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.
What Bob Dylan has to do with good taste in wine, Robert Mondavi and Lodi history
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 favorites. Why? Because Pinot Noir usually produces a softer, silkier, fragrantly spiced red wine. I drink it when I'm feeling fancy, or eating fancy (like filet mignon or rack of lamb)...
Continue »2023 update on Lodi vineyards finally getting their due by being recognized by Historic Vineyard Society
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 on wine bottles, is "old vine..."
Continue »LODI RULES launches fourth edition of its industry leading guidelines for certified sustainable winegrowing
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. By improving the program over time, the certification continues to be relevant and progressive and stays at the forefront of sustainability innovation..."
Continue »Plain talk on the increasing mystique and value of old vines
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. It’s just that older vines, presumably planted during years when growers were not so smart or well heeled, now deserve their due because, well, they’re old. Somehow they’ve survived years and years and slings and arrows of market fortunes and misfortunes, when the land they sit upon could have easily been converted into other usages—more lucrative crops or industries, houses and highways, or of course, higher demand grapes...
Continue »Lodi’s 2023 Wine & Chocolate celebration, a 3-day extravaganza, is less than a month away!
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...
Continue »Initial report on Lodi's 2022 vintage and favorite images from the harvest
The 2022 harvest is in the books, the grapes turned miraculously into wine, 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 high-quality vintage for 2022 following a season filled with curveballs. For many California wine regions, this was a tale of two harvests, as a Labor Day [September 3-5] heat wave divided the season into earlier and later picks. As harvest wraps up across the state, vintners predict that 2022 will produce memorable wines of great concentration and complexity...
Continue »Wine industry changes in the wind expected in 2023
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 by market turbulence, inflation and possible recession, unpredictable supply and demand, and general consumer anxiety about outward issues such as climate change and rampant disease. You know, the usual stuff...
Continue »Celebrate the New Year with authentic, champagne style sparklers grown in Lodi
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 new one bringing even more luck or good fortune. Hope springs eternal!
Champagne style sparklers are grown and produced in Lodi, despite the fact that the original Champagne wine region in France is associated with cold climate winegrowing, whereas Lodi is definitely warm—much more like the wine regions of Provence or alongside the Mediterranean Sea as opposed to northerly river regions near Paris...
Continue »Our favorite Lodi wine country photos of 2022
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 or winegrowing in general.
Here's hoping you enjoy the following images as much as I do, and wishing you a very Merry Christmas from Lodi wine country!
Continue »A look back at 2022's increasing consumer preferences for natural, organic or sustainably grown 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. But in the end, it is the winegrowing and wine production industries who follow the cues of consumers, not the other way around. Wine media (writers, journalists, critics, bloggers, influencers, et al.) pretty much go with the flow, covering whatever is produced, and whatever consumers happen to prefer. This is why many wines become popular whether or not they are covered in popular print or online magazines. Consumers determine what writers write about, what growers grow, and what vintners produce...
Continue »