skip to main content

Lodi Winegrape Commission

  • Home
  • Wineries
  • About
  • Visit
    • Visitor Center
  • Club
  • Events
  • Store
    • LODI RULES Sustainable Certification
    • White Wines
    • Rosé Wines
    • Red Wines
    • Sparkling/Dessert Wines
    • Old Vine Wines
    • Merchandise
  • Blog
TOP

Letters from Lodi

An insightful and objective look at viticulture and winemaking from the Lodi
Appellation and the growers and vintners behind these crafts. Told from the
perspective of multi-award winning wine journalist, Randy Caparoso.

Randy Caparoso
 
July 5, 2018 | Randy Caparoso

Paskett’s summer releases reflect abiding respect for regional history and sense of place

Herb Paskett; modern day pioneering grower of Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon (photo by Goff Photography)

Since opening their tasting room doors just this past Thanksgiving weekend (2017), Paskett Vineyards & Winery’s reputation as an artisanal estate has grown steadily.

This past June 30, 2018, about 45 friends, family and winery club members came together to taste Paskett’s latest summer releases, under the shade of stately trees that (once upon a time) were part of the historic Langford Colony – a 320-acre showcase ranch farmed by Benjamin F. Langford, known as the “Father of the California State Senate,” where he served between 1879 and 1900.

Smoked chicken, pulled beef and basil orzo during Paskett release party (Goff Photography)

Living up to this illustrious past, owner/grower Lorraine Paskett doesn’t do wine release parties in casual fashion. Reflecting the a painstaking attention detail seen throughout the restoration of the old Langford property – which includes a landmark planting of head trained Charbono (a.k.a. Douce noir, Corbeau or Bonarda), tucked along the Mokelumne River on Lodi’s east side – Ms. Paskett also treated her guests to a full 4-course supper with the intention of showing off her wines the way she believes all wines should be appreciated: with good food, family and friends.

The 2018 Paskett summer release party (Goff Photography)

Case in point: The tasting started off with a lavish cheese and charcuterie spread assembled by Cindy Della Monica, the renowned cheesemonger/owner of Downtown Lodi’s Cheese Central; enjoyed with the 2017 Paskett Espinosa Vineyards Lodi Albariño ($28). When wine lovers first visit Lodi wine country, they quickly become cognizant of the fact that Albariño is, in a sense, “Lodi’s Chardonnay” – you find more bottlings of Albariño than Chardonnay in Lodi tasting rooms.

The Paskett Albariño also represents what’s best about Lodi, figuratively and organoleptically speaking. First, it is grown by the Anaya family; consisting of four brothers – the sons of a bracero farm laborer who first came from Mexico to the San Joaquin Valley during the 1940s – in partnership with one of their nephews, Gerardo Espinosa (a full-time architect as well as talented winemaker). Secondly, the Albariño is crafted by Heather Pyle; Paskett’s winemaker of note, also widely followed as the winemaker/co-owner of The Lucas Winery, following a stellar career as a director of winemaking for Napa Valley’s Robert Mondavi Winery and Opus One Winery (between 1985 and 2001).

At the 2018 Paskett summer release party, Paskett owner Lorraine Paskett (center) with neighbors, Carmela and Tom Hoffman of Heritage Oak Winery (Goff Photography)

Third, and most important, is the 2018 Paskett Albariño itself: A white wine of precision dryness and tongue-tingling natural acidity – in keeping with the taste of more and more wine lovers – with a lemon drop nose and refreshingly crisp, light, minerally sensations. No wonder this varietal has become “Lodi’s white.”

To showcase the second and third wines, Paskett utilized the talents of Richard Berardi, chef/owner of Lodi’s Tin Roof BBQ. Ever wonder what the ideal wine is for a classic wedge salad of crisp iceberg, sweet tomato, bacon and blue cheese? We learned that it is a good, bone-dry rosé. But not just any dry rosé. The transparently pale pink 2017 Paskett Estate Lodi Rosé of Charbono ($28) is, as the name infers, made from the Charbono grape, which is rare enough. How many people have tasted a rosé made from Charbono? This is, simply put, not a common thing.

Nor is the taste of a Charbono rosé such as Paskett’s; with its slightly puckery tartness counter-balanced on a coil so tense you can feel the snap, crackle and pop of natural fruit qualities as the wine skips across the palate, while the nose is tickled with flowery, lacy, rose petal and sweet tea perfumes like whispers of sweet nothings – or suggestions of tinkling ice cubes, cool mint and slow southern drawls on warm summer days. Nor is there any doubt that few rosés handle wedge salads with blue cheese dressing with as much ease and aplomb as Paskett’s. A wine that is utterly, and uniquely, "Lodi."

Historic Benjamin F. Langford home in Pasket Vineyards & Winery estate

To go with a mixed plate of smoky chicken with a dripping of zesty, mildly vinegary, fresh berry gastrique, along with a pulled beef slider, fresh basil orzo and fire roasted root vegetables, we were treated to a stunningly fresh, vivid (in both purplish color and blackberry fragrance), sturdy, sharply etched yet round and lip-smacking 2015 Paskett Leventini Vineyard Lodi Barbera ($28). Longtime aficionados of Lodi wines may recognize Paskett’s fruit source, Leventini Vineyard: old (planted in the early ‘70s in Lodi’s Jahant AVA off N. Kennefick Rd.), gnarly, trellised vines yielding stingy crops of tiny berried/clustered Barbera, still going into highly regarded bottlings by St. Amant Winery (a local institution) and the Napa based Uvaggio Wines.

A couple of things distinguish Paskett’s own rendering of Leventini grown Barbera. First, intriguingly nuanced herbal/weedy notes underlying the bright, fresh blackberry fruit aroma, mercifully free of obvious “oakiness” (just a subtle sprinkling of French oak spice, just hinting at vanilla). Second, there is a small yet judicious blending of Zinfandel in this Barbera, just enough to give the wine a lankier, fruit focused feel; the Zinfandel coming from the west-side Mokelumne River-Lodi vineyard farmed by Lorraine Paskett’s father, Herb Paskett, along Lucas Rd. since the late 1960s. Mr. Paskett’s planting, in fact, was one of Lodi’s first vineyards dedicated primarily to Cabernet Sauvignon.

Says Ms. Paskett: “Barbera-Zinfandel was my dad’s favorite red wine blend, which he made and bottled (for home consumption) for decades. We always added a small amount of Zinfandel to our own Barbera to help bring the fruit around, and the result is beautiful mouth-feel and finish. When my dad and I first mentioned the Paskett family approach to blending to Heather, she embraced the tradition and created an even better blend, leaning much more on the Barbera to stay true to the fruit.”

Typically stingy crop of Barbera in Lodi's Leventini Vineyard (first week of July 2018)

As the fourth and final match with Phillips Farms’ iconic, Lodi-grown blueberry pie along with salted caramel cakes by Lodi’s Frosted Flour (amazing cakes), the 2016 Paskett Estate Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon ($42) showed off the round, supple, yet solidly muscular structure and herby, beefy aromatics of the family’s Lucas Rd. planting in particular, and the Lodi style of Cabernet Sauvignon in general.

If you, like more and more wine aficionados, have a yen for wines that 1) have a distinct sense of place (out of respect for the style and terroir-related parameters of that place) and 2) endeavor to achieve handcrafted qualities (as opposed to the expectations of big production/broad market commercial wine production), Paskett Vineyards & Winery is indubitably a brand to follow.

Pouring of the rare 2018 Paskett Charbono Rosé (Goff Photography)

 

Tweet
Pin It

Comments

Commenting has been turned off.
Blog Search
Recent Posts
  • February 22, 2021
    Why consumers never needed experts to tell them what they like (like Elvis and Zinfandel)
  • February 16, 2021
    A Lodi based sheep company begins work on sustainable vineyard farming
  • February 11, 2021
    Silicon Valley Bank's 2021 State of the U.S. Wine Industry report focuses on immediate and unimaginable challenges
  • February 9, 2021
    The dangers of COVID-19 to serious wine lovers
  • February 4, 2021
    In 2021, what's a wine brand to do to stay ahead?
  • January 27, 2021
    ZAP offers free Zinfandel livestream tastings and how Lodi Zinfandels compare to Zinfandels from other regions
  • January 25, 2021
    How Lodi wineries have adjusted to pandemic challenges and changes in how they do business
  • January 19, 2021
    French students break down Lodi winegrowing, marketing, and its Alta Mesa appellation
  • January 13, 2021
    Alternative style Lodi wines reflecting the wave of the future — part 2, new interpretations of heritage grapes
  • January 11, 2021
    Alternative style Lodi wines reflecting the wave of the future — part 1, an unfamiliar white and red
Our Writers
  • Randy Caparoso (811)
Blog Archives
2021
  • February 2021 (5)
  • January 2021 (6)
2020
  • December 2020 (7)
  • November 2020 (7)
  • October 2020 (6)
  • September 2020 (7)
  • August 2020 (7)
  • July 2020 (7)
  • June 2020 (8)
  • May 2020 (8)
  • April 2020 (8)
  • March 2020 (8)
  • February 2020 (6)
  • January 2020 (6)
2019
  • December 2019 (7)
  • November 2019 (6)
  • October 2019 (6)
  • September 2019 (5)
  • August 2019 (5)
  • July 2019 (7)
  • June 2019 (6)
  • May 2019 (6)
  • April 2019 (6)
  • March 2019 (6)
  • February 2019 (5)
  • January 2019 (7)
2018
  • December 2018 (7)
  • November 2018 (7)
  • October 2018 (9)
  • September 2018 (6)
  • August 2018 (7)
  • July 2018 (8)
  • June 2018 (7)
  • May 2018 (9)
  • April 2018 (8)
  • March 2018 (9)
  • February 2018 (8)
  • January 2018 (8)
2017
  • December 2017 (6)
  • November 2017 (8)
  • October 2017 (10)
  • September 2017 (5)
  • August 2017 (6)
  • July 2017 (7)
  • June 2017 (6)
  • May 2017 (5)
  • April 2017 (7)
  • March 2017 (6)
  • February 2017 (5)
  • January 2017 (7)
2016
  • December 2016 (7)
  • November 2016 (8)
  • October 2016 (7)
  • September 2016 (7)
  • August 2016 (5)
  • July 2016 (7)
  • June 2016 (7)
  • May 2016 (6)
  • April 2016 (6)
  • March 2016 (7)
  • February 2016 (6)
  • January 2016 (5)
2015
  • December 2015 (8)
  • November 2015 (6)
  • October 2015 (7)
  • September 2015 (5)
  • August 2015 (6)
  • July 2015 (7)
  • June 2015 (6)
  • May 2015 (5)
  • April 2015 (6)
  • March 2015 (6)
  • February 2015 (7)
  • January 2015 (5)
2014
  • December 2014 (8)
  • November 2014 (5)
  • October 2014 (7)
  • September 2014 (5)
  • August 2014 (3)
  • July 2014 (5)
  • June 2014 (6)
  • May 2014 (7)
  • April 2014 (7)
  • March 2014 (5)
  • February 2014 (4)
  • January 2014 (7)
2013
  • December 2013 (8)
  • November 2013 (6)
  • October 2013 (7)
  • September 2013 (5)
  • August 2013 (6)
  • July 2013 (4)
  • June 2013 (4)
  • May 2013 (4)
  • April 2013 (5)
  • March 2013 (2)
  • February 2013 (2)
  • January 2013 (4)
2012
  • December 2012 (7)
  • November 2012 (9)
  • October 2012 (9)
  • September 2012 (7)
  • August 2012 (9)
  • July 2012 (8)
  • June 2012 (8)
  • May 2012 (9)
  • April 2012 (8)
  • March 2012 (9)
  • February 2012 (7)
  • January 2012 (9)
2011
  • December 2011 (7)
  • November 2011 (8)
  • October 2011 (7)
  • September 2011 (7)
  • August 2011 (8)
  • July 2011 (8)
  • June 2011 (9)
  • May 2011 (7)
  • April 2011 (9)
  • March 2011 (8)
  • February 2011 (8)
  • January 2011 (7)
2010
  • December 2010 (8)
  • November 2010 (6)
  • October 2010 (2)
  • September 2010 (6)
  • August 2010 (5)
Additional Resources
  • Media & Trade
  • Lodi Winegrape Commission
  • Donation Requests
  • Returns & Cancellations
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
Contact

Lodi Wine Visitor Center
2545 West Turner Road Lodi, CA 95242
209.365.0621
Open: Thursday - Sunday 12:00pm-5:00pm

Lodi Winegrape Commission
2545 West Turner Road, Lodi, CA 95242
209.367.4727
Open: Monday-Friday 8:00am-5:00pm

Have a question? Complete our contact form.

  • © Copyright 2021 Lodi Winegrape Commission
  • Winery Ecommerce by WineDirect