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
 
February 26, 2015 | Randy Caparoso

Borra is releasing an intriguing Lodi Vermentino

Borra Vineyards winemaker Markus Niggli in Gill Creek Ranch Vermentino planting

Borra Vineyards winemaker Markus Niggli in Gill Creek Ranch Vermentino planting

Among the many alternative white wine grapes cultivated in Lodi in recent years, Vermentino might hold the most intriguing promise.

Number one, because Vermentino is native to Europe's Mediterranean Basin, and the Lodi AVA's climate is squarely Mediterranean; meaning, summers are warm and dry, and winters are cold and usually a little wet. The climate of California's coastal regions, from Sonoma County and Napa Valley all the way down to Santa Barbara County, is also classified as Mediterranean.

Lodi grown Vermentino

Lodi grown Vermentino

Number two, because Vermentino is one of those golden tinted grapes with a thick enough skin to grow well under temperate, humid, maritime conditions – ripening its fresh varietal qualities with ample natural acidity, invariably without any issues like mold or rot – which why it is the most widely planted white wine grape in places like Corsica and Sardinia, and is also common to France's Provence (where it is known as Rolle).

In fact, it was after tasting a Sardinian Vermentino in a restaurant in San Francisco that Steve Borra – the owner/grower of Lodi's Borra Vineyards – decided that he wanted to add Vermentino to his portfolio of specialty grapes.

Lodi also enjoys a more temperate variation of the Mediterranean climate, although Borra winemaker Markus Niggli makes this qualification: "The spot that Steve planted the Vermentino, right next to the river, is both the coldest and warmest part of our Gill Creek Ranch. There is more of a cooling effect at night next to the Mokelumne River, but then it gets a lot of sun in the day. I think this is why the Viognier from that section has always been very aromatic, ripening with good acid."

Rather than breaking virgin ground, in 2012 Borra grafted his Vermentino onto about 20 rows of an existing block of Viognier in his Gill Creek Ranch, cozying right up alongside the river just north of the little CDP of Lockeford, in the sub-appellation of Clements Hills.

With the benefit of root systems about 20 years old, the Vermentino vines have taken off in this vigorous, sandy-clay loam site. The Borra family's first vintage – the 2014 Borra Vineyards Limited Release Lodi Vermentino ($22) – will be released in March, and is already bursting with the lively lemon/lime qualities of the grape.

In places like Provence and Corsica, Vermentino based whites also usually possess transparent qualities of their respective regions, with notes of wild herbs like sage, thyme or lacy fennel, and pervasive mineral qualities on the palate. In the Borra Vermentino, there are more spring-like flowery notes – a whispering kiss of the Lodi sun – with slightly scrubby, organic, earthy notes which are probably more of a signature of Mr. Niggli's well documented penchant for natural, native yeast fermentation.

Borra Vineyards Vermentino

Borra Vineyards Vermentino

On the palate, the Borra Vermentino is medium bodied – at 12.8% alcohol, neither light nor heavy – with a crisp, minerally, tart edged feel, which allow the flowery fresh, organic sensations to unwind like a steely coil. Mr. Niggli fermented the Vermentino in stainless steel tanks, and then aged it briefly in “neutral” barrels (i.e. well used, giving minimal oak flavors) to allow the grape’s naturally rich, phenolic texture to predominate.

It may seem almost incongruous that Lodi's oldest family winery (bonded in 1975) is also one of Lodi's most innovative; just like it may come as a surprise that Lodi itself – a region long known primarily as the source of big production grapes and wines – grows more "alternative" grapes than any other region in the U.S. (over 100, at last count).

But look at it this way: in countries in and around the Mediterranean Sea, Vermentino is actually the common grape – there, it's varieties like Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc that are considered unusual. For Steve Borra, Vermentino represents a return to his family's Italian heritage – a culture where wine is a food that you enjoy everyday; not something that you put aside to satiate a compulsion to collect, bolster your ego or geek out about.

You enjoy a wine like Borra's Vermentino for what it is: honest, pure, plainly delicious, sensibly priced, and intriguingly "Lodi!"

Borra Vineyards Vermentino

Borra winemaker, Markus Niggli, with Gill Creek Ranch Vermentino planting

Tweet
Pin It

Comments

Commenting has been turned off.
Blog Search
Recent Posts
  • 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
  • December 3, 2020
    The original Lodi Natives — the Plains Miwok
Our Writers
  • Randy Caparoso (803)
Blog Archives
2021
  • January 2021 (3)
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