Remembering Lodi wine industry greats who left us in 2021 and 2020

Pioneering family: Steve (left) and and Beverly Borra crushing grapes in the mid-1970s at Borra Vineyards, Lodi's first independent winery established during the modern era.

A huge part of Lodi winegrowing is its heritage. The first definition for heritage given by Merriam-Webster is: something transmitted by or acquired from a predecessor. In 2021, the Lodi industry lost one of its most original predecessors, Bob Koth. Koth was not one of Lodi's larger growers (never cultivating more than 26 acres at a time), but what he demonstrated — the fact that almost any grape can be successfully grown in Lodi's Mediterranean terroir — will undoubtedly inspire generations of Lodi winegrowers to come... 

Dec 30, 2021 at 7:00 AM Permalink

2021's best articles on Lodi wines

Vinography's Alder Yarrow (right) visiting third generation Lodi winegrower Kevin Soucie in April 2021 in Soucie's ancient vine Zinfandel block, originally planted in 1916.

2021 began with the feeling that things will never be the same. Not after a year like 2020. The repercussions have not been felt like ripples, but more like tidal waves. 

In the midst of all this chaos, winegrowers and vintners in Lodi wine country experienced a more than satisfactory 2021 harvest. The weather throughout the seasons, of course, was a lot dryer than what everyone would have liked it, but at least there were no extremes. Even smoke-domed skies, which lately seem to be par for the course during each harvest which coincides during the yearly fire season, seemed to have a benign effect — at least for California's largest and most productive wine region, nestled between Sierra Nevada and the flat, wet Delta  and San Pablo Bay...

Dec 27, 2021 at 6:00 AM Permalink

m2's brand new Patina tops off Lodi's "Year of Blends"

m2 Wines winemaker/co-owner Layne Montgomery.

If anything, 2021 has been a great year for red wine blend releases in Lodi wine country. It seems that the most interesting new wines have not been varietal bottlings, made from a single grape, but rather red wines blended from different grapes.

Three seems to be a magic number when it comes to number of grapes in the mix: creating just enough variation of aromas and layers to strike an exciting cohesion and sense of balance. Just in time for 2021 Christmas shopping, you can now count the newly released 2019 m2 Winery Mokelumne River-Lodi Patina ($49) among the list of Lodi's most compelling three-way blends... 

Dec 20, 2021 at 2:00 AM Permalink

Markus Niggli is still up to his quaintly European, contrarian ways

Swiss-born Markus Wine Co. owner/winemaker Markus Niggli.

Zinfandel reapproximated

Lodi is justifably renowned for its Zinfandel, a grape known to improve as vines get older. In Lodi, an "old vine" is defined as something planted prior to the mid-1960s, when free-standing (i.e., untrellised), own-rooted viticulture was still a rule of thumb. There are more acres of old vine Zinfandel in Lodi than anywhere else in California.

Markus Niggli, the owner/winemaker of Lodi's Markus Wine Co., loves Zinfandel as much as any Lodi vintner. Yet he doesn't produce a "Zinfandel" per se. Instead, the closest thing to a varietal bottling of Zinfandel that he produces is something he calls "Essenzo." Why? Because Mr. Niggli is not the biggest fan of varietal labels. He does produce an occasional varietal wine, but he hangs his hat on blends sold by his own imaginative monikers as opposed to the names of grapes...

Dec 15, 2021 at 8:00 AM Permalink

Old vine Christmas shopping list

Zinfandel cluster from old vines in Clements Hills-Lodi's Stampede Vineyard.

There are over 100 grapes commercially grown in the Lodi appellation. All the same, the region justifiably hangs its hat on what are called "old vines," and for good reason: There is more acreage of old vine plantings in Lodi than in any other California wine region... 

Dec 13, 2021 at 8:00 AM Permalink

The year's best photos of Lodi wine country (July to November 2021)

July is the brightest time of year in Lodi wine country in terms of sunlight and the changing colors on the vine (called veraison) — in this photo, Wegat Vineyard (Zinfandel planted in 1958).

Continued from The year's best photos of Lodi wine country (December 2020 to May 2021)

June

In June the vines go boom,
And spread out their leafy green canopies under a sun finally bereft of clouds...

Dec 7, 2021 at 8:00 AM Permalink

The year's best photos of Lodi wine country (December 2020 to May 2021)

In early March 2021, end-of-winter pruning of old vines in Clements Hills-Lodi's Stampede Vineyard.

It's always hard to pick our "favorite" photos of Lodi wine country, but the less said the better about this collection, presented in order of the months and seasonal changes during the past year...

Dec 1, 2021 at 8:00 AM Permalink