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.
Hybrid Pinot Noir is shaking trees
The goal when producing their Lodi grown Pinot Noir, bottled under the Hybrid by Peltier Station label, according to winemaker JC van Staden, was “to make a good wine, not necessarily a Pinot Noir.” Okay, input scrambled, brain freeze… then you swirl, sniff and sip the 2008 Hybrid Lodi Pinot Noir once again, and the inside-information starts to seep in more sensibly: a velvety smooth, plump, pliant, softly delicious burgundian colored wine, but even more amusing in its presumptuousness — a hugely aromatic nose, at once sweetly strawberryish in a perfumed sense, with a smoky richness, nuanced with red rose..
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Mar 9, 2011 at 10:52 PM
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Thou shalt covet Lodi grapes
Six bottled reasons why wineries outside Lodi are craving Lodi grown grapes… Lodi has long been known as a Paradise for wine grapes; the biggest chunk of that traditionally going to large production wineries, or else anonymously into the varietal wines and blends of many an ultra-premium winery (I once heard an industry consultant in the know comment on how many Napa Valley, Sonoma or Mendocino Cabernet Sauvignons, Merlots, Zinfandels and even Pinot Noirs have been greatly enhanced by judicious doses of Lodi grown wines like Petite Sirah and Syrah). In recent years, more and more producers of great renown..
Continue » Mar 4, 2011 at 10:56 PM
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The wave of the future in Ironstone’s past
The Kautz Family’s Ironstone Vineyards continues to lead Lodi into the future… Why pay more for a perfectly delicious bottle of wine than you have to? Part and parcel of Lodi’s dramatic emergence as an ultra-premium quality winegrowing region since the turn of the millennium has been the fulfillment of that question. Today Lodi wines not only deliver quality, they overdeliver for the price; and it all starts in the vineyard… Fact #1: Lodi is California’s single largest producer of Vitis vinifera — grapes belonging to the European family of classic wine grapes — simply because these grapes thrive in..
Continue » Mar 2, 2011 at 11:02 PM
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Iberian grapes thrill Fenestra Fanatics
Lodi is the California epicenter for Portuguese and Spanish grapes… Sometimes in life you crave more than vanilla and chocolate. For wine lovers, this means more than Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, or even Pinot Noir and Zinfandel. The recent emergence of Lodi as the epicenter of exotic Iberian grapes — like Verdelho and Graciano, Alvarelhão and Touriga — has been fulfilling many a tired, jaded wine lover’s appetite. When it comes to fine wine, nothing wrong with kinky! Lanny and Fran Replogle of Fenestra Winery have been producing classic California varietals in an historic old winery in Livermore Valley since 1980;..
Continue » Feb 25, 2011 at 1:22 PM
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Birds of a feather make great zin together
The 2008 Barsetti Vineyards Lodi Zinfandel, which recently garnered a Silver Medal at the 2011 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, is not a wine that bowls you over with its alcoholic or oak driven strength. Quite the opposite: it is a Zinfandel that gently tugs at the heart and palate with vibrant, spiced berry and sweet tea-like flavors, unfurled from a meaty, zesty edged, medium sized body, finishing dry and smooth. In fact, much like the 2006 Barsetti Vineyards Lodi Zinfandel, still in retail stores like the Lodi Wine & Visitor Center: the 2006 began as a tightly harmonious wine..
Continue » Feb 22, 2011 at 1:21 PM
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Our top 5 chocolate weekend matches
Wine & Chocolate Weekend’s wildest, funnest matches… One thing many of the Lodi wine lovers who partook in this last weekend’s knockdown, throwdown 2011 Wine & Chocolate Weekend probably discovered: perfectly delicious wines and chocolate matches come in all shapes and sizes. So let us now fondly reminisce over the funner — and in every case, mind blowing — combinations we were fortunate to experience in Lodi wine country during the past weekend: Lodi sausages in chocolate barbecue sauce with 2008 Harney Lane Lodi Zinfandel ($22) – Oh me, oh my, was this a good one: the black cherry/raspberry bright,..
Continue » Feb 17, 2011 at 1:20 PM
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Blissful days of Lodi wine & chocolate
Lodi’s 2011 Wine & Chocolate Weekend was two days of bliss for the approximately 4,500 people enjoying the the gifts bestowed by Mother Nature (crystal blue skies, sleeveless temperatures) and the forty Lodi wineries pulling out all the stops to engage and entertain couples, friends and families alike, while neatly clipped spurs of ancient vine Zinfandels lay grazing in the grass of winter’s recent rains. Epitomizing the hospitality rarely found in other wine regions, during the entire two days The Lucas Winery’s winemaker/proprietor David Lucas stood at the barn sized door of his tasting room to make a point of..
Continue » Feb 14, 2011 at 1:18 PM
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Chocolate chili & truffle wine matches
Matching chocolates with dry red wines… “Chocolates made for wines,” says Linda Bartlett of Truffle Gateau, “are more like cheese pairings… soft like Brie, and never too sweet.” When Barlett founded her Sacramento based confectionery, she made it her goal to create the “finest wine-pairing chocolates in the world,” developing recipes using natural ingredients like Callebaut Belgian chocolate, Madagascar vanilla, Peet’s espresso coffee, and Southern pecans. Today over 300 wineries in California and Oregon sell Bartlett’s “Truffle G’s” with their wines. Bartlett will personally be on hand to offer her sumptuous chocolate & wine matches at The Lodi Wine &..
Continue » Feb 10, 2011 at 1:16 PM
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Guide to Lodi’s Wine & Chocolate weekend
Oh, Lodi wine… oh, decadent chocolates… oh, sublime seductions! The Lodi Wine & Chocolate weekend is well nigh upon us, and the big challenge will be planning your day of vinous and culinary debauchery because, well, there’s only so much stimulation a body can take. And so to help you out the following is a rundown on what many of the participating wineries will be offering on both days. Gotta luv it! Here you go… Abundance Vineyards: Big Booty Bob and Bacio Dolce Manager Stefanie Shaw and her tasting room staff will offer an assortment of chocolates to go with..
Continue » Feb 6, 2011 at 1:14 PM
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2 sisters + 1 cool dad at Sorelle Winery
The newly arrived Sorelle Winery is fashioning some of Lodi’s most exquisite wines… Lodi’s verdant farmlands and vineyards stretch southwards all the way into Stockton zip codes; and one of the region’s newest, brightest, and (already!) multi-award winning stars is Sorelle Winery, located on Hwy. 88 near the Calaveras River, at the southeast corner of the Mokelumne River AVA, just south of Eight Mile Rd. Sorelle is Italian for “sisters,” and in this case, there are two of them involved: Kim Scott, and her younger sibling, Melissa. But there is a man behind the women: it is their father, Mike..
Continue » Feb 3, 2011 at 1:13 PM
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