A look back at 2022's increasing consumer preferences for natural, organic or sustainably grown wines

Wine lovers in Lodi's Clements Hills appellation.

Consumers rule. Or put it this way: They make the rules, which can be loosely defined because, well, they're the consumers. Details don't matter when they can dictate through the only means that matter, their wallets.

It is true that consumers pick up on cues suggested by advances in the winegrowing and wine production industries. But in the end, it is the winegrowing and wine production industries who follow the cues of consumers, not the other way around. Wine media (writers, journalists, critics, bloggers, influencers, et al.) pretty much go with the flow, covering whatever is produced, and whatever consumers happen to prefer. This is why many wines become popular whether or not they are covered in popular print or online magazines. Consumers determine what writers write about, what growers grow, and what vintners produce...

Dec 14, 2022 at 8:00 AM Permalink

A look back at 2022's rise of small artisanal brands' usage of Lodi-grown grapes

November look at Lodi's Borden Ranch appellation, from which both giant and tiny wineries now source wine grapes.

As we look back at the past year, one of the most surprising unforeseen developments in the Lodi winegrowing industry has been the marked increase in Lodi-grown wines made by small, handcraft, more artisanally focused wineries, many of them based outside the Lodi wine region. 

Small winery sourcing of Lodi grapes, of course, has been going on for years—you could say, since the 1990s, when Sonoma and Napa vintners such as Patrick Campbell, Mitch Cosentino and Larry Turley first started driving over through the Delta in search of grapes from "old vine" plantings that were (at the time) long overlooked and underappreciated by most of California's premium quality wine industry...

Dec 12, 2022 at 7:00 AM Permalink

The 12 interesting Lodi-grown wines of 2022

Palmero Family Vineyard Chenin blanc harvest in the Borden Ranch appellation, producing one of Lodi's most interesting wines.

How do you choose the past year's 12 best Lodi-grown wines? You can't. There are now more terrific Lodi wines than you can shake a stick at.

You can, however, choose 12 of the more interesting wines of Lodi. Wines that are making waves for being slightly different than what a Lodi wine lover would have found just, say, five or ten years ago.

To asemble this kind of list, I have to put on my "wine geek" cap. It is, after all, my job as the resident wine investigator to know the individual vineyards, the local growers, the peculiarities of both individual winemakers and the more than 100 grapes grown here in Lodi. I have to know, in other words, where the bodies are buried...

Dec 5, 2022 at 8:00 AM Permalink

Why Lodi is a verdant paradise for grapes, not a parched Central Valley desert

Overhead photo of Lodi wine festival in Lodi Lake Park, located along the Mokelumne River, the namesake of the appellation originally farmed by the region's pioneers, starting in the late 1840s.

One of the reasons why the Lodi AVA (i.e., American Viticultural Area) still has a hard time being taken seriously by many of the wine cognoscenti is the region's persistent association with the rest of the Central Valley. It is always amazing, in fact, when you meet Napa or Sonoma-based wine industry professionals who still believe that Lodi grapes are grown in a desert—presumably, just like the rest of the Central Valley.

Yet there is nothing about Lodi that suggests a desert. If anything, everything about Lodi is about water. Lots and lots of water...

Nov 30, 2022 at 8:00 AM Permalink

Wine aromas, part 2—On olfaction, the discipline of identifying wine aromas

Visiting wine influencer/journalist Sam Capaldi (@samanthasommelier) tasting Lodi-grown Carignan just plucked from the vine and from the glass.

Continued from A definition of wine aromas

When I was a 21-year-old restaurant sommelier (45 years ago) I honed my craft like many others—through constant blind or double-blind tastings. Something I rarely do these days except in occasional professional wine judgings.

Youth will be served, but sometimes it takes an “older guy” to show you the ropes. I have good memories of one named Dave, with whom I especially enjoyed challenges as a 20-something. I would say to Dave, “This Zinfandel has a real fresh berryishness.” He’d look at me with a pained expression and ask, “What do you mean? There are all kinds of berries—there are blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, currants, elderberries, gooseberries, and on and on, and none of them really smell the same.” Of course I’d be stumped, because as a 21 year old who grew up in Hawai`i, I had zero experience with half the berries he was talking about...

Nov 28, 2022 at 7:00 AM Permalink

Why Lodi's Cinsaut may be the single finest wine for Thanksgiving tables

Are you ready for a 100 millionth article on wines for Thanksgiving? We like to think ours is special because, well, we recommend Lodi-grown wines. Which tends to mean two different things:

1. Exceptional value, a byproduct of sourcing from the country's largest winegrowing region.

2. Fruit-forward qualities, which are byproducts of the region's steady Mediterranean climate and largely sandy loam soils (at least half of Lodi's grapes grown in alluvium laid down over thousands of years in the Mokelumne River watershed).

"Fruit-forward" gives any wine a huge leg up when it comes to Thanksgiving. Of course, we are talking mostly about the grand old tradition of turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry, buttery mashed potatoes and vegetable casseroles—the gustatory cacophony of foods, enjoyed with cherished family and friends, that we Americans look forward to each year...

Nov 21, 2022 at 9:00 AM Permalink

Marking National Zinfandel Day with a history of the grape in Lodi

Zinfandel harvested from a 1940s block along the Mokelumne River in Lodi's Clements Hills appellation.

Today, November 17, is National Zinfandel Day.

Every day, of course, is a good day for Zinfandel in Lodi. There are more acres of Zinfandel in the Lodi appellation than in any other region in California, and Lodi crushes over 40% of the state's production each year.

Why Lodi? Because Lodi's Mediterranean climate, with its consistently bright, warm days and cool nights all through the growing season, is naturally conducive to Zinfandel. The grape loves the Lodi sun!

Nov 17, 2022 at 10:00 AM Permalink

A definition of wine aromas

 Vivid images typically triggered by the scent of peppercorns, even in wine: pepper grinders in a restaurant, peppercorn salmon from the grill, wines made from the Grenache grape, or a culinary experience in an exotic place in Southeast Asia.

The term "aroma" is pretty much self-evident: It is the smell of wine derived from grapes. 

In an older, snobbier or geekier interpretation, aroma used to be distinguished from "bouquet"—the latter term, meant to distinguish smells in wine that result from bottle maturation. The vast majority of consumers buy a bottle of wine in the afternoon and drink it that night. They could give a hoot about "bouquet."

Therefore, in actual practice, aroma is used to describe any smell originating from grapes used to produce wines. These are smells resulting from the fermentation process, which also evolve after a little bit of time in a bottle... 

Nov 15, 2022 at 9:00 AM Permalink

A definition of minerality in wines

Haarmeyer Wine Cellars owner/winemaker Craig Haarmeyer showing his love for Chenin blanc, a grape picked with high enough acidity in Lodi's Borden Ranch appellation to produce a dry white that is light and crisp with citrus and mineral sensations.

Minerality as a trending taste in American wines

Minerality—or the suggestion or outright expression of mineral or earth-related attributes in wine—is an elusive taste, as are all of the more subtle perceptions of wine.

If anything, the use of the term "minerality," bandied about more and more each year, represents a recent shift in consumer tastes, particularly among American wine lovers. When I first visited Germany over 25 years ago, seemingly every German winemaker described their wines as combinations of fruits, flowers and minerals. Minerality was a common expression because the taste of minerals is commonly associated with Rieslings grown in German vineyards; and the Germans love to talk about how each vineyard, especially those grown on the steepest, rockiest riverside slopes, imparts its own variation of a taste suggesting minerals...

Nov 10, 2022 at 9:00 AM Permalink

A practical definition of terroir and why it matters more than ever

Süss Vineyard, a small architecture, 90-plus-year-old, gobelet trained, own-rooted vine grown in the low-vigor sandy soil of Lodi's Clements Hills AVA, producing a distinctively fragrant, notably high acid style of Zinfandel unique to the appellation.

It's hard to believe that as self-evident it may seem to many wine lovers, there are actually many professionals in the wine industry, and even educational institutions, who do not believe terroir exists, or that it is important in the business of wine production or wine appreciation as it exists today.

Let's start with the premise that there is such a thing as terroir, and then afterwards, touch a little upon the perspectives of naysayers...

Nov 3, 2022 at 8:00 AM Permalink