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
 
August 6, 2015 | Randy Caparoso

What makes Lodi special? For Mike McCay, it's the excavation of ancient vines

McCay Cellars owner/winemaker Mike McCay

McCay Cellars owner/winemaker Mike McCay

If you ask Mike McCay, the winemaker/owner of McCay Cellars, about what makes Lodi special, he’s going to want to talk about ancient vines and Zinfandel; which, after all, are his specialty.

But Zinfandel grows well all over California; and certainly, ancient vine plantings in places like Sonoma, Napa Valley, Paso Robles, Mendocino, Contra Costa, the Sierra Foothills or elsewhere do not take a backseat to plantings in any other region, including Lodi.

So what does make ancient vine Zinfandel in Lodi different, besides the fact that Lodi has a lot more acreage of these plantings (vineyards planted 50, 75, even over 100 years ago) than other regions?

The answer can be found in the type of Zinfandels fashioned by Mr. McCay since his first commercial vintage in 2007: Zinfandels with a strong sense of earthiness, even rawness, apart from the usual varietal fruitiness. Zinfandels that give the type of distinctive organic sensations that many wine lovers would characterize, for lack of a better word, as “soulful.” Others, of course, would mutter words like terroir – with the proper French grrrowl.

Most of it has to do with the fact that Lodi does have a lot of vineyards that naturally express earthy qualities, which seem to pop out in lieu of more gently structured, lush fruit qualities. Maybe because they are not quite as intense in sheer varietal fruit as, say, Zinfandels grown in Napa or Sonoma. Or because they don’t have as much of the varietal “spice” as Zinfandels from Amador County, or the ultra-ripe opulence of Zinfandels from Paso Robles.

McCay's 2012 Trulux Vineyard Zinfandel cluster

A lot of it also has to do with the McCay approach to viticulture and winemaking. “I have an Old World palate,” he has said from the get-go. “I’m not a fan of the r.s. style of Zinfandel” – meaning, Zinfandels made from grapes picked so high in sugar that they result perceptively sweet fruitiness. “By picking fruit little earlier (usually between 24.5° and 25.5° Brix) than usual for Lodi, I can produce a dryer, less jammy style of Zinfandel, without the high octane alcohol.”

In other words, a more restrained style of Zinfandel – one that deliberately goes in the opposite direction of Zinfandels designed for maximum size and pedal-to-the-metal varietal character (“no wimpy wines,” as one of California’s more famous Zinfandel specialists proudly proclaims) – which, as it were, happens to be a style that makes vineyard-related sensations a little easier to delineate in the glass.

A current McCay release exemplifying this contrarian style? The 2012 McCay Cellars Lot 13-Faith Lodi Zinfandel ($32): a penetratingly perfumed, Bing cherry and dusty sandalwood scented bottling from a vineyard planted in 1915, owned and farmed by Mr. McCay himself, and rendered in a sleek, delicate, tart edged, downright waifish style (a vinous equivalent to a pretty but surly teenage girl – secret tattoo, pierced navel and all).

No wonder McCay Cellars has achieved more than its share of acclaim within eight short years. There is, after all, a growing segment of wine lovers who really never liked the gigantic, anti-wimpy style of Zinfandel, and for that reason stayed away from Zinfandel for many years. Wine lovers who think of lightness and moderation as positives, who eschew the taste of oak and high alcohol, and look for earthy, soulful, even down-and-dirty sensations in their Zinfandel.

Therefore, if you ask Mike McCay what makes Lodi special, he has to say it’s mostly ancient vines and unique Zinfandels. He’s found his schtick – multiple bottlings of single-vineyard wines, elevated in an Old World (mostly native yeast fermented) style – and he’s schticking to it.

Or, in his own words:

Lodi has one of California’s best climates for producing wine grapes. That, and our deep sandy loam soils, which allow vines to spread their roots and find their own natural sense of balance. It’s why Lodi is perfect for Zinfandel, either grafted or on natural rootstocks; as well as for Rhône grapes, which are an easy fit in this warm climate, cooled off by Delta breezes each night.

But Lodi is also like an archeologist’s dream, or like walking through Rome – the region is filled with hidden vineyards, like gems. Each one waiting to be uncovered, right under our feet. We’re talking about heritage plantings, many of them over 75 or 100 years old – vineyards that have been disappearing into the 100-ton fermentors of the big boys for decades.

Every year I am working with two or three of these “new” vineyards, which actually have been around forever. We just never noticed them before. Often it’s the case of a new generation taking over, who want to see their family properties finally get the credit they deserve.

And people are dying to taste them – the overwhelming success of the Lodi Native project is evidence of that. We’re tasting single-vineyard Zinfandels which share similar themes of bright, elegant fruit – that’s the overall Lodi character. Yet each of these old vine Zinfandels are different. It’s our job to figure it out and present them.

As winemakers, step 1 for us has been identifying those vineyards. Step 2 has been learning each site’s personality, what they respond to – what kind of crop loads, when and how much to thin, water, leaf pull, all those decisions you make to bring out the best in a field of old vine Zinfandel.

Native yeast fermentation helps us clarify each vineyard’s personality, but it doesn’t work 100% for every site. Some vineyards want to be bigger, more robust, sexier, earthier or richer. Some vineyards want to be more delicate, lighter, more perfumed, a little finer. We need to handle each one accordingly.

When we farm old vines and work with the grapes, the idea is not to try to put a square peg into a round hole. We’re learning each vineyard’s personality as we go along --that in itself is what makes this process so exciting. It’s what keeps me going!

Matthew McCay manning back-of-truck Zinfandel tasting in Lot 13 Vineyard

Tweet
Pin It

Comments

Commenting has been turned off.
Blog Search
Recent Posts
  • 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
  • January 5, 2021
    Discerning wines of the immediate future through what we know about the past and what's going in Lodi
  • December 29, 2020
    Lodi 2020: The year in pictures
  • December 27, 2020
    The small steps of Lodi growers led to giant leaps for Lodi wine country
  • December 22, 2020
    Looking on the bright side of fading old vine plantings in Lodi
  • December 17, 2020
    Our list of nice Lodi reds, rosés and fortified dessert wines for Christmas gifting and sipping
  • December 15, 2020
    A Lodi white makes the world's Top 100 list, and other Lodi whites for Christmas shopping and sipping
  • December 9, 2020
    The 1980s and 1990s — start of Lodi wine country's modern era
Our Writers
  • Randy Caparoso (804)
Blog Archives
2021
  • January 2021 (4)
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