One of the finest Zinfandels made in California today is one that even the most devoted Zinfandel lovers never heard of: made by Mikami Vineyards, sourced from a 15-acre vineyard owned by Jason Mikami, located on the west side of Lodi’s historic Mokelumne River AVA. Mr. Mikami grew up on the family farm in the…
Lodi Wine Country’s Wine & Chocolate Weekend (our 16th Annual!) is nigh upon us, this coming February 9 & 10, 2013! To get the our juices flowing, this past January 9 Camron King, Executive Director of the Lodi Winegrape Commission, invited eight influential members of the Northern California media to an intimate dinner in San…
This past December, Tegan Passalacqua – the winemaker/vineyard manager of the prestigious Turley Wine Cellars (a Napa Valley based Zinfandel specialist, also sourcing several wines from Lodi) – took an afternoon to talk and walk through the Lodi vineyards he will be highlighting in a special tasting taking place in San Francisco this coming February…
The adventurous spirit of California’s Rhône Rangers, an unofficial movement that began to spark just over 30 years ago, still lives on here and there, seemingly everywhere you look: particularly at Hux Vineyards, one of Lodi’s little-wineries-that-could. The 3.5-acre Hux Vineyards, established just south of the town of Lodi by Dave and Barbara Huecksteadt some…
Here at the end of 2012, it makes sense to catch up with Markus Bokisch, whose Bokisch Ranches have become one of the most important vineyard management companies in the Lodi American Viticultural Area (a.k.a. AVA). Bokisch Ranches is not the largest grower in Lodi – that would be companies like LangeTwins Family, John Kautz…
In recent weeks, lucky visitors to Sorelle Winery have been treated to a special drink: a classic mulled (or “spiced”) wine that Mike Scott and his family – owners and growers of this outstanding Lodi AVA winery, specializing in Italian varietals – have been calling Sorelle Vin Brulé. Just makes you want to snuggle by…
For Christmas, what do you give a Lodi wine lover who’s tried everything? A full case (12 bottles) of Lodi’s 12 finest wines, of course. Herein lies the dilemma: the Lodi wine industry has recently reached the point where it is simply an impossibility to pick Lodi’s “12 finest wines.” There’s just too darned many…
Have a hankering to taste some super hand crafted Lodi grown wines this weekend? Estate Crush — Lodi’s 16,000 square foot custom crush facility — will quietly open its tasting room this weekend (Dec. 10-11, 12-5 PM) at the corner of Lockeford and Sacramento (the north end of Downtown Lodi). At the moment Estate Crush…
Does price affect the “quality” of wine? Yes, indeed it do. At least according to results of a study that was released back in 2008, conducted by Antonio Rangel, Associate Professor of Economics at the California Institute of Technology (as reported by the Stanford Business Web site). In this study, Rangel asked volunteers to blind-taste…
What happens when you take 11 of Lodi’s best winemaker/growers, and sit them down at one table to blind-taste their own Zinfandels? In early November we did exactly that, in the Cellar Room of Lodi’s posh Wine & Roses Hotel & Spa. Our focus was on Zinfandels from the 2010 vintage: a year that has…
There is strength and perseverance in Lodi faces — borne out of long hours under the sun, or when pinched by wintry chill — as well as wisdom and the signs of sheer joy that that are part and parcel of the Delta‘s main industry: wine grapes. In 2012 the Lodi American Viticultural Area took…
Part 2 of our autumn paen to Zinfandel (starting with Lodi Zinfandel’s transitioning styles and food moxie): In 1991, some 600 of Lodi’s grape growers came together to form the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission (since shortened to Lodi Winegrape Commission). At that point in time, according to the Commission’s former Executive Director, Mark Chandler, “The trade…
As we approach the end of another auspicious year in Lodi‘s wine country, it is as good a time as any to revisit the first half of 2012 with some of our favorite images of the people who are making this American Viticultural Area what it is: one of the most exciting (no longer just…
Another First Sip in Lodi has come and gone! There were some memorable moments, during this annual harvest celebration this past November 12-13, when wine lovers can go around visiting over 40 of Lodi’s finest vignerons and taste unbottled samples of their latest vintages — including just picked 2011s. Born and raised here in the…
This is the first of three consecutive parts of an autumn paen to Zinfandel. That is, Lodi‘s special Zinfandels… Not too long ago, when people said “Zinfandel,” they usually meant something pink and sweet. But those days are gone; and aside from Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi, virtually no winery in Lodi makes a (now) old…
“We are not very exciting when it comes to Thanksgiving,” says David Phillips, co-owner and president of Lodi’s Michael David Winery. Instead, what Mr. Phillips does – together with his wife Corene, and two sons Connor and Joseph – is wake up early every Thanksgiving morning, and hit the pavement in the Run and Walk…
“All happy families are alike,” wrote Tolstoy. In this day and age, even the happiest and closest knit of families end up varying their Thanksgiving celebrations – that’s just the way it is, even in Lodi wine country. For the Lange family, of Lodi’s LangeTwins Family Winery & Vineyards, recent Thanksgivings have been anything but…
For the past eight years, the compelling quality of m2 Wines has been all the impetus Lodi wine lovers have needed to beat a path to winemaker/proprietor Layne Montgomery’s unadorned warehouse/winery, on the far eastern side of town along Turner Rd. Nonetheless, Montgomery thinks it’s high time that he makes a move into a “real…
‘Tis the season to give thanks and praise for everything we are fortunate to be blessed with in our lives: family, friends, a caring community, and — especially for Lodi — the generosity of the 2012 wine grape harvest (a truly rare combination of exceptional quality and crop size). To make the 2012 holidays a…
Like his wines, Heritage Oak Winery’s Tom Hoffman has never been one for hyperbole or false deprecation: he just says it like it is; and if it makes sense, that’s the way he does it. One thing you can always depend upon when enjoying a Lodi grown Heritage Oak wine: it will taste pretty much…
As of Thursday, October 25, 2012, there are still grapes to be picked in Lodi, despite the dark weather and downpour at the start of the past week. Meanwhile, the memo came in Monday (October 22) from Peirano Estate Vineyards, a property originally planted by an Italian immigrant named Giacomo Peirano in the 1890s: Lance…
“It will be a European style vintage for the Souzão this year,” says Ron Silva. While picking his Souzão grapes in his Silvaspoons Vineyards in Lodi’s Alta Mesa AVA last week Thursday (October 18), Mr. Silva elaborated on one of the peculiarities of the 2012 vintage: “The sugar readings of the Souzão are in the…
Last week Thursday (October 11) Viñedos Aurora – on the western edge of Lodi’s Clements Hills AVA, near the little town of Lockeford – began their 2012 harvest, starting with their Petite Sirah, followed (two days later) by their estate grown Cabernet Sauvignon. The quality of the Petite Sirah grapes, according to Viñedos Aurora winemaker…
If you’ve seen Kevin Phillips – Michael David Winery’s VP of Operations, and sixth generation Lodi farmer – walking around lately, you probably noticed a big smile on his face. Like he’s just inhaled one of Phillips Farms’ surrealistic-pillowy grape pies, or taken in a fresh load of aromatic compost (hey, so Lodi farmers have…