skip to main content

Lodi Winegrape Commission

  • Home
  • Wineries
  • About
  • Visit
    • Visitor Center
  • Club
  • Events
  • Store
    • LODI RULES Sustainable Certification
    • White Wines
    • Rosé Wines
    • Red Wines
    • Sparkling/Dessert Wines
    • Old Vine Wines
    • Merchandise
  • Blog
TOP

Letters from Lodi

An insightful and objective look at viticulture and winemaking from the Lodi
Appellation and the growers and vintners behind these crafts. Told from the
perspective of multi-award winning wine journalist, Randy Caparoso.

Randy Caparoso
 
March 20, 2012 | Randy Caparoso

Peltier Station Teroldego, raw meat and Sheryl Crow

Peltier Station winemaker JC van Staden

If there was a wine he would want to drink every night, according to JC van Staden, the winemaker at Lodi’s Peltier Station, it would be one like the 2006 Peltier Station Reserve Lodi Teroldego ($35).

Peltier Station’s Teroldego is, as Old World wine enthusiasts might say, a “banker” – meaning solid, stolid, and dry as a miser’s heart – and as such, one that combines award winning charms (garnering a gold and “Best of Class” at this past January’s 2012 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition) with some serious caveats. 

The charms:  a deep ruby color, as dark as blood, followed by a concentrated nose of dried trail mix (dates and berries) and notes of leather straps and steeping mocha espresso wrapped up in a densely textured, upbeat, full bodied taste. 

 

The caveats:  this is a red wine for people who like their coffee bitter, their meat raw, their liquor uncut, their cars muscled, their cheeks unshaven, body parts pierced or tattooed under (as Sheryl Crow once sang) “lights so bright, palm sweat and blackjack on a Saturday night.”

Says van Staden – a rough cut of a vigneron himself, originally from South Africa, and who has been at Peltier Station since its start-up ten years ago, following a stint at Michael-David – “growing and making Teroldego is unusual enough, but I don’t think there’s one even in Italy that comes close to the strength of ours.”  While normally made into a dark, sturdy, zesty red wine in its native Northern Italian region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Peltier Station’s interpretation definitely walks a wild side.

Why grow Teroldego in the first place?  The grape is all about Peltier Station owner/grower Rodney Schatz.  Says von Staden, “Rod likes to do the Kansas City Shuffle – when everyone looks left, he looks right.”  Schatz also revels in “chancy” Italian grapes like Teroldego and Vermentino (much of the latter, a minerally fresh white wine grape, bottled under Jim Moore’s Uvaggio label) because his family on his mother’s side hails from Italy.  “I like to think of Teroldego as a grape born in Italy, but perfected in Lodi,” beams von Staden.

Peltier Station's Teroldego planting (March 2012)

Three-quarters of an acre of the grape went into the ground in 2002 at the entrance to Peltier Station, alongside the railroad tracks paralleling Kennefick at Peltier Rd., just north of the winding Mokelumne River in a deep pocket of Tokay sandy loam.  “Teroldego is a big buncher and heavy yielder,” says van Staden, “capable of giving 10 tons even after thinning.  

“The ‘06 was our second vintage – we’ve been making it every year, and if anything, as the years go by the wines get darker and even more intense.”  As evidence, van Staden pulls out a 2011 from barrel for us to taste:  a wine so thick and black – like essence of grape skins and seeds without the watery pulp – that you swear it could lubricate a Hemi.

The wines have been spending anywhere from 28 to 36 months in medium-toast French oak to tame its tannins.  Because it is not your typical Lodi grape – usually attaining flavor maturity before hitting 25° Brix, and therefore finishing at just over 13% alcohol – van Staden feels that it is just as expressive of terroir as it is of the grape.  Teroldego, he says, “always taste like soil, and I should know – I grew up on a farm and rode a lot of cows in my life.”

Mr. van Staden recommends that a Peltier Station Teroldego be decanted to loosen it up before serving.  “Think of it as a cross between Barbera and Petite Sirah – it has the acidity and fruit of Barbera, but the tannin and structure of Petite Sirah.  This makes it slow to open up, which is uncommon to Lodi, where grapes ripens so well they usually makes soft, fruity wines that don’t age very long.  Our Teroldego is more of a put-it-away/drink-it-for-your-anniversary type of wine.”

So much for the Lodi reputation for fruity, easy drinkin’ wines.  Making no bones about it, van Staden says, “Teroldego may not appeal to every consumer, or to critics who are so easily impressed by residual sugar wines.  It’s one of those wines that, if we can’t sell it, we’re happy to drink it all up ourselves.”

 

Tweet
Pin It

Comments

Commenting has been turned off.
Blog Search
Recent Posts
  • March 5, 2021
    The use of varietal as a term, its history and passing practicality
  • February 25, 2021
    All about terroir
  • February 22, 2021
    Why consumers never needed experts to tell them what they like (like Elvis and Zinfandel)
  • February 16, 2021
    A Lodi based sheep company begins work on sustainable vineyard farming
  • February 11, 2021
    Silicon Valley Bank's 2021 State of the U.S. Wine Industry report focuses on immediate and unimaginable challenges
  • February 9, 2021
    The dangers of COVID-19 to serious wine lovers
  • February 4, 2021
    In 2021, what's a wine brand to do to stay ahead?
  • January 27, 2021
    ZAP offers free Zinfandel livestream tastings and how Lodi Zinfandels compare to Zinfandels from other regions
  • January 25, 2021
    How Lodi wineries have adjusted to pandemic challenges and changes in how they do business
  • January 19, 2021
    French students break down Lodi winegrowing, marketing, and its Alta Mesa appellation
Our Writers
  • Randy Caparoso (813)
Blog Archives
2021
  • March 2021 (1)
  • February 2021 (6)
  • January 2021 (6)
2020
  • December 2020 (7)
  • November 2020 (7)
  • October 2020 (6)
  • September 2020 (7)
  • August 2020 (7)
  • July 2020 (7)
  • June 2020 (8)
  • May 2020 (8)
  • April 2020 (8)
  • March 2020 (8)
  • February 2020 (6)
  • January 2020 (6)
2019
  • December 2019 (7)
  • November 2019 (6)
  • October 2019 (6)
  • September 2019 (5)
  • August 2019 (5)
  • July 2019 (7)
  • June 2019 (6)
  • May 2019 (6)
  • April 2019 (6)
  • March 2019 (6)
  • February 2019 (5)
  • January 2019 (7)
2018
  • December 2018 (7)
  • November 2018 (7)
  • October 2018 (9)
  • September 2018 (6)
  • August 2018 (7)
  • July 2018 (8)
  • June 2018 (7)
  • May 2018 (9)
  • April 2018 (8)
  • March 2018 (9)
  • February 2018 (8)
  • January 2018 (8)
2017
  • December 2017 (6)
  • November 2017 (8)
  • October 2017 (10)
  • September 2017 (5)
  • August 2017 (6)
  • July 2017 (7)
  • June 2017 (6)
  • May 2017 (5)
  • April 2017 (7)
  • March 2017 (6)
  • February 2017 (5)
  • January 2017 (7)
2016
  • December 2016 (7)
  • November 2016 (8)
  • October 2016 (7)
  • September 2016 (7)
  • August 2016 (5)
  • July 2016 (7)
  • June 2016 (7)
  • May 2016 (6)
  • April 2016 (6)
  • March 2016 (7)
  • February 2016 (6)
  • January 2016 (5)
2015
  • December 2015 (8)
  • November 2015 (6)
  • October 2015 (7)
  • September 2015 (5)
  • August 2015 (6)
  • July 2015 (7)
  • June 2015 (6)
  • May 2015 (5)
  • April 2015 (6)
  • March 2015 (6)
  • February 2015 (7)
  • January 2015 (5)
2014
  • December 2014 (8)
  • November 2014 (5)
  • October 2014 (7)
  • September 2014 (5)
  • August 2014 (3)
  • July 2014 (5)
  • June 2014 (6)
  • May 2014 (7)
  • April 2014 (7)
  • March 2014 (5)
  • February 2014 (4)
  • January 2014 (7)
2013
  • December 2013 (8)
  • November 2013 (6)
  • October 2013 (7)
  • September 2013 (5)
  • August 2013 (6)
  • July 2013 (4)
  • June 2013 (4)
  • May 2013 (4)
  • April 2013 (5)
  • March 2013 (2)
  • February 2013 (2)
  • January 2013 (4)
2012
  • December 2012 (7)
  • November 2012 (9)
  • October 2012 (9)
  • September 2012 (7)
  • August 2012 (9)
  • July 2012 (8)
  • June 2012 (8)
  • May 2012 (9)
  • April 2012 (8)
  • March 2012 (9)
  • February 2012 (7)
  • January 2012 (9)
2011
  • December 2011 (7)
  • November 2011 (8)
  • October 2011 (7)
  • September 2011 (7)
  • August 2011 (8)
  • July 2011 (8)
  • June 2011 (9)
  • May 2011 (7)
  • April 2011 (9)
  • March 2011 (8)
  • February 2011 (8)
  • January 2011 (7)
2010
  • December 2010 (8)
  • November 2010 (6)
  • October 2010 (2)
  • September 2010 (6)
  • August 2010 (5)
Additional Resources
  • Media & Trade
  • Lodi Winegrape Commission
  • Donation Requests
  • Returns & Cancellations
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
Contact

Lodi Wine Visitor Center
2545 West Turner Road Lodi, CA 95242
209.365.0621
Open: Thursday - Sunday 12:00pm-5:00pm

Lodi Winegrape Commission
2545 West Turner Road, Lodi, CA 95242
209.367.4727
Open: Monday-Friday 8:00am-5:00pm

Have a question? Complete our contact form.

  • © Copyright 2021 Lodi Winegrape Commission
  • Winery Ecommerce by WineDirect