Sensory distinctions of wide range of grapes going into dry Lodi grown rosés

Three of the winemakers appearing at the "Rosé All Day! seminar at the 2013 Lodi Wine Experience Grand Tasting: Bryce Willingham (Peltier), Melinda Kearney (Lorenza) and Christina Lopez (Acquiesce).

Rosé All Day! will be the subject of the 1:00 PM Wine Seminar taking place during the upcomiing 2023 Lodi Wine Experience Grand Tasting in the dreamily landscaped Lodi Lake, Saturday, May 20, 2023.

Lodi grown rosés are not just classically dry, but also made from a dazzling array of red wine grapes. Because rosé grapes are typically picked early each season to achieve light, graceful, mineral inflected styles, it is not always easy to delineate "varietal" distinctions in their aromas... 

May 8, 2023 at 8:00 AM Permalink

Monte Rio winemaker explains his puristic, terroir-driven approach to three Ancient Vines reds, from Lodi's oldest vineyards

Monte Rio Cellars owner/winemaker Patrick Cappiello toasting to ancient vines in Mokelumne River-Lodi's Spenker Ranch, own-rooted Carignan planted in 1900. Leigh-Ann Beverley.

Monte Rio Cellars—a small, independent, handcraft label owned and operated by former longtime New York City sommelier Patrick Cappiello—has just released three Lodi grown wines he is calling his "Ancient Vines" series. 

Many winemakers exaggerate. Cappiello does not. These three wines are absolutely "ancient" by most of the wine world's standards; all fashioned from the oldest vineyards of their grape type in the Lodi appellation, planted and cultivated on their own rootstocks by the Spenker family...

May 2, 2023 at 12:00 PM Permalink

Latest Perlegos Family wines include a groundbreaking Assyrtiko from Lodi's Clements Hills

John (left) and Jeff Perlegos with a tray of their 2022 Assyrtiko, a grape of Greek origin that is proving to be perfectly at home in Lodi's Mediterranean climate zone.

Lodi's first Assyrtiko

Perlegos Family Wine Co. is entering its second phase, following up on this grower/producer's inaugural releases this past October—and it's a doozy.

The big news: The release of the 2022 Perlegos Family Thera Block Clements Hills-Lodi Assyrtiko ($28), along with the family's latest vintage of a Lodi-grown Cinsaut as well as a Southern Italian-inspired Nero d'Avola...

Apr 27, 2023 at 8:00 AM Permalink

Ten reasons why old vines are more important than ever to the international wine community

Stampede Vineyard in Lodi's Clements Hills AVA, certified by Historic Vineyard Society.

In our continuation of Everything You Wanted to Know About Old Vines and Why They're a Big Deal—which is also the subject of our 12:00 PM Wine Seminar at the upcoming 2023 Lodi Wine Experience Grand Tasting in bucolic Lodi Lake, Saturday, May 20, 2023—let's drill down into more specifics on why old vine viticulture is more important than ever all around the world. Ten points...

Apr 24, 2023 at 8:00 AM Permalink

Why old vines are more important than ever all around the world

Monumentally strong, productive, natural-rooted Zinfandel, planted in 1901 in Lodi's Marian's Vineyard.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Old Vines and Why They're a Big Deal is the subject of the 12:00 PM Wine Seminar taking place during the 2023 Lodi Wine Experience Grand Tasting in bucolic Lodi Lake, Saturday, May 20, 2023. If you want to learn about old vines while tasting phenomenal wines made from vineyards anywhere from 80 to nearly 140 years old, you don't want to miss this event. 

The concept of old vines is a big deal in Lodi because there are more plantings over 50 years old—our technical (if unofficial) definition of an "old vine"—in Lodi than any other wine region in California, thus the entire country. More than that, though, old vines have recently attained a cachet appreciated by wine cognoscenti all around the world... 

Apr 18, 2023 at 8:00 AM Permalink

The 2023 Lodi Wine Experience Seminar subjects

Mohr-Fry Ranches' Jerry Fry (left) and St. Amant Winery's Stuart Spencer (right) are two of the vintners leading the Old Vines seminar during the 2023 Lodi Wine Experience Grand Tasting.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Old Vines and Why They're a Big Deal is the subject of the 12:00 PM Wine Seminar taking place during the 2023 Lodi Wine Experience Grand Tasting in bucolic Lodi Lake, Saturday, May 20, 2023.

The moderator of the Old Vines seminar, as well as the following two educational events—Rosé All Day! at 1:00 PM, and East vs. West Side Zinfandels at 2:00 PM—will be Randy Caparoso, the author of the recently published 450-page book, Lodi! The Definitive Guide and History of America's Largest Winegrowing Region... 

Apr 12, 2023 at 6:00 AM Permalink

Lodi Wine Experience at Lodi Lake is back, May 19-20!

Are your ready for a different kind of wine experience?

One that takes place in a lush oasis dotted with towering oaks and willows, surrounded by the ice-cold waters of the Mokelumne River on one side and an enchanting lake on the other? Love will be in the air, as it always is during wine events at bucolic Lodi Lake. Love of wine, that is, and love of wine-friendly foods, love of learning and talking about wine, love of nature and love among, well, wine lovers of similar ilk, from neophytes to connoisseurs. Almost takes you back to the immortal words of Jimi Hendrix...

If you can just get your mind together
Then come on across to me...

But first, are you experienced?
Have you ever been experienced?
Well, I have...

Apr 10, 2023 at 5:00 AM Permalink

Red wines to help celebrate the season for spring lamb

Working sheep among old vine Zinfandel in Schulenburg Vineyard, on the west side of Lodi's Mokelumne River AVA.

This coming Sunday (April 9, 2023) is Easter. I don't know about you, but my Easter dinner main course is all set: a leg of lamb!

What's up with the entire idea of "spring lamb?" The USDA actually defines lamb meat as such: 

Most lambs are brought to market at about 6 to 8 months old. A lamb weighs about 140 pounds and yields approximately 46 to 49 pounds of edible lean retail lamb cuts, semi-boneless. If the phrase "Spring Lamb" is on a meat label, it means the lamb was slaughtered between March and October... 

Apr 3, 2023 at 2:00 PM Permalink

Voluptuary + Lucid embraces Lodi grapes like gifts of nature, perfectly suitable for adventurous winemaking

Voluptuary + Lucid owner/winemaker Kevin Luther in a book lined corner of his urban Sacramento winery/tasting room.

A "natural" winemaker in flux

There is a micro-winery located in our State Capitol of Sacramento owned by a winemaker named Kevin Luther. Mr. Luther bottles wines under his Voluptuary + Lucid brand, all with curious, almost dreamy, artistic labels reflecting the restless dispostion of the winemaker himself.

Not that Voluptuary + Lucid wines are "all about Kevin." Surprisingly, they are not, despite the continuous compulsion to explore perspectives and techniques on the part of this particular Kevin in question...

Mar 30, 2023 at 2:00 PM Permalink

Arianna Wines harbors a passion for Lodi-grown Torrontés, one of the world's most exotic white varietals

Arianna Wines owner/winemaker Arianna Spoto with Torrontés vines in Lodi's Silvaspoons Vineyards.

Many of America's best independent winemakers are driven by passion; and not uncommonly, it is passion first fired up by one moment of serendipity.

For Arianna Wines owner/winemaker Arianno Spoto, that moment came in 2014, while she was working a harvest in Argentina's Mendoza region, when a colleague shared a bottle of local white wine with her.

"It was a wonderful," recalls Spoto. "The wine had an amazing fragrance, like rose water and spice, reminding me a little of Gewürztraminer, but with a freshness that reminded me a little of a ripe Sauvignon Blanc. I asked, 'what is this?' I was told that it was made from Torrontés, a grape that grows everywhere in Argentina, sort of like Chardonnay is found everywhere in California... 

Mar 27, 2023 at 8:00 AM Permalink