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.
Everything’s coming up rosés in a blind tasting of Lodi bottlngs
Lodi's ever expanding plethora of dry style rosés
Just ten years ago, whenever a wine connoisseur was served a pink wine he/she would run away screaming, thinking it was a White Zinfandel.
These days what you hear are mostly oohs and ahs because more and more pink wines are being produced either bone dry or very nearly dry. Like “serious” wines, you might say.
What makes them super-fun and interesting is that they’re made from a full range of black skinned grapes. In Lodi, for instance, dry style rosés are not just crafted from the more familiar Southern French grapes such as Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre, but also Cinsaut, Carignan, Barbera, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot noir, Sangiovese, Tempranillo, Aglianico, and even (gasp!) Zinfandel...
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Apr 26, 2019 at 9:00 AM
PermalinkCatherine Fallis (Master Sommelier and author of Ten Grapes to Know) headlines 2019 Lodi ZinFest Wine School
Learnng while enjoying the immense pleasures of Lodi wine at ZinFest Wine School
It’s nearly that time again: the annual Lodi ZinFest Wine Festival, taking place Saturday, May 18, 2019 at the stunningly bucolic Lodi Lake Park. This year festival will begin at 12 PM for Early Entrance guests (admission $75, available only with advance purchase), and then go from 1 PM to 5 PM for General Admission enthusiasts ($55 in advance, $65 at the gate).
Apart from a grand tasting of over 200 wines representing the dizzying range of fresh, pristinely expressive wines (from Albariño to Zinfandel) now being produced by Lodi wineries, there will also be opportunities to further your wine and culinary knowledge at ongoing demonstrations, including the Up in Smoke BBQ Demo (manned by Food Network celebrity chef Chad Rosenthal) and the ZinFest Wine School (kicking off at 1:30 PM)...
Continue » Apr 18, 2019 at 11:00 AM2019 ZinFest Blind Tasting – a study of ancient vine Zinfandels of California
ZinFest blind tasting coming up at Wine & Roses Hotel!
Friday, May 17, 2019 – 2:00-4:00 PM – Wine & Roses Hotel Ballroom (Lodi)
Exactly how do Zinfandels from Lodi’s oldest vines compare to ancient vine Zinfandels grown in Sonoma County, Napa Valley, Paso Robles, Contra Costa and Amador County? The best way to find out is to taste them “blind,” with no preconceptions, just sensory qualities to lead you to conclusions. Preferably with the guidance of some of the most Zinfandel-knowledgeable wine professionals in the state...
Continue » Apr 16, 2019 at 12:00 PMEstate Crush’s new, sparkly iteration of Lodi’s venerated Bechthold Vineyard Cinsaut
In early April 2019, Estate Crush's rows of 133-year-old vertical cordon Cinsaut at the north end of Lodi's historic Bechthold Vineyard
How do you describe the latest wine produced by Lodi’s Estate Crush, Downtown Lodi’s custom crush facility (serving over 60 winery/clients, on top of wines sold under its own brand)? The 2018 Estate Crush Lodi “Carbonated” Cinsault Rosé ($26) is so many things that it is practically “ironic,” as Alanis Morissette once sang, citing a slew of things that can go wrong, and often do go wrong, in our workaday-to-wonderful lives.’’
The wine itself is unabashedly spritzy and positively exudes strawberry/cranberryish fruit in a perfume of remarkably fruit centered purity and in its light, razor-sharp and zesty-prickling sensations, bracing the palate with just a whisper of residual sugar (barely half a gram)...
Continue » Apr 11, 2019 at 1:00 PMMichael Klouda’s mission to “save” Lodi Zinfandel with his dry style Retro Rosé
Michael Klouda Wines' Michael Klouda harvesting Lodi Zinfandel grapes
It’s ba-a-ack. A pale, transparently pink wine made 100% from black skinned Zinfandel grapes – otherwise known as “White Zinfandel.”
Only, this time around it’s a bone dry pink wine – bottled without one, single gram of residual sugar. To hedge his bets, however, Michael Klouda Wines owner/winemaker Michael Klouda is calling his new fangled wine “Retro Rosé.”
Why? Because dry rosé is one of the hottest wine categories in the market today, whereas the White Zinfandel sales are plunging rapidly. Hence, the hundreds of acres of fields with piles of pulled-up vines – many of these, vineyards planted over 50 years ago – that locals have been seeing all over Lodi during the past three years...
Continue » Apr 7, 2019 at 6:00 PMSpring flings and liquid danger at 2019 Lodi Wine & Food Festival
2019 early spring bud break in Lodi wine country
At the cusp of spring, wrote the poet Marge Piercy, the months become a "rich fresh wine," into which we stagger "smeared with pollen," when “the green will never again be so green, purely and lushly.”
As a more sobering harbinger of events, The Old Farmer's Almanac prognosticates on the upcoming 2019 weather: “Raindrops won’t be falling on heads (as often) in many parts of the U.S., with below normal precipitation expected in the Atlantic Corridor, Appalachians, and Intermountain regions, as well as in the Desert Southwest, Pacific Northwest (including California), Pacific Southwest, and western Hawaii...”
Continue » Apr 4, 2019 at 3:00 PM