Monte Rio Cellars declares red blend from Lodi's regeneratively farmed Teresi Vineyard to be its finest wine yet

Monte Rio Cellars owner/grower Patrick Cappiello (left) with associate winemaker Jesus Aleman during 2022 harvest.

What does a career sommelier-turned-winemaker see in Lodi? Evidently, lots.

In 2017, Monte Rio Cellars owner/winemaker Patrick Cappiello "fled" (in his words) a perfectly good, 25-year, multi-award winning restaurant career in New York City after the closing of Rebelle, for which he served as operating partner and wine director. 

Mr. Cappiello began his next phase in California; first, by working under Pax Wines' Pax Mahle, a talented winemaker with a 20-year track record and personal philosophy for which Cappiello felt, as he puts it, "a kismet connection." Adds Cappiello, "I never looked back..."

Oct 14, 2022 at 9:00 AM Permalink

The Church Ancient Blocks is pure luxury, paying tribute to two Lodi wine industry giants

Markus Wine Co. owner/winemaker Markus Niggli harvest old vine Lodi Carignan.

It is always good news when Markus Wine Co. owner/winemaker Markus Niggli comes out with another one of his vaunted blends.

If there ever was a "Lodi blending king," that would be Mr. Niggli, a Swiss-born winemaker with a yen for European traditions such as blending grape varieties—as opposed to sticking to "varietal" (i.e., single grape) bottlings, which most of the American wine industry seems to be obssessed with—as well as quaint, old school winemaking practices such as native yeast fermentation...

Oct 6, 2022 at 12:00 PM Permalink

Independent Iconic Wines crafts Lodi Cinsaut and ancient vine Zinfandel anyone would love to drink

On a 2022 harvest morning, gnarly, own-rooted 120-year-old Schmiedt family-grown Zinfandel going into Icon's "Old Gods" bottling.

One of the big stories in Lodi wine country just over the past four, five years has been the influx of small, independent winemakers. Itty bitty producers bumping up against gigantic wineries to compete for grapes, bringing new vinous perspectives to America's largest winegrowing region, like breaths of fresh air. Each of these vintners has his or her own reasons for coming to Lodi.

For Birk O'Halloran, of the Napa-based Iconic Wines, the exploration of Lodi grapes has been all about, as he puts it, "the quality, history and variety I have found in the region, which opened my eyes to new possibilities..."

Oct 4, 2022 at 12:00 PM Permalink

2022 roundup of Lodi Zinfandel styles

2022 Zinfandel harvest in Rous Vineyard, consisting of 113-year-old vines located on the east side of Lodi's Mokelumne River appellation.

First thing to remember when buying Lodi-grown Zinfandel is that there are basically two styles:

1. The broadly defined varietal styles usually found on retail shelves. You could call this the "commercial" styles of Zinfandel, since that's what they are—Zinfandels grown, produced and packaged for the market at large.

2. Focused, appellation or terroir driven styles more likely to be found in specialty stores or sold directly by wineries.

The California Zinfandel profile

The commercial styles are produced to meet broad consumer expectations of "Zinfandel" as a varietal category. These wines are made to taste less like, say, a "Lodi" or "Sonoma" Zinfandel than a California style of the grape in general. Consequently, you can expect these Zinfandels to taste full bodied and fairly ripe with "jammy" (a common descriptor), berry-like fruit, which is what most people expect out of California Zinfandel...

Sep 28, 2022 at 6:00 AM Permalink

Lodi has become a new home for... natural wines!

"Natural Wine," ©2022 Greg Clarke. 

One of the most recent—many say surprising—movements within the international wine market has been towards the concept of "natural" wine. That is, wines grown and produced with minimal intervention; mostly by smaller, artisanal style wine producers, since it's the smaller, artisanal producers who are mostly interested in this style of wine. 

This concept has hit home, here in California, and even here in Lodi. It may seem counter-intuitive that natural wines can be associated with Lodi. Lodi, after all, is where most of the big production wineries—producing wines that are more accurately described as products meant for the mass market—source their wine grapes... 

Sep 22, 2022 at 8:00 AM Permalink

On the work, and people, going into the hand picking of Lodi's vineyards

2022 Zinfandel among ancient vine Zinfandel (planted in 1889) in Lodi's Jessie's Grove.

The prevalent image of the wine grape harvest in Lodi, as in other winegrowing regions around the world, is of people working their way through jungles of leafy vines with curved knives or shears, picking off whole clusters of grapes one at a time, entirely by hand. 

This is despite the fact that today, most vineyards in regions such as Lodi are now picked by mechanical harvesters. Picking by machines manned by just one or two operators is more than five times faster than hand picking by crews of six to eight people. Thus, the cost of machine picking is well less than half of hand picking, and usage of fuel and carbon footprint is not much higher, since hand harvesting still requires tractors to pull bins weighing over 2 tons when filled by hand pickers...

Sep 12, 2022 at 8:00 AM Permalink

Peltier Winery announces a Celebration of their Vermentino, recently recognized as being among the five finest Vermentinos in the world

Vermentino, a quintessential Mediterranean white wine grape, grown in the Schatz family's Cosumnes River-Lodi vineyard for their Peltier Winery.

For years and years, Jim Moore—the owner/winemaker of the Napa-based UVAGGIO winery—has been saying that "Vermentino is the thinking man's Pinot grigio.”

Vermentino is a white wine grape that is grown in the Mediterranean regions of France's Corsica and Provence, and in Sardinia in Italy. Hence, to Moore's way of thinking, this grape variety is quintessentially suited to Lodi, the climate of which is also squarely Mediterranean. So for years and years, Moore was practically the only vintner in the California wine industry proselytizing this grape, with unabashed passion. Even if more like a lonely voice crying in the wilderness...

Sep 8, 2022 at 6:00 AM Permalink

Ancellotta, Assyrtiko, Chardonnay rosa, Macabeo, Parellada, Prieto Picudo and Xarel-lo are among the latest grapes of Lodi

Dr. Stephanie Bolton, Lodi Winegrape Commission's director of sustainable winegrowing, examining a rare, "new" cultivar called Chardonnay rosa.

The Lodi Viticultural Area is, if anything, prolific. We now count over 125 grape varieties planted in the region, all variations of Vitis vinifera, belonging to the original European family of wine grapes.

Why Lodi? Simply put, this is where the California wine industry sources most of the grapes going into wines that most Americans actually drink; especially wines selling for less than $10 or $15. Lodi grows grapes, in part or entirely, going into some 75% of all the wine sold in the U.S., domestic or imported... 

Sep 6, 2022 at 5:00 AM Permalink

PRIE Vineyard's road to discovery of new grapes and wines ideal for Lodi's Mediterranean terroir

PRIE Vineyard & Winery owner/grower/winemakers John and Lisa Gash.

It was only ten years ago when PRIE Vineyard & Winery's John and Lisa Gash moved from Livermore Valley to join the Lodi winegrowing community by purchasing a home and 8.5-acre vineyard on Alpine Rd. previously planted to Cabernet Sauvignon. They built a spiffy, new winery with a 2,000-case capacity—the most they originally planned to produce—and a cozy tasting room (opened to the public in 2015) that eventually proved to be so inadequate that they now do their tastings outdoors, under the shade of their towering oaks.

That wasn't the only thing that didn't go exactly according to plans. The major changes actually have more to do with an evolving approach, or philosophy, pertaining to winemaking and wines in general. "It's been a 10-year project," explains Mr. Gash, "switching out from Cabernet Sauvignon to other grapes, particularly Rhône varieties which stand a better chance of withstanding the heat, the water conditions and global changes in weather we're now experiencing..."

Aug 31, 2022 at 8:00 AM Permalink

Why Turley is bonkers for Lodi grapes

2011 old vine Zinfandel harvest in Turley Wine Cellars' Dogtown Vineyard, in Lodi's Clements Hills AVA.

This article is a rewrite of an article (including all the original photos) first posted on this site on September 11, 2011. It has been adjusted to reflect 2022 circumstances, although most of the original content is being resurrected because the points that were made are as salient today as they were in 2011.

The makings of California’s top cult Zinfandel

Among California’s prestige producers of Zinfandel, Turley Wine Cellars is undoubtedly the one accorded the most “cult” status: Coveted with almost religious fervor by Zinfandel lovers to the point where they often pay ridiculous prices for them. Although Turley has dependably released its wines at suggested $30 to $60 retail prices, demand is such that they are often traded or re-sold for twice those prices, or more...

Aug 22, 2022 at 9:00 AM Permalink