Oh lord, a blog from Lodi—the 2025 farewell

Harvest morning in Mokelumne River-Lodi's Abba Vineyard, planted to Syrah.

Farewell by Randy Caparoso

Oh lord, a blog from Lodi was the title of the very first blog posted on the Lodi Wine page in August 2010, written by yours truly. Over 1,200 posts later, I think it is fitting that this should be the title of my very last post, as I will departing Lodi wine country in July of 2025. 

First, I’d like to thank all the region’s growers and vintners who have welcomed me into their community these past fifteen years. But also first, I need to thank you, Lodi Wine’s dear and patient readers who have indulged in this site’s continuous flights and forays into viticulture and vinification, farmers, winemakers and all the characters peppering the region’s past and present, the seemingly endless variety of grapes and equally varied wines, almost every iota of the dirt, topography, climate and natural or human circumstances—each and everything that has distinguished the Lodi appellation from any other in the world. The goal has always been differentiation, the gist of every post appearing on this page...

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Ingredients listings and key taste components found in commercial wines

Barrel tasting dark, rich, vividly flavorful Cabernet Sauvignon.

Sugar and spice and all that’s nice, as the old nursery rhyme goes.

There are lots of nice things in wine, although there are very few wineries that actually print “Ingredients”—that is, additions dropped on top of natural components of wines during the winemaking process—on back labels; ostensibly, because it is felt by most of the industry that most consumers might be shocked if they find out what actually ends up in commercial grade wine. If you are not required to list everything going into a bottle (a circumstance many consumer advocates think should be changed), why do it?

I was at one Sonoma County winery’s tasting room just last week, tasting the brand’s signature estate grown Cabernet Sauvignon. The owner explained that over the years she has had problems impressing upon consumers that her grapes are certified organic and the fact that her wines are made in the lowest interventionist way possible (that is, without compromizing quality or terroir expression). So she borrowed the idea of printing ingredients on her back label from another winery that specializes in minimal intervention wine. This is the exact wording found on her bottlings...

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The new light (and chillable) red wine paradigm

The 2023 Christina's Outlier, the Grenache-based Lodi grown red that now stands as the epitome of the new "light and chillable" red wine paradigm.

Last week, Dr. Stephanie Bolton—Lodi Winegrape Commission’s Director of Grower Education and Sustainability—organized what she called a “Light, Chillable Red Wine Rendezvous,” attended by a dozen an a half local vintners. Why? Because Bolton truly believes this style of wine is the wave of the future, thus calling for serious discussion. 

In fact, some of the vintners who attended are already reporting market success with this style of red wine. It is an emerging wine category that may very well help drag the American wine industry out of its current state of doldrums...

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