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
 
October 10, 2011 | Randy Caparoso

Treasure Island winefest memories

IMG_3033

Kodakchrome clear blue skies, perfect wine sipping temperatures, and precisely parallel white vapors trailing soaring Blue Angels like a hexagram of the heavens, the strings of Snap Jackson’s guitar, high, low, hither and yon across the San Francisco Bay:  these were but some of the highlights of Lodi’s 2011 Treasure Island WineFest this past Sunday, October 8.

IMG_3124

Suzanne Burns pouring Jessie's Grove

So were the savory or achingly tender cheeses of artisans like Fescalini, Sonoma and Nicasio Valley — oh, what happy cows can render — and sweet nothings by love gangstas like Truffle Gateau and Desperately Seeking Chocolate, not to mention the virginal California olive oils (by Coldani, Lucero, Lodi and Sierra) so smooth your could drink it, as well as the delicately herbed, toothsome grains dished out by cheerful denizens in rose colored glasses (gotta love Pasta Pomodoro!).

If you weren’t there, perhaps you might experience some of it through the photographs in this post, and make a mental bookmark for next year:  don’t make the mistake of missing it again!  In the meantime, in between time, it was also all about the wines of Lodi, which you can experience anytime.  Of the 200+ that were poured on Treasure Island, there was an embarassment of richness — liquids making wine lovers left and right go weak in the knees.  Just to name a few:

2009 St. Jorge, Lodi Vinho Tinta Belo – This Portuguese grape specialist’s wild, almost primeval, masculine blend of Souzão, Tempranillo and Touriga grapes

IMG_3145

Hexagrams on high

2008 Barsetti, Lodi Zinfandel – Electrifying mixture of raspberry, cracked peppercorns and spice cake under a silken, sleek veneer

2010 Peirano, Lodi Immortal Zin – Tasting of strawberry fields forever, one of the first of the 2010 Zinfandels to be released (a vintage many experts say might be Lodi’s best ever)

2009 LangeTwins, Lodi Zinfandel – Massala chai, swatches of velvet, and wafting pirogues of cakes slathered with cherry and raspberry preserves

2009 Macchia, Rebellious Lodi Petite Sirah – Broad, bustling, buxom, prickly basket of black and blueberries, like Suicide Girls morphed into women of G.L.O.R.Y and proceeding to take numbers…

Get the picture?  If you can’t wait ’til the 2012 Treasure Island WineFest, there is an opportunity to come out to Lodi during the region’s fall 2011 harvest celebration called The First Sip (November 12-13, 2011); when over 40 wineries will fling open their doors to allow you to taste wines from barrels, while they’re still tasting like raw, unadulturated, exhilarating party juice.  Read all about it, mark it down, and enjoy Lodi wine!

The ladies of Lodi wine country...

IMG_3155

IMG_3094

Petite Sirah grapes on McCay Cellars table

IMG_3202

San Francisco's Jennifer Capo looking at the world of Lodi wines through rose colored glasses...

IMG_3045

The ever lovin' Harney Lane table...

IMG_3066

Snap Jackson & the Knock on Wood Players

IMG_3136

Pasta Pomodoro ruled...

IMG_3134

Properly attired Pasta Pomodoro crew...

IMG_3148

IMG_3205

Bounty of Truffle Gateau

IMG_3131

IMG_3078_2

Peltier Station/Hybrid's Rod & Gayla Schatz

IMG_3108

Visit Lodi!'s Nancy Beckman

IMG_3165

IMG_3163

The wines of Omega...

IMG_3209

IMG_3197

Bill Russell & son...

IMG_3199

IMG_3212

IMG_3074

Uvaggio's Jim Moore...

IMG_3044

That's what I'm talkin' about!

IMG_3038

Repping of the City of Lodi...

IMG_3014

IMG_3047

Winemaker Roger Nicholas (left) of Grands Amis...

IMG_3166

IMG_3071

m2's Layne Montgomery, Vicarmont's Vic & Carrie Mettler

IMG_3157

IMG_3079

Joel Ohmart pouring St. Amant's outstanding wines...

IMG_3138

IMG_3100

Michael McCay's tee...

IMG_3086

Peirano Vineyards tee...

IMG_3040

The Lucas' Heather Pyle & Brent Lucas

IMG_3082

Coldani's Calivirgin EVOOs...

IMG_3043

Lodi Winegrape Commission's Mark Chandler with Lodi Olive Oil Company's Robert Pirie

IMG_3087

Mettler Family's Jason & Kim Eells...

IMG_3035

LangeTwins' Charlene Lange...

IMG_3023

IMG_3036

Winegrower extraordinaire, Markus Bokisch

IMG_3028

The big bottle...

Tweet
Pin It

Comments

Commenting has been turned off.
Blog Search
Recent Posts
  • January 19, 2021
    French students break down Lodi winegrowing, marketing, and its Alta Mesa appellation
  • January 13, 2021
    Alternative style Lodi wines reflecting the wave of the future — part 2, new interpretations of heritage grapes
  • January 11, 2021
    Alternative style Lodi wines reflecting the wave of the future — part 1, an unfamiliar white and red
  • January 5, 2021
    Discerning wines of the immediate future through what we know about the past and what's going in Lodi
  • December 29, 2020
    Lodi 2020: The year in pictures
  • December 27, 2020
    The small steps of Lodi growers led to giant leaps for Lodi wine country
  • December 22, 2020
    Looking on the bright side of fading old vine plantings in Lodi
  • December 17, 2020
    Our list of nice Lodi reds, rosés and fortified dessert wines for Christmas gifting and sipping
  • December 15, 2020
    A Lodi white makes the world's Top 100 list, and other Lodi whites for Christmas shopping and sipping
  • December 9, 2020
    The 1980s and 1990s — start of Lodi wine country's modern era
Our Writers
  • Randy Caparoso (804)
Blog Archives
2021
  • January 2021 (4)
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