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.
Ode to Lodi's legendary Flame Tokay, never to be forgotten
About eight miles east of the City of Lodi, there is a short country lane called Tokay Colony Road, demarcated by Hwy. 88 to the west and N. Tully Rd. at its eastern end. It's an interesting road because it was named for the grape variety called Tokay—more properly known by its full name, Flame Tokay—which for about 100 years was the most widely planted grape in the Lodi wine appellation.
Only, it was never really a wine grape. Flame Tokay was primarily a table grape, grown for the fresh market, in supply for no more than a month's time each year...
Continue »Favorite Lodi Zinfandel and cheese matches
The air is still a little nippy, if not downright damp, which is why I, for one, tend to tucker down in the safety of my four walls at night. Preferably with a bottle of Zinfandel.
I drink Zinfandel with almost everything, including my favorite foods, such as spaghetti and meatballs, pan fried pork chops, Asian spiced barbecued baby back ribs, hibachi grilled salmon, or just plain pasta and garlic. How do you spell comfort?
Zinfandel, as it were, is also surprisingly good with cheese. Especially the gourmet type cheeses you find at Cheese Central, the artisanal cheese store owned by Cindy Della Monica, located in Downtown Lodi...
Continue »For one last time: level of alcohol has little to do with overall quality or balance in wines
There was an unexpected response to one of our articles posted at the end of January on Zinfandels tasted at the last big Zinfandel Advocates & Producers Grand Tasting in San Francisco (see At 2024 ZAP, it is clear that California Zinfandel has finally grown up).
On social media, one widely known wine journalist asked, "Why did you not list alcohol levels of the Zinfandels you wrote about?" His explanation for his question: "Knowing the alcohol levels helps me decide if I like a wine or not."
When it comes to wine, the rule is always to-each-his-own. Neither I nor anyone can never tell you how to appreciate wine. But when it comes to alcohol, particularly as it pertains to California Zinfandel, I can advise you based on simple facts: It is a big mistake to pre-judge a wine by its level of alcohol—something the industry often refers to as ABV, or Alcohol by Volume, usually listed in small print on the sides of wine labels...
Continue »Christopher Cellars' blend of classic Lodi grapes among Best of Class winners at 2024 San Francisco Chronicle Competition
The yearly San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition is a massive affair, taking place at the end of each January. The 2024 edition involved 52 professional judges tasting over 5,500 wines.
Wines are entered from anywhere in North America. Consequently, when the 2024 winners of the 177 classes of wines were announced, winning bottlings hailed from everywhere from California's Napa Valley and Sonoma County to Washington, Oregon, Michigan, Texas, Idaho and New York...
Continue »Photographic memories of Lodi's 27th Wine and Chocolate weekend
Neither rain (luckily, minimal!) nor blustery winds seemed to deter thousands of Lodi wine lovers enjoying the region's 27th annual Wine and Chocolate weekend, this past February 2-4, 2024.
Friday the 2nd started with intimate dinners or special tasting events Heritage Oak, Housley's Century Oak, Oak Farm, Peltier, Rippey Family, St. Amant and The Dancing Fox wineries...
Continue »At 2024 ZAP, it is clear that California Zinfandel has finally grown up
There is undoubtedly no organization that has done more for a single varietal category than Zinfandel Advocates & Producers, a.k.a. ZAP.
When ZAP started back in the early 1990s, Zinfandel was on the ropes. Many of the bigger, higher profile brands were dropping the varietal from their line-ups. Cabernet Sauvignon had become California's most important varietal red. The popularity of Merlot was growing rapidly, and Pinot noir was being aggressively planted in the cooler climate pockets of the state where it belonged.
This was despite the fact that, for over 100 years, Zinfandel was the tried-and-true grape, adapting far more easily to California's Mediterranean climate than any other variety of Vitis vinifera (i.e., cultivars belonging to the European family of wine grapes) aside from Carignan. At the time, the future of Zinfandel was in serious jeopardy...
Continue »Winter pruning, the crucial time of the year for vineyards, old vine plantings and wine quality
Winter is coming
Winter, you can say, is the "quiet time" of year in wine regions around the world. Yet there is a lot going on. Not just in the wineries, where cellar hands are busy topping off barrels and getting white wines and rosés resting in tanks or wood ready for bottling. But also in the vineyards, in amongst the plants that are bereft of leaves, seemingly in the midst of a cold and continuously rain-soaked hibernation.
Consider the fact that, depending on plant spacing, there are somewhere from 900 to 1,200 grapevines per acre in most California wine regions. In Lodi, there are over 100,000 acres of planted wine grapes. This means there are over 90 million grapevines that need to be pruned during the course of each winter. If it sounds like a daunting task, it is!
Continue »For 2024 Lodi Wine & Chocolate Winery Tours (February 3), a description of each winery and their offerings
While Lodi's 2024 Wine & Chocolate weekend is a three-day event—including individual winery dinners on Friday (February 2) and a gala Winemakers Toast at Wine & Roses Hotel on Sunday (February 4)—the main event is still the self-guided, passport style Winery Tours on Saturday (February 3).
On this day, over 35 Lodi appellation wineries will open their doors between 11:00 AM and 4:00 PM. They each go all-out to outdo each other with special tastings, delectable treats, live music (at many wineries), and of course, lots of chocolate.
The challenge, as Lodi wine and chocolate lovers have found over the past 26 years, is picking and choosing where to go, as there isn't enough time or capacity (we want you to enjoy your Lodi Wine & Chocolate weekend safely and sensibly!) to go everywhere...
Continue »A masterly photographer shows Nature and Lodi winegrowing under a muscular, jarring, different slant of light
Cutout of photograph exalting a Lodi ancient vine Zinfandel harvest by Allison Watkins.
There are photographers and there are photographers. We have invited Allison Watkins of Allison Watkins Studio to share a photo-essay because of her distinctively artistic feel for wine photography. Particularly her Lodi Viticultural Area photography.
Watkins lives in Napa Valley and teaches fine art photography. An inveterate inhabitant of the darkroom since high school, she studied fine art photography while taking her BA at San Jose State University, which led to a Master of Fine Arts at San Francisco University...
Continue »Lodi's Wine & Chocolate (February 2-4, 2024) is a finer, funner, purer, more multifaceted and educational experience than ever
Now is the time to snag tickets to Lodi wine country's most popular event of each year: the Lodi Wine & Chocolate weekend!
And it's coming right up, on February 2-4, 2024!
2024's proceedings will be the region's 27th celebration of the theme of Lodi grown wine, locally crafted chocolates (plus many other foods!), and of course, the love of companionship, be it with significant others, friends and family. These are the reasons, no doubt, why Lodi wine lovers have been coming out in droves each year for this unique experience.
Lodi Wine & Chocolate is, in fact, perhaps the most important business weekend of the year for the Lodi winemaking community. It has been not only an opportunity to reconnect with friends, both old and new, but it has served to generate funds in support of the region's continuing programs in marketing, education, research, and sustainable viticulture...
Continue »