Culinary advantages This time of year, when winter begins to transition towards early spring, and there is a kiss of warmth in the afternoon sun, we suddenly start thinking about lighter foods and lighter wines. Particularly dry whites and rosés, as well as lighter-style reds. In the Lodi Viticultural Area, where a warm, dry Mediterranean…
So you think you know Lodi? Here is a chance to test yourself on what we consider the most basic things to know about Lodi wines and Lodi wine country. If you can answer most of these questions straight away, then yes, you are truly a Lodi wine geek, you lovable weirdo. But we’re warning…
The planting bubble The California wine grape industry, according to all reports, has reached another point of oversupply in its long history of cyclical growth, although there are some conflicting opinions as to how to deal with the situation this time around. The most sensational view was put forth by Jeff Bitter, president of Allied…
L is for the way you look at me O is the only one I see V is very, very extraordinary E is even more than anyone that you adore can – Nat King Cole Love was in the air in more than one way during Lodi’s 2020 Wine & Chocolate celebration this past weekend…
There was an illuminating moment last week (Friday, January 31) — when the intellectual understanding of the value of a vineyard suddenly became a sensory one, as the wine from that vineyard was tasted — when Harney Lane Winery co-owner/grower Kyle Lerner talked about the 2017 Harney Lane Winery Scottsdale Vineyard Zinfandel ($40), made from…
The modern day history of California wine is full of winemakers on a “mission” — many of the most famous of them starting off literally on shoestrings, or working out of garages (circumstances considered noble enough in the wine world to merit its own fancy French term, garagistes). Mountain Tides Wine Co. owner/winemaker Scott Kirkpatrick…
In lieu of another big ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates & Producers) “Zinfandel Experience” coming up in San Francisco next week January 30-February 1, 2020, we have to ask: What do sommeliers — the wine professionals who hold the proverbial keys to restaurant wine cellars — think of the California Zinfandels of today? You would think, considering…
How much more? According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture‘s last official California Grape Crush Report (April 2019), the following is the tonnage of Lodi-grown Cabernet Sauvignon picked in the 2018 harvest, compared to that of three other major California wine regions: • District 11 (Lodi) – 198,838.3 tons • District 8 (San…
Feast or famine, supply, and demand, boom or bust: That’s the story of business everywhere, and it’s no different in San Joaquin Valley where the leading crops — almonds, walnuts, and wine grapes — are at a high because of recent demand, while supply, costs, tariff wars, and a myriad other challenges are threatening to…
Ha! — 2020 is starting to sink in. Even, if you are less than 21 years old, 2000 seems like a lifetime ago (which it was). For everyone else, 2000 seems like last week, and 2010 just yesterday. A little less than ten years ago, in 2010, the Lodi Winegrape Commission revamped its Web site…
Attention, dyed-in-the-purplish-black-wool Petite Sirah lovers: You will soon be getting your own special days in Lodi wine country during the Celebrate Petite Sirah! Passport weekend happening this coming January 18-19 (Saturday/Sunday). A great way to kick off 2020! Picking up your complimentary Celebrate Petite Sirah! Passport will be easy as pie: Just drop into any…
Like Christmas all over for lovers and friends, the Lodi Wine & Chocolate Weekend happens once a year, and in 2020 it comes a week earlier than normal, taking place from Friday night, February 7 through Saturday/Sunday, February 8-9. Now is the time to make your plans and book your dates! Our customary Wine &…
Over the past year, in 2019, Lodi wines and Lodi wine country have been the subject of articles by some of the most talented wine journalists and bloggers in the country. It feels good, of course, to garner praise, and it feels even better to be appreciated as a result of something seemingly so simple:…
The French word for wine producer is vigneron. There is no real translation for it, but it refers to a person who grows grapes and turns them into wine, based upon an assumption that this person is always one and the same, both farmer and winemaker. In that sense, vigneron sort of means “winegrower,” inferring…
LVVR Sparkling Cellars‘ Eric Donaldson, Lodi‘s one and only champagne-style wine specialist, is apparently just beginning to spread his wings. He has just added two more wines to his more “traditional” line-up of Brut, Blanc de Blancs, Rosé, and Demi-Sec bottlings, all made primarily from the classic grapes of Champagne, France (Chardonnay and Pinot noir)….
LangeTwins Family Winery & Vineyards continues its bold commitment and leadership in the Lodi wine industry with the release of a third Lodi-grown wine under its program of single-vineyard designated wines: the 2018 LangeTwins Family Macotera 09 Vineyard Barbera ($28). And the wine, in a word, is a dandy: Flashy with perfumes suggesting fresh cherry,…
Practically everything that happens in Lodi goes according to what happens in vineyards, this agricultural region’s most visible industry. As the famous song goes, “To everything (turn, turn, turn) there is a season… and a time to every purpose under heaven.” So when we look back at our favorite images from over the past year,…
Another year, another slate of Lodi-grown wines that are indubitable “Lodi.” In what sense? In the same sense as when the character played by Joe Pesci in the current movie The Irishman tells Al Pacino (playing Jimmy Hoffa), “It’s what it is.” Commercial wines, especially those produced in the U.S., haven’t always been “what it…
Mornings are dipping into nose-nipping sub-40 degree temps. Leaves on the trees are doing their yearly dance of death, and vineyards are preparing their wintry beds on frost-gilded coverlets of greens skirted with crinkly leaves of vines and oaks hued in fiery reds, oranges, yellows, and rusty browns. It’s autumn in Lodi. Or as Robert…
Why should Thanksgiving be complicated, especially when it comes to wine? This is the time of year when the home is in the heart, and the focus is on family and friends. Lord knows, home, family, and friends can be complicated enough. I guess this is why for many of us, the Thanksgiving dinner is…
Today (November 20, 2019) is National Zinfandel Day! We know, we know: there’s a day for everything these days. But National Zinfandel Day holds significance in Lodi because: • Zinfandel qualifies as California’s heritage grape because, for most of the past century and a half, it has been the state’s most widely planted wine grape…
SommFoundation, a supportive arm of the Guild of Sommeliers (which, in turn, is the educational arm of the Court of Master Sommeliers), has just released its post-event survey reporting on a “Harvest Enrichment Trip” to Lodi wine country experienced by eight sommeliers this past September 8-12, 2019. The sommeliers traveled to Lodi from Austin, Brooklyn,…
This weekend, November 15-17, 2019, 13 of Lodi‘s top Tempranillo producers are opening their doors for the fourth annual Lodi Tour of Tempranillo, in coordination with International Tempranillo Day (officially, today, November 14!) events taking place around the world. Tempranillo is a varietal that has become increasingly identified with what makes Lodi unique. Sure, Zinfandel…
More than a few visitors have remarked on how Lodi wine country is almost retro — we think, like a Polaroid “instamatic” camera — in its pure, honest, no-fuss… fun-ness. The City of Lodi itself, to begin with, sticks to its twentieth century feel, starting with the Mission Revival inspired Lodi Arch standing at the…