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.
Vicarmont keeps the Merlot faith
Still plenty of respect for Merlot among Lodi winegrowers… Bart: If fairytales have taught us anything, first wives are the best and second wives are terrible. Homer: Just the opposite of real life… – The Simpsons How soon we forget the finest things. Not too long ago, Merlot was the go-to wine for the majority of America’s red wine drinkers – what Chardonnay was to Bridget Jones, white Russians to the Big Lebowski. Then this varietal suffered the indignity of being disparaged in the movie Sideways (2004); and soon after, became decidedly unhip. Yet good grapes are good grapes, and..
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Sep 20, 2011 at 2:32 PM
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Lodi’s 2011 zin roars in
Up until last week, Tim Holdener (winemaker/proprietor of Macchia Wines) tells us, there were some fears that “yields might be down as much as 50%.” But now that he has gotten in his fastest ripening vineyards this past week – including the dry farmed Leland Noma’s and “Oblivious” next door, yielding as little as half-a-ton per acre, as well as Dave Devine’s drip-irrigated vineyard in the Clements Hills AVA – Holdener has adjusted his expectation to “about 20% less.” Adds Holdener, “we expected a less than average year, when we saw all the shot berries that resulted from the spring..
Continue » Sep 16, 2011 at 2:41 PM
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Wine’s cutting edge lies in Lodi
12 Lodi grown grapes that are changing the face of American wine… I must create a system or be enslaved by another man’s… I will not reason and compare: my business is to create… –William Blake The grape makes the wine; but of course, so does the imagination and handiwork of the vigneron. Over the past week we have been running from one end of the Lodi AVA to another, taking photographs of all the grapes we find, cultivated in this Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta influenced region. Lodi grows a broader range of wine grapes (and more of virtually all..
Continue » Sep 9, 2011 at 3:03 PM
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Grape makes the wine, part 2
What a difference a grape makes, indeed… Of all the major and cutting-edge varieties of Vits vinifera grown in California today, Syrah is the only wine grape Lodi doesn’t crush more of than any other region (Fresno beats out Lodi in Syrah acreage). Here are the sensory profiles on the other grapes of significance (other than those covered in our previous blogpost, What a Difference a Grape Makes) grown in the Lodi AVA. WHITE WINE GRAPES SAUVIGNON BLANC (also called Fumé Blanc in the U.S.) Nose: Green melon aromas, often tinged by noticeably herbaceous (like cut grass, weeds, bell pepper,..
Continue » Sep 3, 2011 at 3:16 PM
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What a difference a grape makes
The grape makes the wine, no matter where it’s grown… As discussed earlier in our Wine 101 installments, the grape variety (or varieties, if the wine is a blend of several grapes) is the single most significant factor differentiating the taste of wines. Producers in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, and South America make it easy for us to understand because wines from those countries are usually sold by the brand name (i.e. Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi, or LangeTwins Winery) followed by the name of the grape (Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir, etc.). New World wines such as these are often..
Continue » Aug 31, 2011 at 5:18 PM
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Kidder Family rising star wines
Remember the name Kidder Family Winery, because this is one of Lodi‘s rising star producers. It’s not a simple matter of newness; nor even sheer talent, which winemaker/proprietor Aaron Kidder has aplenty. If anything, it’s a matter of Mr. Kidder having a strong sense of emerging contemporary tastes — particularly in respect to wines that impress you by their balance rather than hammering intensity, clarity of fruit rather than oakiness, and crisp edged, food-friendly textures — and the good sense and cojones to focus precisely on that. If you’re a bit tired of clunky, super-sized wines seemingly made more to..
Continue » Aug 29, 2011 at 3:51 PM
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Tempranillo Day & Vin d’Elegance
August 31: Lodi celebrates International Tempranillo Day Seven Lodi based members of TAPAS (Tempranillo Advocates Producers & Amigos Society) are teaming up with four of Downtown Lodi’s finest restaurants to put on an exciting progressive dinner celebrating the first ever International Tempranillo Day on Wednesday, August 31, 2011 (5:15 PM): 7 fantastic Tempranillos matched with 7 platos pequeños (small plates). The stellar Lodi wineries showing off their Tempranillos will include Alta Mesa, Bokisch, Harney Lane, Jeremy, Riaza, Ripken and St. Amant. Have you ever tasted good Tempranillo? If so, you experienced a soulful, sumptuous, mouth-filling red wine, as soft and..
Continue » Aug 26, 2011 at 3:29 PM
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Wine-food matching made easy
A commonsense approach to wine and food matching We’ve mentioned some commonsense wine and food matches; like the fact that zesty, dry white wines like Sauvignon Blanc are as natural with white fish as a squeeze of fresh lemon. Or the fact that it makes sense to serve a full bodied, full tannin red wine like Cabernet Sauvignon with full, fatty red meats such as beef and lamb. It doesn’t take a Master Sommelier to understand these things. If you know that ketchup tastes good on a hamburger, and that hot fudge tastes great over vanilla ice cream, then you..
Continue » Aug 23, 2011 at 3:39 PM
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Right glasses & temperatures matter
Wine glasses make a difference Aside from choosing what wine to drink, there is probably no choice as key to your enjoyment of wine as your selection of wine glass. Everyone knows that wine glasses properly come with a stem, are crystal clear for visual pleasure, and are curved inward to allow the nose to better enjoy the aromas collecting just below the rim. But size and shape also matter. Generally speaking, white wines taste best in 12 to 14 oz. glasses in the graceful shape of a tulip. But for red wines, you can use the same 12 oz…
Continue » Aug 16, 2011 at 3:56 PM
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Lodi’s Treasure Island WineFest
Lodi’s 3rd Annual Treasure Island WineFest Lodi Wine Country returns to San Francisco Bay this coming Saturday, October 8, 2011 (1 to 5 PM) at the Treasure Island WineFest! Over 45 of Lodi’s finest producers will be pouring over 200 Lodi AVA grown wines, including many of the 133 winners at this past 2011 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition (2 Best of Class, 2 Double Golds, 19 Golds, 60 Silvers, and 50 Bronzes). Visit the Treasure Island Web site for a list of these participating wineries. Of course, wait-there’s-more! Lodi’s Treasure Island WineFest occurs during the U.S. Navy’s Fleet Week,..
Continue » Aug 11, 2011 at 4:02 PM
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