Continued from A definition of wine aromas When I was a 21-year-old restaurant sommelier (45 years ago) I honed my craft like many others—through constant blind or double-blind tastings. Something I rarely do these days except in occasional professional wine judgings. Youth will be served, but sometimes it takes an “older guy” to show you…
Are you ready for a 100-millionth article on wines for Thanksgiving? We like to think ours is special because, well, we recommend Lodi-grown wines. Which tends to mean two different things: 1. Exceptional value, a byproduct of sourcing from the country’s largest wine-growing region. 2. Fruit-forward qualities, which are byproducts of the region’s steady Mediterranean…
Today, November 17, is National Zinfandel Day. Every day, of course, is a good day for Zinfandel in Lodi. There are more acres of Zinfandel in the Lodi appellation than in any other region in California, and Lodi crushes over 40% of the state’s production each year. Why Lodi? Because Lodi’s Mediterranean climate, with its…
The term “aroma” is pretty much self-evident: It is the smell of wine derived from grapes. In an older, snobbier, or geekier interpretation, aroma used to be distinguished from “bouquet”—the latter term, meant to distinguish smells in wine that result from bottle maturation. The vast majority of consumers buy a bottle of wine in the…
Minerality as a trending taste in American wines Minerality—or the suggestion or outright expression of mineral or earth-related attributes in wine—is an elusive taste, as are all of the more subtle perceptions of wine. If anything, the use of the term “minerality,” bandied about more and more each year, represents a recent shift in consumer…
It’s hard to believe that as self-evident as it may seem to many wine lovers, there are actually many professionals in the wine industry, and even educational institutions, who do not believe terroir exists, or that it is important in the business of wine production or wine appreciation as it exists today. Let’s start with…
Prepare thyself for Lodi‘s annual Tour of Tempranillo; 2022’s iteration taking place the weekend of November 12-13, timed to follow International Tempranillo Day (November 10, 2022). As in the past, the 2022 Lodi Tour of Tempranillo will be a no-reservations-required, complimentary drive-around event. This year, 10 Lodi wineries will be opening their doors to offer…
“There’s something happening here” has been a line copped from the 56-year-old Buffalo Springfield song, For What It’s Worth—even the young folks know this tune because of its iconic opening chord progressions of electric and acoustic guitars—by the Lodi Winegrape Commission to bring attention to the “revolutionary” side of the historic Lodi winegrowing region. The…
Next week, October 25, 2022, is the day: The day when Jeff and John Perlego release their first-ever wines under their Perlegos Family Wine label. The Perlegos brothers are second-generation Lodi growers of proud Greek heritage. They are also widely known for their meticulous, quality-focused farming practices, developing something of a cult reputation among small,…
Among the many wine grapes commercially grown in Lodi—over 125 of them, at last count—there is one that has remained an obscurity in the region and throughout California, despite its supremacy in its native Italy. We’re talking about Nebbiolo, the major grape of the Piedmont region of Northern Italy. All evidence points to the long-held…
What does a career sommelier-turned-winemaker see in Lodi? Lots. In 2017, Monte Rio Cellars owner/winemaker Patrick Cappiello “fled” (in his words) a perfectly good, 25-year, multi-award-winning restaurant career in New York City after the closing of Rebelle, for which he served as operating partner and wine director. Mr. Cappiello began his next phase in California;…
It is always good news when Markus Wine Co. owner/winemaker Markus Niggli comes out with another one of his vaunted blends. If there ever was a “Lodi blending king,” that would be Mr. Niggli, a Swiss-born winemaker with a yen for European traditions such as blending grape varieties—as opposed to sticking to “varietal” (i.e., single…
One of the big stories in Lodi wine country just over the past four, or five years has been the influx of small, independent winemakers. Itty bitty producers bumping up against gigantic wineries to compete for grapes, bringing new vinous perspectives to America’s largest winegrowing region, like breaths of fresh air. Each of these vintners…
First thing to remember when buying Lodi-grown Zinfandel is that there are basically two styles: 1. The broadly defined varietal styles usually found on retail shelves. You could call these the “commercial” styles of Zinfandel since that’s what they are—Zinfandels grown, produced, and packaged for the market at large. 2. Focused, appellation, or terroir-driven styles…
One of the most recent—many say surprising—movements within the international wine market has been towards the concept of “natural” wine. That is, wines grown and produced with minimal intervention; mostly by smaller, artisanal style wine producers, since it’s the smaller, artisanal producers who are mostly interested in this style of wine. This concept has hit…
The prevalent image of the wine grape harvest in Lodi, as in other winegrowing regions around the world, is of people working their way through jungles of leafy vines with curved knives or shears, picking off whole clusters of grapes one at a time, entirely by hand. This is despite the fact that today, most…
For years and years, Jim Moore—the owner/winemaker of the Napa-based UVAGGIO winery—has been saying that “Vermentino is the thinking man’s Pinot grigio.” Vermentino is a white wine grape that is grown in the Mediterranean regions of France’s Corsica and Provence, and in Sardinia in Italy. Hence, to Moore’s way of thinking, this grape variety is…
The Lodi Viticultural Area is, if anything, prolific. We now count over 125 grape varieties planted in the region, all variations of Vitis vinifera, belonging to the original European family of wine grapes. Why Lodi? Simply put, this is where the California wine industry sources most of the grapes going into wines that most Americans…
It was only ten years ago when PRIE Vineyard & Winery‘s John and Lisa Gash moved from Livermore Valley to join the Lodi winegrowing community by purchasing a home and 8.5-acre vineyard on Alpine Rd. previously planted to Cabernet Sauvignon. They built a spiffy, new winery with a 2,000-case capacity—the most they originally planned to…
This article is a rewrite of an article (including all the original photos) first posted on this site on September 11, 2011. It has been adjusted to reflect 2022 circumstances, although most of the original content is being resurrected because the points that were made are as salient today as they were in 2011. The makings…
The second week of August 2022—August 10 through 17 to be precise—was a busy time for a certain type of grape grower, and certain types of winemakers, sourcing from the Lodi appellation. There was a time when virtually no one picked in the first two weeks of August. Except for sparkling wine producers, who need…
The early 1900s colorized picture postcard depicting grapes arriving at Stockton’s El Pinal Winery, a winery founded in 1858 that contracted many of Lodi’s growers all the way through the…
Own-rooted vs. grafted old vine growths The defining attribute of Lodi‘s Mokelumne River Viticultural Area is its sandy loam soil, classified in the Tokay series. The appellation‘s dependably warm, sun-soaked Mediterranean climate has just as much impact, and this watershed area’s location between the snow masses of the Sierra Nevada and the wetlands of the…
Growing international acclaim This past month, the Lodi Winegrape Commission‘s Stephanie Bolton, Ph.D., talked about the recent reception of the LODI RULES for Sustainable Winegrowing program at the 2022 International Cool Climate Wine Symposium in Ontario, Canada: “The crowd’s reception was incredible. I couldn’t stop smiling. It was a packed room full of enthusiastic listeners…