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 and growers. 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.

Cinsaut—a quintessential style of light, chillable red, especially in Lodi.

Generally speaking, it is not highly recommended that you thoroughly chill bottles of red wine because of one of the the major components found in reds: Tannin, the bitter or drying taste of compounds extracted from the skins, seeds and stems of grapes. 

Many of the most popular domestic red wines on the market, such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, are quite heavy with tannin. When red wine such as these are served too cold, the temperature reduces the fruit profiles of these wines, and you end up tasting mostly bitter tannin.

But when red wines are produced with minimum tannin as well as lower than average alcohol by volume (most California reds are at least 13.5% or 14% alcohol), all of a sudden it is very possible to chill down the bottles; which, often enough, only enhances the fresh, natural fruit qualities of those wines.

Morgon, one of the greatest appellations in Beaujolais, France.

France, for instance, has long been famous for its red wines from the Beaujolais region. Made from the Gamay noir grape (a variety almost nonexistent in California vineyards), almost all Beaujolais reds are very soft in tannin and flush with fresh berry flavors. Markus Wine Co. owner/winemaker Markus Niggli brought a bottle of Morgon, a cru (i.e., higher ranked) Beaujolais, to Dr. Bolton’s light red rendezvous, and it was exactly that, despite sitting in ice for about 30 minutes: Ultra-bright, fresh, zesty, deeply flavorful and better tasted well chilled than at normal room temperature!

Peltier Winery owner/grower Rodney Schatz and his daughter/marketing director Faryn Schatz brought an unlabeled tank sample of a 2024 red wine, still waiting to be bottled, made entirely from Primitivo, a clonal variant of Zinfandel. The wine was extremely intense in all the fruit qualities everyone loves in Zinfandel—fresh, wild berries, flowery perfume and a touch of kitchen spice—yet super-soft, almost negligible in tannin, thus super-chillable.

Explained Ms. Schatz, “Honestly, we haven’t bottled our chillable red yet because we are still working on the packaging. Shall we label it as just ‘Zinfandel,’ or should we call it a ‘Light’ or ‘Chillable’ Zinfandel? One way or another, we want consumers to know it’s something you can enjoy on a patio on a hot day, and drink it on ice if you like. To make things interesting, we made two ‘companion’ wines to sell with this light red—a dry pink wine and a dry white wine, all made from the Primitivo grown in the same vineyard as the red. We think it’s going to be a big hit!”

Klinker Brick Winery's century-old Marisa Vineyard, now reinterpreted as a kinder, gentler style of Zinfandel bottled as "Echoes."

Steve Felten, the owner/grower of Klinker Brick Winery, brought his second vintage of a wine labeled as “Echoes” as well as “Native Zinfandel”—a 2024 made entirely from the Felten family’s 100-year-old Marisa Vineyard. The “Echoes” refers to the vineyard’s historic lineage; “Native,” to the fact that the wine is made in minimum intervention style, fermented with native yeast and aged strictly in neutral barrels that do not impart any oak flavor. The wine is bright and extremely perfumed with the pure, red berry/cherry varietal aroma typical of east side Lodi vineyards.

Explained Mr. Felten, “Our first vintage of Echoes sold out almost immediately when released in select markets across the country, which told us we are on the right track. We originally made Echoes because we were going for the complete opposite style of what we are usually known for, which are big, hefty Zinfandels. 

Lodi vintners and growers tasting and discussing a dozen and a half light, chillable reds.

“For this wine, we picked the grapes at a very low sugar, at about 21.0° Brix [i.e., sugar reading] and higher than usual acidity. The wine ended at just 12.9% alcohol—almost all California Zinfandels are at least 14.5% alcohol—and is on the soft, fruit driven side. It’s still a serious Zinfandel, but it is smooth enough to drink slightly chilled. In fact, it’s better at a cooler temperature!”

Another wine shown at Dr. Bolton’s light red rendezvous was the 2024 Monte Rio Cellars Lodi Mission, made from a grape originated with the Franciscan monks who built missions along Calfornia’s 600-mile El Camino Real between 1769 and 1833. In fact, during the first half of the 1800s, Mission was the only grape of Vitis vinifera descent (i.e., the European family of wine grapes) grown in the state of California.

Harvesting of +6-ft. tall Mission grapes in Lodi's Somers Vineyard.

The native yeast fermented Monte Rio Mission was a transparent brick-red color—visually, the opposite of the type of red wine appealing to, say, Cabernet Sauvignon lovers—and soft and delicate as kitten fur. But the nose was exceptionally bright and upbeat, effusive with red cherry fruit tinged with brown kitchen spice. Super-soft (just 12.5% ABV) yet flavorful and... very much chillable!

Still another: The light and bright, and vibrantly spicy and flower petal scented 2023 Lorenza Rauser Vineyard Lodi Carignan, which we just recently covered in great detail on this page (re A new, different, exciting style of ancient vine Lodi Carignan).

Bottles of lighter style reds tasted last week.

All told, there were 18 different bottlings (both domestic and imported) shared by these group of vintners. By Dr. Bolton’s count, the wines were made from 17 different grapes, ranging from Italy’s Frappato, Nero d’Avola, Montepulciano, Brachetto and Grignolino to France’s classic Grenache, Syrah, Cinsaut, Counoise, Clairette blanche, Bourboulenc, Carignan, Mourvédre, Gamay and Pinot noir. All illustrations of the “new” style no longer kowtowing to the idea that red wines need to be big, bold and heavy to be meaningful.

The pièce de résistance of the night? If anything, it was the 2023 Christina’s Outlier, made by Acquiesce Vineyards winemaker/vineyard manager Christina Lopez. Everything about this Lodi grown red made primarily Grenache, which Ms. Lopez calls the “poor man’s Pinot,” screams different—a new, exciting different—from its bright and joyously colorful label to its extravagantly flowery perfumes bursting with fresh berries and irrepressible spices. Yet is soft—unbelievably soft, smooth and easy drinking—and light (barely 13.0% ABV). An epitome of the new “soft and chillable” paradigm.

Grenache in Lodi's Acquiesce Vineyards.

In terms of details, Lopez achieves depth and layering by blending Syrah (adding perfumed spice) and the Southern French white varieties Bourboulenc and Clairette blanche (accentuating the the floral spice in both the Grenache and Syrah while contributing palate-bracing acidity and freshness). A drop of black skinned Mourvèdre adds meat to the bone, without the burden of excess tannin. An entirely original, artful combination composed of contrasting grape profiles.

Partial (50%) carbonic maceration enhanced the fruit qualities of the wine while submerging its tannin components, and starting off the fermentation nice, slow and easy with native yeast extracted the bright and aromatic profile that took this wine from a simple fruitiness to a complex, and magical, intensity.

In fact, the only wine in the world I can think of that matches Christina’s Outlier in terms of depth combined with unbelievable ease of drinking is Agricola Tiberio’s Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo from Italy (not coincidentally, the vintners also enjoyed a bottle of this wine last week). The Tiberio Cerasuolo is, at its essence, a deep colored rosé, while Christina’s Outlier is, in fact, a red wine—a red wine crafted and calculated to cross sensory borders, combining the freshness of rosés with the silken, zesty qualities of white wines and the spicy complexity that you are more likely to get in red wines.

Look for these new, exciting styles of reds!

Enjoying the taste of pure, light, chillable, new styles of Lodi grown reds.