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.
Wine grape IQ test (ah, sweet mystery of Lodi whites)
In lieu of our last post (Is Lodi best for white wines?), would you care to put your white wine grape IQ (i.e. geek meter) to the test?
We would like to do this by quoting snippets from a book that was published just last year, James Halliday’s Varietal Wines (Hardie Grant Books); in which this famed Australia based author describes the origins and sensory qualities common to 130 grape varieties. This may sound like a lot of grapes; but bear in mind that when British wine author Jancis Robinson first published her Guide to Wine Grapes back in 1996, she listed about 800 different wine grapes. There are all kinds of wines grown around the world!
Continue »Acquiesce answers question - is Lodi best for white wines?
More than ever, the wines of Acquiesce Winery & Vineyards – a small producer of exclusively estate grown wines located at Peltier and N. Tretheway Roads on Lodi’s east side – have come to epitomize what more and more people think about Lodi as a winegrowing region: an ideal place for white wines.
Did we say whites? Isn’t Lodi better known for red wines? Yes and yes. But a lot of what Lodi grows is not necessarily because of what is “best” to grow here, from the standpoint of viticulture. Lodi growers have always cultivated what the wine market demands; and right now, that means mostly Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, a lot of Zinfandel and Merlot, and dozens of lesser known grapes for which more and more specialty producers, big and small, are clamoring. Forty years ago it was tons of Carignan, Tokay and Chenin Blanc. You do what you gotta do.
Continue »Deep thoughts on Uvaggio Vermentino
“Time changes everything,” goes that old, wonderful song by Tommy Duncan, sung with Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys....
Vermentino is one of those exotic sounding wine grapes that are still foreign to most Americans. We’re devoting an entire blog to this emerging variety produced by a winemaker/owner named Jim Moore: the 2013 Uvaggio Lodi Vermentino ($14). Not because we’re trying to show off our wine I.Q., or the fact that that we can play wine-trivial-pursuit with the snootiest of sommeliers; but because it is a genuinely amazing dry white wine that deserves an unabashed shut-out. Or at least an occasional blogpost of its own.
Continue »Zinfandel (and ZAP) at a crossroads
This is the Big Week for Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (a.k.a. ZAP): their annual Experience in San Francisco, self-billed as “the world’s largest single varietal wine tasting event.”
This year, three days of seminars and parties are capped by a “Grand Tasting” at Pier 27 on the Embarcadero on Saturday, February 27, 2016; when consumers may pick and sip among hundreds of wines, produced by California’s finest Zinfandel specialists. A literal Bacchanal.
Though, these are funny times for Zinfandel. As a varietal, it is still an awkward, bratty, painfully hormonal adolescent... Continue »
Where to find Lodi's alternative style wines during Wine & Chocolate Weekend
Are you ready for Lodi's Wine & Chocolate Weekend? We are!
One of the things that excites Lodi wine lovers the most these days is that the region is no longer just about Zinfandel, Lodi's pièce de resistance. Nor is it only about “standard” varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc, however wonderful they may be.
Continue »Lodi wine and chocolate - seduction at first sight
For the past four vintages the official co-sponsor of our Lodi Wine & Chocolate celebration – in 2016, taking place this Saturday and Sunday, February 13-14 – has been BRIX Chocolate (commercial message: it is not too late to get your passes online at lodiwineandchocolate.com!).
Continue »Beyond Super Bowl 50: why you should be in Lodi!
San Francisco's Alexandra Fondren (here, at Lodi ZinFest) shares her favorite things to do in Lodi wine country
Attention Super Bowl 50 visitors: where is the place to be this weekend or following the Big Day?
Why, in California wine country, of course. Not just any part of California; even better, the historic Lodi wine region, which was recently named the 2015 Wine Region of the Year by Wine Enthusiast magazine.
Continue »MK Zinfandel - agonies and ecstasies of micro-scaled wine
In the world of wine, there are always Davids and Goliaths.
Continue »Lodi's Michael David Winery named Winery of the Year at 2016 Unified Symposium
And the hits just keep on coming...
There was a surprise announcement this past Wednesday, January 27 at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in Sacramento: Lodi’s Michael David Winery was named 2016 Winery of the Year.
Continue »Lodi's 2016 Wine & Chocolate Weekend is upon us!
OMG, the 19th Annual Lodi Wine & Chocolate Weekend is less than a month away: taking place Saturday/Sunday, February 13 + 14, 2016!
If you haven’t partaken of this sweet and savory experience before, here’s the scoop: this is easily the most popular passport-style event put on by Lodi’s wineries each year; for a number of good reasons, including...
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