A “natural” winemaker in flux There is a micro-winery located in our State Capitol of Sacramento owned by a winemaker named Kevin Luther. Mr. Luther bottles wines under his Voluptuary + Lucid brand, all with curious, almost dreamy, artistic labels reflecting the restless disposition of the winemaker himself. Not that Voluptuary + Lucid wines are…
Many of America’s best independent winemakers are driven by passion; and not uncommonly, it is a passion first fired up by one moment of serendipity. For Arianna Wines owner/winemaker Arianno Spoto, that moment came in 2014, while she was working a harvest in Argentina‘s Mendoza region, when a colleague shared a bottle of local white…
After 15 commercial vintages, Mikami Vineyards is still a tiny brand. Current total production barely tops 500 cases. By comparison, most Lodi wineries falling in the “small” category produce a few thousand cases. Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi winery churns out several million. Still, Mikami Vineyards’ first vintage, a 2008 estate-grown Zinfandel, totaled just 50 cases….
Alder Yarrow, the author of Vinography, has just published the longest profile of a single Lodi grape grower ever written. At least as far as we know. The story is on Mokelumne Glen Vineyards, established on the east side of Lodi‘s Mokelumne River appellation by the late Bob and Mary Lou Koth. Over the past…
This past March 4, 2023, Chris and Candice Mora celebrated their third year of doing business as owners/winemakers of Christopher Cellars, based in Elk Grove, about halfway between the City of Lodi and Downtown Sacramento. Christopher Cellars is a small winery—currently producing just 3,000 cases yearly, putting them in a “boutique,” or handcraft, category—but has…
Zante, the new baby The Schatz family, one of the Lodi appellation‘s most important growers, has done it again. Or shall we say, twice again: They have landed not one, but two extremely talented winemakers, with impeccable credentials, to lead the production operations of the family’s Peltier Winery & Vineyards. Both winemakers—Head Winemaker Gianni Abate,…
Here is the lowdown on the two San Joaquin Delta College wine courses in Stockton, which will begin in the third week of March 2023: Wine Regions of California (Culinary Arts 85) Begins Monday, March 20, and ends May 8, 2023 Classes are Monday nights, 6:00-8:50 PM Evaluation of Wine (Culinary Arts 82) Begins Tuesday,…
The American Wine Industry Has an Old People Problem. That was the title of an article published by The New York Times this past January 31, 2023, authored by the newspaper’s widely followed wine correspondent Eric Asimov. By “old people,” the Times was wryly referring to Americans over 60 years old, a demographic that recent…
A long, long time ago, when dinosaurs shook the earth (back in the mid-1970s), I read an article by legendary winemaker Dr. Richard Peterson, answering a question about what is most important to the quality of grapes and subsequent wines: Is it climate, or is it soil? Dr. Peterson’s contention was (and still is, I…
You should never believe everything you find online. That goes for just about everything, but especially for wine. There is so much misinformation about wine floating around the internet like garbage all across the world’s oceans, I really don’t where to begin. But since this is a blog brought to you courtesy of Lodi winegrowers,…
At long last, there is a book that tells the story behind the appellations, vineyards, wines, and historic figures of the Sierra Foothills, Lodi, the California Delta, and Yolo County. It is called The Signature Wines of Superior California, which is composed by former longtime Sacramento Bee wine editor Mike Dunne. The region identified by…
“Dangerously easy to drink” is the way popular wine blogger Hannah Spiegel (find her on vinoforbreakfast.com and @vinoforbreakfast on Instagram) described the uniquely dark and delicious Bourdon Sparkling Syrah she tasted at the 2023 Lodi Wine & Chocolate Brunch, this past Sunday, February 5th at the luxurious Wine & Roses Hotel. You could, in fact,…
So, gentlemen… Say, for once, you’ve had the presence of mind to make dinner reservations ahead of time for Valentine’s night—the second busiest day of the year (after Mother’s Day) for restaurants. If you haven’t, you may have already blown it. So what are you going to do if you know your date prefers wine,…
I started out on Burgundy but soon hit the harder stuff. Not really. But I always loved that line from Bob Dylan‘s song, “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues.” As it were, after over 45 years in the wine business, wines made from Pinot noir, the black-skinned grape of Burgundy in France, remain some of my…
Long-overlooked old vines finally get their due In France, plantings of old vines are called vielles vignes (pronounced “VEE-le VEE-nye”). In Germany, alte reben (“AL-teh RAY-ben”). In Spain, vina vieja. In the U.S., as well as countries such as Australia and South Africa, the phrase on the lips of wine lovers, and frequently popping up…
This past December 26, 2022, Lodi Winegrape Commission‘s sustainable winegrowing director Dr. Stephanie Bolton announced the launch of the newly accredited Fourth Edition of LODI RULES Sustainable Winegrowing Certification Standards. According to Dr. Bolton: “We have pored over the LODI RULES sustainability certification program based on new knowledge that’s been gained over the last decade….
Seemingly everyone in the wine world—wine lovers, self-appointed experts and writers, sommeliers, and media “influencers” and the like—is now into “old vines.” But why? Or, you might ask, what’s wrong with young vines—virile, vigorous vineyards planted with the knowledge of the latest technology, viticultural hindsight, and deep, deep pockets? The answer is… it’s all good….
Longtime Lodi wine lovers are well aware of Lodi wine country’s crowning February event, the yearly Lodi Wine & Chocolate Festival! What you may not be aware of, however, is that in 2023 this yearly celebration comes a week earlier than normal: February 3-5, 2023, rather than closer to Valentine’s Day. In fact, as we…
The 2022 harvest is in the books, the grapes turned miraculously into wine, and wineries preparing whites and rosés in tanks for bottling and checking on other wines resting in barrels. In an initial report posted last November, California’s Wine Institute summarized the state’s overall performance as such: Vintners across the state are expecting a…
What should wine lovers as well as wine industry professionals expect in 2023? A headline in the December 7 beverage industry website just-drinks.com reads: 2023 outlook – economic clouds to linger as wine industry seeks right blend. The global wine industry, it reads, is no different than any segment of the global economy, currently beset…
There is nothing like a bottle of champagne-style sparkler to mark the arrival of every New Year. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s the sound of the pop or the fizz of the bubbling wine that makes us think we are getting rid of the old year, and starting all over with a…
Choosing favorite photographs out of thousands taken every year is never easy. So I simply threw objectivity out the window and zoomed in on the photos that either popped out like “eye candy,” and which seem to “say” the most—the most about Lodi, about its people and history, or about the state of Lodi wines…
Consumers rule. Or put it this way: They make the rules, which can be loosely defined because, well, they’re the consumers. Details don’t matter when they can dictate through the only means that matter, their wallets. It is true that consumers pick up on cues suggested by advances in the winegrowing and wine production industries….
As we look back at the past year, one of the most surprising unforeseen developments in the Lodi winegrowing industry has been the marked increase in Lodi-grown wines made by small, handcraft, more artisanally focused wineries, many of them based outside the Lodi wine region. Small winery sourcing of Lodi grapes, of course, has been…