This past November 2015 Lodi’s Markus Bokisch of Bokisch Ranches was named one of the 20 Most Admired Grapegrowers in North America by the respected industry publication, Vineyard & Winery Management. In the article extolling Mr. Bokisch’s achievements, the editors of VWM writes: Grapegrowers tend to stand in the background while winemakers are encouraged to…
Last week, speaking in his Downtown Lodi winery and tasting room, Toasted Toad Cellars Owner/Assistant Winemaker Jeff Werter told us, “It’s been 4 years, 1 month and 5 days since we opened, and we’ve loved every minute of it.” There are primarily two strands to this feel-good story. First, Mr. Werter – who has harbored…
Quietly, effectively – almost like a stealth craft the size of a long-range B-52 – there is one Lodi grower/winery that has been compiling a stellar record of fine, consistent, dependably well-priced wines available in not just every state, but also around the world. You may not have noticed, but Oak Ridge Winery has been…
There are some subtle yet significant changes afoot at Van Ruiten Family Vineyards & Winery. “VR” is not just one of the Lodi Viticultural Area’s most consistent wine producers, but also one of the region’s largest vineyard holders (most of what the Van Ruiten family grows actually goes to other wineries). First, there is the…
“Keeping things alive forever” is how California photographer John Curley (please visit johncurleyclients.com) describes his ambition whenever he looks through the peephole of his camera. This past September Mr. Curley was in Lodi wine country to photograph the Lodi Harvest SOMM Camp, co-sponsored by the Lodi Winegrape Commission and the restaurant trade magazine, The SOMM…
It’s been a good year for the Panella family of Oak Farm Vineyards. Visit Lodi! named Oak Farm their “Winery of the Year.” And also this past spring, the 2014 Oak Farm Lodi Albariño ($19) received a unanimous Double Gold and was named “Best in Show White” as well as “Best in Region White” at…
When Bob Colarossi and Alison Liebich Colarossi plan their Thanksgiving libations, they literally get to choose from over 90 different wines that they produce in their Downtown Lodi winery, called Estate Crush. Estate Crush is a custom-crush facility serving over 80 separate clients. This means they make wines for basically over 80 wineries at a…
Wednesday, November 18, 2015 is National Zinfandel Day. Who thinks of these days anyway? International Tempranillo Day was just last week (November 12), right on the heels of International Merlot Day (November 7). We’re drinking as fast as we can, folks! Of course, it is Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (a.k.a. ZAP) that has been behind…
Americans are funny. Wine retailers know this, because they always hear customers say that they prefer “dry” wines, and then watch them walk out the door with the fruitiest, sweetest wines. Then again, most artisanal wine producers are just as funny. They know what most consumers prefer, but they don’t always make wines to address…
Wow. The nationally distributed Wine Enthusiast Magazine has conferred one of its 2015 Wine Star Awards on Lodi, as its Region of the Year. But why? In their own press release, Wine Enthusiast listed a number of the region’s achievements over the past 25 years, and then distilled it all down to one “prime” reason:…
One of the big-deal news items coming out of Lodi Wine Country recently is the announcement that the 2016 Wine Bloggers Conference will take place here on August 11-14, 2016. Think of the 551,000-acre Lodi AVA as one humongous backyard, and these bloggers as kids fanning out in search of their own eggs to coddle…
1969. If you weren’t born yet, we envy your youth, but feel sorry you missed it. There were good times in 1969. There was a little thing called Woodstock, which everyone and their friends’ friends claimed to have “almost” attended. Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. Sports fans had their “Miracle Mets” and “Broadway…
Lodi enjoys a glorious, oft-times phenomenal, past. This especially goes for what occurred 108 years ago; a time when things were looking really, really good for this burgeoning table and wine grape region. According to the Lodi Historical Society’s Lodi Historian newsletter (Fall 1990), in 1907… The grape had replaced the watermelon. The town had…
Since 1991 the Lodi Winegrape Commission has diligently worked to fulfill one of its original mandates: raising awareness of the intrinsic quality of Lodi Viticultural Area grown wine grapes, now evidenced by the ascendant quality of Lodi wines. But the evidence hasn’t always been readily apparent. Significant wines with Lodi on the label did not…
It is always a big deal when a Napa Valley producer like Neyers Vineyards comes out with another Lodi grown Zinfandel of dreamy, sumptuous quality. Why? Not just because this is an acclaimed winery, known more for first class Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay; but also because Neyers wines are distributed in every major American city,…
Why did the chicken cross the road? In the miniature CDP of Victor, located just outside the City of Lodi on the east side of the Lodi appellation’s Mokelumne River AVA, there’s an old story about a rooster known to cross Hwy. 12 E. (Victor Rd.) during each harvest to sip the latest vintages. In…
Robert Mondavi’s family found their earliest fortunes as Lodi grape packers, not as winemakers. Mondavi’s father, Cesare Mondavi, emigrated from Central Italy’s Marche region (between Umbria and the Adriatic Sea) to Minnesota, and then brought his family to the Lodi area in 1922, at a time when Prohibition was dramatically boosting sales of fresh-packed grapes…
Marie Mertz is a restaurateur/chef who lives and works in Elk Grove, one of California’s most rapidly growing cities, located just south of Sacramento. But up until last week, she never really spent time in Lodi wine country, despite the fact that her popular restaurant, called Todo un Poco, is located well within Lodi’s Alta…
One question brought up from last week’s visit of 28 sommeliers from across the country to the Lodi Viticultural Region was this: do sommeliers’ preferences truly reflect the tastes of American consumers? Sommeliers, as we pointed out in our last blogpost (re What top sommeliers are saying about Lodi) are the ultimate wine geeks. The…
These wines deserve to be in the same league with any region, any varietal, on the world wine stage. – David Kristiansen (Lead Sommelier, The Lodge at Pebble Beach) What do sommeliers think about Lodi wines? Up until recently, probably not much, since the idea of artisanal style Lodi grown wine is still a relatively…
Early this morning (Thursday, September 10), Richard “Rip” Ripken was out in his 400-acre Guard Road Ranch picking his first crop of a grape called Sagrantino. Sagrantino, you say? Yes, this is a very rare grape in California; growing in only four other vineyards in the state, as far as we know, and probably adding…
It’s exhausting, but you never tire of it: the yearly grand spectacle of the wine harvest in Lodi wine country. It’s the time of year of bleary-eyed winemakers awakening at 5:00 in the morning for 6:00 AM pickings, then going another 14, 16 hours, if not pulling all-nighters, to get the grapes hauled to the…
September 2, 2015 – The Lodi Viticultural Area’s 2015 harvest – which, as in much of California, kicked off in late July – is now entering its second month. This week we asked a few growers and winemakers for their assessments thus far. Calculated Joy In the Cellar at Harney Lane Winery “Crazy,” is the…
On the Friday night (6-9 PM) of September 25, 2015, Downtown Lodi‘s Pine Street (just below the landmark Lodi Arch) becomes one big, long open-air dining room, in the finest wine country town tradition. The dinner will be prepared by Elaine Bell Catering (for over 30 years, one of California’s most celebrated wine country chefs);…