Lodi wines, grapes, and ZAP feelin’ the love

Lodi wine country during the foggy days of January

This week Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (a.k.a. ZAP) hosts its twenty-fourth annual “Experience” in San Francisco (on January 28), attended by thousands of avowed Zinfandel enthusiastss. 2015′s chosen theme: “Zinfandel is a rising star – reach out and grab it.”

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Lodi wines shine where they should at 2015 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition

The Michael David winemaking crew — Adam Mettler, Derek Devries, Barry Gnekow and Kevin Phillips — behind a phenomenal performance at the 2015 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition

Wine judgings don't get much bigger or more prestigious than the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. Last week's event – completed January 13, 2015 – was no different: a total of 6,417 wines entered from more than 28 states. There were Gold Medal winners from California, Oregon and Washington, as well as Texas, Ohio, New York, and of course, Lodi.

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The lowdown on what’s happening during Lodi Wine & Chocolate Weekend!

Lodi wine and chocolate lovers at Macchia winery

Don't look now, but Lodi's Wine & Chocolate Weekend is just around the corner: coming up February 7 & 8, 2015 (Saturday/Sunday). Time's a'wastin', if you're still just thinking about it!

This will be the 18th annual celebration of Lodi's eminently approachable, luscious, juicy style of wines, showcased with a proliferation of complimentary chocolates, savory treats, and fountains of love, love, love. It has become the most popular weekend wine event in Lodi wine country, and for good reason: what better way to seal one's love and devotion to significant others, or whole groups of friends and family?

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ZAP’s annual San Francisco tasting ushering the arrival of Zinfandel as a serious grape

Lodi Winegrape Commission’s events and marketing coordinators, Sherri Cascaden and Jenny Heitman, representing at ZAP (with Ken Landis, Chef/Owner of Landis Shores Oceanfront Inn in Half Moon Bay)

In 1991, when ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates & Producers) held the first of its annual tasting extravaganzas in San Francisco, there was little inkling of just how big an event it would become. All the original organizers knew is that Zinfandel – a cultivar singled out by California’s winegrowing pioneers as far back as the 1850s – was in danger of becoming an under-appreciated grape, and they wanted to exhibit an unprecedented show of unity in support of this varietal wine, while offering consumers an opportunity to experience the best of them in one place.

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Our best and most interesting blogposts from 2014

Visiting Sonoma winemaker Greg La Follette respectfully bows before 100-year old Lodi Zinfandel plant

Happy 2015!

We’re looking forward to another year of exciting achievements by the Lodi winegrowing community. But before embarking towards this bright new horizon, we thought it worthwhile to take another look back at our favorite, and most informative, blogposts from 2014: not so much out of fear of forgetting our past and being condemned to repeat it, but rather to sharpen our focus on the future with the clarity that invariably comes with hindsight.

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