The beauty of minerally dry Lodi whites with saffroned chicken for shelter-in-place sustenance

The magical combination of saffron and minerally dry whites

Going into our third week of safely sheltering in place, we find ourselves... with almost all the time in the world to ponder life in general. And since our own lives have been all about wines and foods, that's what we'll talk about in this leisurely post about a couple of things:

1. Saffron. How do you describe its scent and taste when used in cooking, and why is it so appealing? 

2. The best wines for saffon laced foods like seafoods and white meats, especially chicken (see our recipe for Saffroned Chicken Biryani at the end of this post), which are light, dry white wines with more of a sense of minerality than a clearly defined fruitiness in their taste — at least according to our experience...

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Award winning New York sommelier finds his kismet handcrafting Lodi grown Mission and Dry White Zinfandel

Colorful berries of the historic, and now rare, Mission grape in Mokelumne River-Lodi's 18-acre Somers Vineyard

Patrick Cappiello is a sommelier with over 25 years of experience in the restaurant wine industry, mostly in New York City. He's been very successful at it, having earned recognitions such as a Wine Spectator "Grand Award" for three different restaurants, named a 2014 "Sommelier of the Year" by Food & Wine Magazine, "Wine Person of the Year 2014" by Imbibe Magazine, and "Sommelier of the Year 2015" by Eater National.

And now Mr. Cappiello is in the process of transitioning from a career as a sommelier to winemaker, and has begun producing wine from... Lodi!

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Surviving shelter-in-place with Tempranillo and its ideal food match (high myoglobin proteins)

Illustration from Cervantes' Don Quixote, depicting the early 1600s anti-hero's faithful companion Sancho Panza enjoying the local wine of Spain's La Mancha region (in all likelihood made from Tempranillo, the dominant grape of La Mancha)

In week 2 of our mandated shelter-in-place living situation, let's talk Tempranillo and its ideal food matches, or what we would describe as high myoglobin foods — essentially, red meat (if you want to skip the wine geek talk, scroll straight to the end of this post for our recipes for Parmesan Crusted Lamb Burgers and Catalan Barbecued Rack of Lamb and Vegetables).

First, let's talk about the grape itself: A black skinned variety native to Spain, which produces a wine that is just beginning to slip into the lexicon of the average American wine lover. It took a while — over 100 years, to be exact, as we know from historical accounts that Tempranillo was first introduced to California during the 1880s (listed among the varieties cultivated at the U.C. Davis Foothill Experiment Station in Jackson, Amador County during the late 1800s, and where U.C. Davis plant pathologist Dr. Austin Goheen “rediscovered” selections in 1963)... 

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Final farewell to Lodi's mysterious, mythical, red haired ZinFest muse

The first, serene appearance of ZinFest artist Vince McIndoe’s red haired muse, contemplating the banks of beautiful Lodi Lake Park, in 2007

In 2020 Lodi's biggest annual wine festival, formerly known as ZinFest, was to take place on May 15-16, rechristened as Lodi Row x Row Festival. Alas, because of our global battle to flatten the curve of COVID-19, the festival has been cancelled. All previously paid purchases are being refunded.

Rest-assured, though, a 2021 Lodi Row x Row Festival is most definitely on our calendar for May 14-15 of next year, and will offer the same (probably more!) extravagance of over 200 Lodi grown wines to taste, cooking and wine education "schools," and live music on the lush, green, wooded peninsula between Lodi Lake and the rolling Mokelumne River. To paraphrase our former governator, "We'll be back..." 

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Recipe for positive shelter-in-place living with Lodi Zinfandel and Zinfandel beef stew

As of today, at least in California, "shelter in place" is no longer a suggestion. It is mandated. Venturing outside our doors to get groceries and any other essential will still be okay, but practical questions about what is "essential" will remain. The big question, of course, will be how can we make life in general... a little more livable?

Zinfandel, we suppose. Especially Lodi's brand of Zinfandel, which at least has the advantage of tasting like, well, Zinfandel grown in Lodi.

What is that taste? Zinfandel lovers as a group know that Lodi in general grows a softer, friendlier, zingy yet sturdy style of Zinfandel. Even at 14% or 15% alcohol, they never taste excessively "big" or heavy, nor are they light and wimpy. Two reasons for that..: 

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