notably firm acid/tannin structure. Available in the Lodi Wine & Visitor Center 6-pack.

Watts Family winemaker Franck Lambert with his fermenting 2014 Lodi Native Zinfandel

Greg La Follette, an avowed bagpiper, celebrates his 2015 Jessie's Grove Royal Tee Vineyard harvest

Count Greg La Follette as another widely proclaimed winemaker based outside the Delta who has come to appreciate the distinct beauty of the Lodi Viticultural Area.

Mr. La Follette – who previously established his field creds as a North Coast Pinot Noir and Chardonnay specialist of considerable notoriety at wineries like Flowers, Hartford Family, De Loach, and most recently his own La Follette Wines (formerly called Tandem) – has recently begun selling “futures” for a 2015 Alquimista Cellars Jessie’s Grove Ancient Vine Zinfandel ($55). The Sebastopol/Sonoma based Alquimista Cellars is La Follette’s latest project, started two years ago in partnership with Patrick Dillon, following a disassociation from his former eponymous business.

The 2015 Alquimista Zinfandel is sourced from what Jessie’s Grove Winery calls their Royal Tee Vineyard: an historic block of majestically own-rooted, head trained, spur pruned vines originally planted by Joseph Spenker in 1889. A planting La Follette (paraphrasing Alexandre Dumas) always says should be approached "kneeling, with head bowed."

Three things make this particular tandem of vineyard and winemaker unique, if not downright freaky:

• Jessie’s Grove’s Royal Tee is the only remaining ancient vine Zinfandel block we know of in Lodi that is barely 75% Zinfandel. It was also planted – way back in the late 1800s on the advice of Stockton’s El Pinal Winery nursery – to Carignan, Mission, Tokay and Black Prince (the latter, identified by the California Department of Agriculture as Rose of Peru).

• Winemakers associated with cutting-edge, terroir focused (i.e. not so on much brand, varietal or winemaking style) Pinot Noirs are hardly known for their love of Zinfandel. Most vignerons of that ilk would probably prefer to kiss a frog.

Clusters of heritage Mission grapes in Jessie's Grove's Royal Tee Vineyard

• From a sensory standpoint, the Alquimista Zinfandel is indeed a piece of exotica; almost belonging in a museum, behind glass. From its inception, its extravagant fruit quality has borne a closer resemblance to white peach, nectarine, tropical flowers and fragrant spice notes rather than the cherry/berry jam notes normally associated with the varietal (although blueberry/cherry notes serve as aromatic underpinnings). If this sounds like it smells more like a white wine, that’s exactly what we mean. Yet on the palate, it is dense, layered, fleshy, and revved up by zesty natural acidity, while unperturbed by excess tannin or oak.

Frankly, if you hate Zinfandel, you may love the Alquimista for its un-Zinfandelish character. Then again, if you love Zinfandels of utterly unique provenance and style, you may also love the Alquimista.

La Follette’s recent presence in Lodi, not coincidentally, is tied to the evolution of the region’s ground-breaking Lodi Native project (please see our most recent post on the 2014 Lodi Natives). La Follette began making twice or thrice yearly trips to the region in early 2012 to, at first, lend some advice on native yeast fermentation (a subject in which La Follette is extremely well versed as a high-demand educator and consultant); and then to advise on viticultural strategies to optimize fruit maturation at lower sugar levels (one of the keys to successful native yeast fermentation of Zinfandel, or most wines for that matter).

Jessie's Grove's Royal Tee Vineyard, between the February 2017 rains

That said, this past week we were able to glean a few more insights on this most unusual union of North Coast Pinot Noir specialist and Lodi grown Zinfandel through a phone conversation, followed by email exchange, with Mr. La Follette:

RC: Are you pleased so far with the response to your offer of the Alquimista Zinfandel as a futures bottling?

GLF: The response has been overwhelmingly positive, which is all the more gratifying because we never figured we would do a Zinfandel, from anywhere. But since coming back and forth to consult with Lodi Native growers and winemakers on best practices, I got re-introduced to the area.

RC: “Re-introduced?” In what way?

GLF: No one really knows about this, because back in 1997 it wasn’t the thing to do, but the first bottling of Flowers "Perennial" (a Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir based proprietary blend) that we did was 40% Zinfandel, supplied by Lodi’s Mohr-Fry Ranches. We were forbidden to tell anyone that because, at the time, Lodi didn’t have a great reputation; but of course, we knew, and people in Lodi knew, just how great Zinfandel from this region can be. Now we are anxious to proclaim it. Also no reason to hide the fact that we’re very proud of being associated with not just the region, but also the Lodi Native group – who ought to be applauded for their bold vision and accomplishments.

2015 Zinfandel harvest in Jessie's Grove's Royal Tee Vineyard

RC: Please share some of your general thoughts on the Jessie’s Grove/Royal Tee planting.

GLF: This is pretty standard California practice for plantings of the day (in the late nineteenth century), with its shotgun approach to mixing in other varietals in small amounts. As Patrick noted, we celebrate those differences by trying to respect each varietal with differing contributions, and by combining them rather than separating them out.

RC: So you definitely co-fermented all the grapes together. What is your estimated grape mix ending up in the 2015 and 2016 Alquimistas from the Jessie’s Grove block?

GLF: Both the 2015 and upcoming 2016 vintages were about the same – about 86% Zinfandel, and the rest Carignan, Flame Tokay, Mission and Black Prince in order of appearance.

Co-ferment of ancient vine Flame Tokay going into 2015 Royal Tee Vineyard harvest

RC: Since a lot of people may be interested in the details on how a Pinot Noir winemaker approaches Zinfandel, can you give a little more detail about what you did in the winery?

GLF: 2015 saw the Flame Tokay, Mission and Black Prince placed whole-cluster in the bottom of a "hot tub" – a 1.33-ton open top fermentor that had all air replaced by CO2, creating an environment for an anaerobic carbonic maceration. We placed the destemmed but uncrushed (i.e. intact whole berries) Zinfandel and Carignan on top, burying the rest, also anaerobically. Due to a moderate level of sour rot complex that we noticed in the grapes, the total amount of SO2 added was 75 ppm; quite high, but allowing for the native fermentation to start after 11 days of cold soak after an overnight of cooling down to about 48° F. on the first evening. For those 11 days, punch-downs were kept topically at one to two times a day, with only about 12 inches of the top of the must punched with dry ice to keep the whole clusters at the bottom fully intact and undisturbed.  

Jessie's Grove owner/grower Greg Burns field sorting Zinfandel with Greg La Follete (smelling for sour rot)

RC: I presume, strictly native yeast fermentation, following pretty much the same protocols as the Lodi Native project?

GLF: That was the idea. On the twelfth day, the wild yeast fermentation took off very slowly; and on the eighteenth day, many of the whole clusters started rising to the surface due to the carbonic maceration, giving the berries more buoyancy from the internal CO2 generated from the carbonic maceration. The wine was pressed off at 21 days in a small basket press at about 5° Brix (i.e. sugar reading); but because of the whole cluster contribution, at the end of pressing the Brix was at 8°.  

RC: And the barrel regime?

GLF: The wine was transferred to two once-used and two twice-used barrels at Chardonnay fermentation height, about 2/3 full, as the fermentation was still boiling along. Once the primary fermentation settled down, the barrels were consolidated to two full barrels and one partial, with stirring done weekly, like a Chard, until both primary and secondary (i.e. malolactic fermentation) finished. We kept stirring this monthly on the heavy lees – lots of yeast, since the fermentation finished in barrel – until close to bottling after a full 10 months on the lees. By the way, the secondary fermentation finished before the primary did. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. We don't know of any other red wine that was made exactly this way, Randy.  

Greg Burns picking giant, ancient vine Tokay in his Royal Tee Vineyard

RC: While the approach is meant to be minimalist, it sounds like you went way out of your way to coax what you can out of these grapes.

GLF: We really pulled out all of the stops on this one to make an enigmatic, expressive wine that we feel really speaks to the imagination of what the ancient land and careful attention to its many voices can do. We want to think out of the box on how we can address our vinous brethren and honor such a hallowed spot as Jessie's Grove. Perhaps the whole-cluster component heirloom grapes speak more loudly since we gave them their due, but for better or for worse, we chose a path that we felt would give voice to this historic vineyard.

RC: I know what I think of the two vintages of Jessie’s Grove Zinfandel you’ve done so far. What are your impressions?

Greg La Follette loading just-picked macrobins of Royal Tee Vineyard fruit onto his truck

GLF: Patrick has given a pretty good description of the ‘15. The 2016, being picked at a riper time – the ‘15 was picked a full 2 weeks before other folks started picking – and having less carbonic time, only 5 days, before the primary fermentation started, will probably be much more "Zin-like,” as you may have noted in your own tasting so far. People are hard-pressed, no pun intended, to describe the 2015 as a Zin, but the 2016 is unmistakably a full-throttled Zinfandel with more jamminess and less carbonic character.

In a separate conversation with La Follette’s partner, Mr. Dillon aptly summarizes both of their feelings thus far: “Greg and I have discussed this several times over. Our visits to Jessie’s Grove and the Royal Tee continue to imbue in us a sense of graceful venerability, and therefore reverence. We feel compelled to speak in hushed tones but also to shout ‘Hallelujah!’ And we are so grateful that this vineyard has been so nurtured and protected by (Jessie’s Grove owner/grower) Greg Burns and his crew."

Venerated ancient vine Zinfandel in Jessie's Grove's Royal Tee Vineyard

ZinFest wine lover

It may be all about the vino – the deliciously round, lush, pure and balanced wines of the Lodi wine region – during the Saturday wine festival at 2017 Lodi ZinFest (May 20, 2017), but you can bet that you will be able to experience the liquid joy of Delta grown grapes in a variety of other stimulating ways.

Starting with the culinary and educational:

“Up In Smoke” ZinFest Barbecue Experience

First, ZinFester will be able to pick up a few brilliant pointers from Chad Rosenthal of Food Network, and Executive Chef and owner of a handful of barbecue comfort food and Vietnamese restaurants in the Philadelphia area (including the acclaimed The Lucky Well and Bánh Street). Believe you me, Rosenthal eats, sleeps, dreams and breathes the intoxicating smoke of barbecued foods, which are the perfect match for Lodi’s exuberantly grape-centric wines. 

Chef Chad Rosenthal

During three 45-minute demonstrations, Rosenthal will demonstrate his specialty. When we asked the Chef what he plans to do, he responded: “I will pick three of my favorite barbecue regions – Texas, Memphis and Alabama— and showcase a protein from each.  Then I'll use them in a creative way, while still keeping it ‘gritty’ and teaching true regional barbecue techniques. Texas will a beef brisket, Memphis will be dry-rub pork ribs and Alabama will be smoked chicken with a white BBQ sauce.”

When asked what distinguishes his style of barbecue from so many others in this country full of fantastic barbecue, Chef Rosenthal told us, “I cook what I love most, which is combining true southern BBQ with Asian flavors. You’ll also love what we do at Lucky Well, in Ambler, PA, where we focus on real-deal Memphis style dry rub BBQ – that may be my personal favorite!”

The "menu" Chef Rosenthal plans to demonstrate:

• Texas Smoked Beef Brisket 
• Memphis 15-spice Dry-Rub Pork Ribs with Mustard Slaw
• Alabama Smoked Chicken Tacos with Lexington Red Slaw and White BBQ sauce

ZinFest Cooking School

With a yearly roster of regional celebrity chefs and local, award winning culinary experts, ZinFest always takes great pride in creating fun and informative cooking classes under a giant “ZinFest Cooking School” tent. Details will soon be announced, but we plan to feature one Lodi wine producer at each “class” -- partnering a winemaker and chef because, well, aren’t the best wines meant for food, and vice-versa? Cooking demonstrations will occur once an hour during the duration of the Saturday ZinFest.

San Francisco Wine School educator Fred Swan

ZinFest Wine School

Under a separate tent, inquiring wine lovers will be able to experience the amazing diversity, stunning heritage, and culinary versatility of Lodi grown wine under the guidance of two celebrated guest educators from the Bay Area, plus a wham-bam wine and cheese experience conducted by two of the region’s own resident wine and culinary professionals.

You will not want to miss any of these segments:

1:00-1:45 PM - REDS & ROSÊS FROM BECHTHOLD VINEYARD (LODI'S OLDEST HERITAGE PLANTING)

Fred Swan CSW – a Planet Grape® Wine Review panelist, educator at San Francisco Wine School and author of NorCal Wine – will lead you on a fascinating tasting of both red wines and dry rosés crafted by multiple producers, grown in Lodi’s historic Bechthold Vineyard. This 25-acre vineyard consists of own-rooted Cinsaut planted by the Spenker family in 1886. Two years ago Bechthold was proclaimed the California Vineyard of the Year by the California State Fair, and for good reason: not only are these venerated vines a national treasure, they are also producing some of the most exquisite wines in the world.

Wine & Spirit Education Trust's Deborah Parker Wong

2:00-2:45 PM – IBERIA (SPANISH & PORTUGUESE VARIETALS) IN LODI

Deborah Parker Wong DWSET – Planet Grape® Wine Review panelist, Northern California Editor of The Tasting Panel/The SOMM Journal and Director of Education at Wine & Spirit  Education Trust (WSET)'s Discover Wine & Spritis Academy – will explore one of the aspects of Lodi that she loves best, with a presentation of the finest Lodi grown bottlings made from grapes such as Albariño, Verdelho, Verdejo, Garnacha Blanca, Garnacha, Tempranillo, Graciano and Touriga. Discover why these wines have come to personify Lodi’s diversity and ideal Mediterranean terroir.

Cindy della Monica of Lodi's beloved Cheese Central

3:00–3:45 PM – LODI WINE & ARTISANAL CHEESE MATCHING

Randy Caparoso – Editor at Large for The SOMM Journal and resident author for lodiwine.com – will team up with Cindy Della Monica, the owner and acclaimed cheesemonger of Downtown Lodi’s own Cheese Central, in this deliciously fascinating tasting of a variety of Lodi wines selected to perfectly match some of the finest cheeses in the world. The five cheeses that Caparoso and della Monica will match to good 'ol Lodi wines: Milton Creamery's Prairie Breeze™ (Iowa), Cypress Grove™'s Humboldt Fog® (California), Spain's Queso García Baquero's Cinco Lanzas, Lazio in Italy's Caciotta al Tartufo, and Roseville, CA's Shaft's Bleu.

Tasting is, as always, believing!

lodiwine.com's Randy Caparoso

Lodi winegrower Ron Silva talking grapes, wine, cheese and life

Some of our most popular ZinFest Wine School “classes” over the past ten years have been our wine and cheese tastings; especially recently, since we’ve been able to count on the help of Lodi’s own local cheese master, Cindy Della Monica (owner of Downtown Lodi’s Cheese Central).

To get you warmed up for this year’s ZinFest wine and cheese tasting, we thought it a good idea to discuss the subject in cheesy detail. Why? Because it’s almost as much fun as sitting down with plates of cheese and glasses of wine to actually consume the subject! So here goes...

To begin with, it’s said that cheese making goes back to as long ago as 9,000 BC, when animals were first domesticated for their milk. Milk is turned into cheese by an enzyme known as rennet, originally found in the lining of calves' stomachs. It seems that long ago someone decided to carry milk in a bag made from this stuff, checked it out a little later and, lo and behold, "discovered" cheese.

We also know that wine is commonly consumed with cheese because, in a way, wine is like cheese. Like cheese, wine is the product of a natural fermentation. We do know exactly when the first ancient wine and cheese parties took place. But what is clear is that for the longest time, many of the world’s greatest cheeses have been identified with certain parts of the world, just like many of the world’s finest wines are identified with specific wine regions.

There is, for instance, Stilton; a blue cheese that has been produced in three specific counties of England since the seventeenth century. There is the famous Parmigiano-Reggiano produced only in five provinces of Northern Italy, the ever-popular Manchego from La Mancha in Spain, and the widely known Roquefort and lesser known Époisses de Bourgogne from France; just like there is a wine known as Rioja which is grown only in the Rioja region in Spain, Chianti grown in Italy’s Chianti Classico region, and Bordeaux and Bourgogne from France, and so forth.

The relationship between wines and cheeses, in this sense, is historical, intellectual, as well as sensory to the point of an almost spiritual connection. You don’t have to be a cheese expert, or a “master” of wine, to understand this simple idea: wine tastes great with cheese.

That is to say: certain wines are likely to taste better when consumed with the lush, solidified combination of milky sensations, acids, salt and amino acids found in certain cheeses. Vice versa, the alcohol, acidity, sugar and tannin of certain wines not only helps the palate break down and digest the sensory components of certain cheeses, a well chosen wine also brings out distinctive, subtle flavors in a cheese otherwise not noticed without the wine.

Medieval cheese making

So what are the best wine and cheese combinations? There is no such thing as “best,” of course, but there certainly are a lot of good, fun, practical choices. The subject of wine and cheese, of course, has been tackled in many places, and our own conclusions are based upon tastings upon tastings over the years. We know because we’ve enjoyed them!

Based upon that, some basic observations on wine and cheese matching:

• It is easier to understand on wine and cheeses go together when you think  in terms the five basic taste sensations found in all foods and wines — the sensations of sweet, tart, salty, bitter, and umami (or “savory”) — plus the effects of what we perceive as “flavor” through our sense of smell.

• Contrary to popular notions, there are probably more cheeses that taste better with white wine than with red, despite the old adage that red wines are best with cheese.

• Produced as they are from animal milk, cheeses give milky and acidic sensations; which explains why white wines varying from soft, creamy textures to sharper, acid edged qualities do so well with the soft, creamy, or slightly acidic/tart tastes of young, soft or semi-soft cheeses.

Havarti: classic white wine cheese

• In the firmer, longer aged, deeper colored and richer flavored cheeses, however, elevated amino acids resulting from the aging process tend to come into play; which is why red wines tend to do better with richer, deeper flavored aged cheeses. Reason: unlike white wines, red wines are fermented with their skins, automatically giving them deeper flavors, often in combination with oak qualities from barrel aging, that make an easier match with caramelized sensations typical of aged cheeses.

• The higher amounts of amino acids in cheeses are what give them a strong taste of the sensation called umami (see Caparoso, Deconstructing Umami). The longer aged and deeper flavored the cheese, the stronger the taste of umami in the cheese. The reason why, for instance, an aged cheese such as Parmigiano is routinely grated onto pasta dishes is because high umami sensations accentuate typical pasta dish flavors (such as herby tomato sauces). Therefore, it is no coincidence that well matured red wines such as Sangiovese – a grape bottled as a varietal in the U.S., or dominant in Italian reds like Chianti Classico and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano – also go great with pasta dishes.

• For similar reasons, this is also why sweeter wines tend to go best with cheeses aged with Penicillium roqueforti molds that create the strong salty or briny tastes associated with blue cheeses – because salty sensations in foods are always balanced by contrasting sweet sensations in other foods or in wines.

Classic goat cheese wine: made from Sauvignon Blanc (Musque grapes in LangeTwins Family Vineyards

• Earthy, organic, umami enhanced aromas and flavors found in cheeses — particularly those made from sheep or goat’s milk, as well as many variations of raw milk cheeses — find pleasing notes of similarity in wines of parallel qualities. This is why the herby/grassy flavor common to wines like Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon, the rounded fruit qualities of many Chardonnays, the mushroomy/foresty notes of Pinot Noirs, or the meaty notes and textures of many reds made from grapes like Tempranillo and Syrah, all do well with distinctly earthy sheep, goat, or raw milk cheeses.

• Once you get into the grand tradition of cheeses doctored up with additional flavors – like all the varieties of herb crusted Chèvres, peppercorn coated crèmes, cider washed rinds, stout soaked Cheddars, or even truffled Boschetto from Italy – the gloves come off, and all the varieties of red and white wines criss-cross in accordance to the dominant flavors craftily introduced into the cheeses. For instance, it makes sense that cheeses coated in black pepper strike partnerships with peppery wines such as reds made from Syrah, Petite Sirah, Zinfandel or Grenache. Italianate herbs (rosemary, oregano, basil, etc.) find easy matches with wines of Italian origin (like those made from Sangiovese grapes). High umami, truffled cheeses practically scream for high umami, earth toned reds like Pinot Noir, or certain types of Chardonnay.

That said, some of our “favorite” wine and cheese combinations:

Chèvres (French or Regional American goat cheeses)

Chèvre, or goat’s milk cheese, is made all over the world; notably, right here in California (such as the acclaimed Cypress Grove’s Humboldt Fog™ and Laura Chenel’s). The historic match is Sauvignon Blanc — bottled as Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé in France’s Loire region, and often as Fumé Blanc is California — because the lemony acidity of the grape balances the sharply acidic taste of goat’s milk, and the earthy, grassy flavor of Chèvre is amplified by the minerally, and often herbal taste of the grape. 

Black pepper coated Chèvre

Wineries making classic, tart edged Lodi grown Sauvignon Blanc include Oak Farm, LangeTwins Family, Ironstone, Peirano, Michael David, Hybrid, and Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi. Another white wine varietal with enough lemony tartness to balance the sharp, taste of goat cheeses is Albariño (look for those of Lodi’s Oak Farm, Bokisch, Harney Lane, Klinker Brick, Viñedos Aurora or others); although dry whites made from Picquepoul (by Acquiesce), Grenache Blanc (by Fields Family, Acquiesce, or Bokisch’s Garnacha Blanca), or Vermentino (by Uvaggio, PRIE or Fields Family) work in similar fashion.

Then there are the many popular “flavored” goat cheeses made all over the world. Wine and cheese matches become all the more diverse and interesting when Chèvres are coated with flavors like black pepper or herbs. Cracked black pepper crusted Chèvres bring out the natural peppery spice notes found in Zinfandel. For the spicy styles of goat cheese, look for lighter, softer tannin styles of Zinfandel, such as Bokisch’s Tizona, Peirano’s The Immortal Zin, Heritage Oak’s Block 14, LangeTwins Family, Oak Ridge’s OZV, Barsetti, Michael David’s 7 Deadly Zins, Jessie’s Grove’s Earth Zin & Fire, Tierra Divina's !ZaZin, Gnarly Head, or those bottled as Primitivo (a clonal variant of Zinfandel) by Uvaggio, Ripken, Sorelle, Macchia, or Harney Lane. Still another choice for peppercorn specked Chèvres? Smoother styles of Petite Sirah (you’ll find softer, rounder tannin renderings of the grape in bottlings by McCay, Oak Ridge's Maggio, Peirano, or Jeremy). 

Herb coated goat cheese

But wait, there’s more. Chèvres coated with earthy red peppers or spicy/earthy Southwest style red chile mixes can also be fantastic with softer styles of Syrah such as Michael~David’s 6th Sense, or Michael David’s fun, sweetly spice scented, red Rhône-ish Incognito blend. In a similar vein, easy drinking, peppery spiced red wines made from the Grenache grape (such as McCay and Bokisch’s Garnacha) also have enough softness of tannin and zest of acidity to find an easy match in pepper or chile spice coated goat cheese.

Then there are the herby variants. When coated with pungent Italian herbs (like rosemary, oregano and dried garlic), look for zesty, medium bodied reds made from Italy’s Sangiovese grape (Lodi’s Jeremy, Sorelle, and Macchia produce delicious examples).

When goat cheeses are crusted with fragrant French inspired mixtures (thyme, marjoram, basil, rosemary, sage, bay, lavender, et al.), you can go in three different directions and still have a delicious match: a dry white, a dry rosé, or a soft style red. The ideal white wine choice is Lodi’s flowery yet crisply balanced, lavender scented white wines made from the Viognier grape (Onesta, Acquiesce, Peirano, McCay, and Gnarly Head make fine, pure, unfettered examples). For dry rosés, look for bottlings with the herbiness or spice reminiscent of France's Provence, such as those by McCay, Onesta, Acquiesce, Klinker Brick, Estate Crush, or Bokisch’s Rosado. For reds, we particularly like the smooth, mildly kitchen herby reds made from Cabernet Franc (look for bottlings by Ironstone, Michael David’s Inkblot, or McCay).

Finally, when it comes to goat cheeses infused with pungent, earthy truffles, that’s when you can think in terms of earthier red wines; particularly Lodi grown Zinfandels with earthy/loamy tinged berry aromas (prime examples include m2’s Soucie Vineyard, Macchia’s Voluptuous, Oak Farm, McCay’s TruLux, Estate Crush's Stellina, and The Lucas ZinStar). Then there is this titillating match: mildly loamy, rounded reds made Carignan, another one of Lodi’s heritage grapes (looked for outstanding varietal bottlings by Klinker Brick, Jessie’s Grove, MK (Michael Klouda), McCay, Van Ruiten Family, or Michael David).

Zinfandel cluster in McCay Cellars' TruLux Vineyard

Feta (Greece)

This quiveringly soft, briny, earthy sheep's and goat’s milk cheese is typically used in salads to add pointedly sharp, salty and earthy tastes.  As with any food high in acidity and saltiness, feta's natural matches are wines with a fragrant fruitiness or even a touch of residual sugar balanced by a lemony acidity. White wines made from the Verdelho grape (by Lodi’s St. Jorge or Bokisch) fit the bill. Crisp, fruit scented whites made from the Pinot Gris (a.k.a. Pinot Grigio) grape also work with sharp/salty feta (look for Lodi bottlings by Van Ruiten Family, or Hybrid,). Still another choice for, say, fresh salads sharpened with feta? One of Lodi’s zesty, airy, light and refreshing Grenache Blancs (such as Onesta, Acquiesce, Fields Family, or Bokisch’s Garnacha Blanca).

Havarti (Denmark)

Here’s a match rarely entering the minds of wine and cheese lovers. Whereas Chèvres are tart and earthy, Havarti is soft, creamy, almost sweet and springy with fruitiness – a natural with most California grown styles of Chardonnay precisely because of their creamy, lower acid, soft, almost sweet, springy, fruitiness. Classic Lodi examples include those by The Lucas Winery, Harney Lane, Oak Farm, Upstream (by Watts), LangeTwins Family, Van Ruiten Family, Stama, Maley Bros., Peltier, Hybrid, Oak Ridge’s Old Soul, or Gnarly Head.

Smoked Mozzarella: natural for barrel fermented Chardonnay

Bufala or Smoked Mozzarella (Italy)

By itself, soft, round Italian water buffalo milk Mozzarella, packed in its own liquified whey – at their best, enjoyed within days after production – invites any soft, round, fruity white wine of moderate acidity. Pinot Gris/Grigio is a natural match, but so are most round and plump Chardonnays. Smoked Mozzarella, on the ohter hand, goes a bit farther; its smoky flavor positively screaming for toasty/smoky barrel fermented styles of Chardonnay, such as the mildly smoky, richly textured Harney Lane, or viscous, creamy oak toned Chardonnays by Mettler Family, The Lucas, or Watts’ Upstream.

Brie, Camembert & Triple Crème (France)

Wine lovers have always found that wines with either similar (low acid) or contrasting (higher acid) sensations can both go well with classic soft ripened cheeses. Round, even buttery styles of Chardonnay make excellent matches with the creaminess of soft ripened cheeses; although tart edged dry whites like Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris/Grigio can offer the minerally notes as well as sharply contrasting acidity to freshen the palate by keeping the runny, buttery, often earthy taste of well ripened Bries or Camemberts from tiring the senses.

Gouda, Smoked Gouda & Aged Gouda (Netherlands)

From the Dutch city of Gouda, the famous Gouda cheese is firm yet creamy in texture, developing a crunchy (from protein crystals), caramel-like sweetness as well as faintly nutty, mushroom-like notes well before it hits the market. Crisply dry yet sweet lemon and lavender scented Verdelho (by Bokisch or St. Jorge) mingle effortlessly with younger Goudas’ crunchy texture. But more fruit focused Chardonnays such as those by Michael David, Oak Farm or Van Ruiten Family are also easy choices, while toasted/vanillin, barrel fermented Chardonnays such as Harney Lane, Mettler Family, or The Lucas Family can add to the lush texturing and scent of Smoked Gouda.

Beemster XO Gouda (aged 26 months): classic red wine cheese

But once you get into the super-aged Goudas – like Beemster's Classic Extra Aged (18 months) or X.O. Extra Double Aged (26 months) – you start to veer off into red wine territory, since red wines are deeper in flavor than whites, and super-aged Goudas take on deeper, butterscotchy, vanilla roasted pecan flavors: a crazy good combination with sweet fruit forward, deep, full and oak enriched Zinfandels such as those by Mettler Family, St. Amant, Fields Family, Harney Lane, Klinker Brick, Peltier, Ironstone, Jesse’s Grove, Michael David’s Earthquake, Macchia, m2, LangeTwins Family, McCay, Oak Farm, Concrete, Rippey Family, PRIE, Mikami, MK (Michael Klouda), Harmony Wynelands, or any number of Lodi’s better known Zinfandel specialists.

Manchego (Spain)

Once fromagers begin aging their products for six months or longer, cheeses such as the sheep’s milk Manchego become deeper, firmer and more complex in umami driven sensations: definitely matches for red wines, given the depth derived during red wine production (i.e. fermentation with skins and longer aging processes). Fresh, tangy, yet mature, mildly salty, faintly sweet, crunchy Manchego is one cheese that adapts to almost any red of medium to high tannin, lower acidity and some degree of wood aging.  In this sense, red wines made from Spanish grapes like Tempranillo (look for those of Bokisch, Harney Lane, Fields Family, m2, McCay, Peirano, or Dancing Fox) are naturals.

By the same token, red wines made from Merlot (like that Vicarmont, Ironstone, Peirano, Van Ruiten Family, Noble Vines’ 181, or Oak Ridge’s Maggio label) always taste great with Manchego; as does Cabernet Sauvignon (look for Mettler Family, Van Ruiten Family, Klinker Brick, or Michael David’s Freakshow, Earthquake or Rapture) as well as Bordeaux inspired blends (particularly LangeTwins’ Midnight Reserve, Van Ruiten Family’s Cab-Shiraz, or Oak Ridge’s Old Soul Pure Red).

Parmigiano-Reggiano

Parmigiano-Reggiano (Italy)

Because of its high amino acids, we usually think of Parmigiano as more of a condiment than an eating cheese; which is a shame, because there is nothing like simple shavings of Parmigiano with glasses of deep, sturdy, aggressively oak aged reds made from any of the Bordeaux varieties (especially Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc or Petit Verdot), bottled as varietals or blends. 

Of course, the deep, fruity/nutty, crystallized taste of Parmigiano also has a way of bringing out the sweet scented, foresty/black cherry taste of the Sangiovese grape (finer Lodi grown examples by Sorelle, Jeremy, Macchia or Fields Family’s Il Ladro). Another good choice is the zesty, buoyant black fruit qualities found in the Barbera grape (by Oak Farm, Macchia, Uvaggio, St. Amant, Borra, Heritage Oak, or Sorelle); not to mention similar sensations found in the modest assortment of more unusual Italian red varietals now being produced in Lodi (particularly the Teroldegos by LangeTwins Family or Peltier, Mettler Family’s Aglianico, and Klinker Brick’s Dolcetto). 

Cheddars (International)

Practically all the world’s great aged Cheddars – from English Farmhouse brands to domestics from California’s Fiscalini Bandage Cheddar to the Sharp Cheddars of Tillamook in Oregon or from Vermont – possess even firmer, tangier, but also deeper caramelized butter flavors that do amazing jobs of smoothing out the rough, boisterous edges of Cabernet Sauvignons and other high extract, generous tannin red wines.

Dark colors and tannin: why red wines like Petite Sirah are better with well aged cheeses

Aged Cheddar is also where some of Lodi’s bigger, more intense styles of Zinfandel (think of Michael David’s Earthquake, Klinker Brick’s Old Ghost, m2’s Select Block, Macchia’s Outrageous, Mettler Family, or the innovative Concrete bottlings) can also shine. Then there are the wildly spiced reds made from the black-juiced Alicante Bouschet grape (by St. Jorge or Harmony Wynelands); or else the more full throttled, rambunctuous Petite Sirahs (especially Mettler Family, Viñedos Aurora, Rippey Family, McCay, Harney Lane, Maggio, and Michael David’s Earthquake or Petite-Petit).

Blue Cheeses (International)

Generally speaking, the salty, sharp, and yes, moldy, taste of the great blue veined cheeses of the world respond best to the great sweet wines of the world – easy as pie, and as pleasing as pineapple sauce on a ham. After that, the preferences become personal. France’s sweet Sauternes, for instance, is a traditional match for Stilton as well as for France’s Roquefort (made from ewe’s milk), although Port style reds (such as d’Art, Woodbridge’s Portacinco, Ripken’s Vintage, or Toasted Toad’s Toadilly Luscious are three sweet examples) and sweet, late harvest style Zinfandels (look for Harney Lane’s Lizzy James, The Lucas, or Harmony Wynelands' Zinsation) are just as delicious with the sharper, classic blue veined cheeses such as Roquefort, Stilton, or Span's Cabrales.

If you lean towards the slightly rounder, smoother, nevertheless rich and tangy blue cheese quality of Iowa’s famous Maytag Blue, Calfornia’s Point Reyes Original or Shaft’s Bleu, Rogue Creamery’s Oregon Blues, as well as the strong yet silky sensations of Italy’s Gorgonzola, Denmark’s Danablue or Spain’s Valdeón, look for either these aforementioned sweet style reds, or else luscious, golden sweet whites made from the Muscat (a.k.a. Moscato) grape, such as those of Mettler Family or Uvaggio’s Dolce.

Lacaune sheep, source of milk for France's Roquefort cheese