Exciting first for American grown wines—Bokisch’s Lo Xalet Cava (champagne style sparkler) crafted from authentic Spanish grapes

Bokisch Vineyards' Liz and Markus Bokisch introducing Lo Xalet, America's first cava style sparkler, at their Clements Hills-Lodi winery.

Hang on to your hats, Lodi wine lovers, because the latest innovation coming out of Lodi is a doozy: The 2023 Bokisch Vineyards Clements Hills-Lodi Lo Xalet ($60). This is the first champagne method sparkling wine in California grown and crafted in the style of Spain’s cava (the Spanish word for sparkling wine).

To be an authentic cava style sparkler, a wine has to be made from the traditional grapes of Spain’s Cava D.O. (Denominación de Origen, or “Designation of Origin”), perched along the Mediterranean Sea in Catalonia’s Penedès region, south of Barcelona. The required grapes indigenous to Cava form something of a “holy trinity”...

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A new Cerasuolo inspired rosé is already rocking the Lodi wine scene

A rosé that thinks it’s a red

Take a gander at this bottle of wine adorned with the plainest of labels, explaining exactly what it is: The 2024 Kirschenbloom Lodi Rosé ($24), produced and bottled by Sandlands Vineyards. However, looks can be deceiving. There is nothing plain or ordinary about this wine because it is already a game changer in the Lodi wine scene, perhaps in all of California.

First thing you notice through its clear glass is that it is a very rosy, an almost reddish colored rosé. I can tell you, after having tasting it, that it is dry as a bone, very lively and energetic with prickly fresh fruit acidity, and deep, deep in flavors suggesting peak season cherry with a touch of kitchen spice. The wine’s dryness, in fact, is only emphasized by the barest sensation of tannin, the firming sensory quality derived from skins and seeds of grapes normally found in red wines. 

It is a rosé, in fact, that tastes as light and zesty as any of today’s rosés, yet is a little richer than that. It has a sturdiness that forces you think of a red wine as you sip it... 

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The perfect spring chicken is cooked in white wine

Spring flowers in Michael David Winery's gardens.

Wine
stirs the spring, happiness
bursts through the earth like a plant…
—Pablo Neruda

One month into spring in 2025—finally, nights are less chilly, days are warmer, and the sun is up until past 7:30!

‘Tis also the season of transition at our tables. Our taste for red wines goes from heavier reds, such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Petite Sirah, to lighter reds such as Grenache, Cinsaut, Mission or easy drinking Zinfandels. Slowly but surely, we also find ourselves reaching for more cool, refreshing white wines, or maybe rosés...

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