Finicky Graciano grape achieves mini-cult status in Lodi’s Clements Hills

Graciano grapes in Bokisch's Terra Alta Vineyard

It was during one of their first trips to Spain when Rick and Erin Taylor first tasted a wine made from the Graciano grape, right from a barrel in a little bodega (winery).  “We were blown away,” says Mr. Taylor.  “It was unlike anything else we’d ever tasted.”

Later, when the Taylors discovered that Markus and Liz Bokisch were growing Graciano here in Lodi, where the Taylors were also living, “we knew we had to make that wine...”

Jul 30, 2012 at 8:15 PM Permalink

Michael David easy-skankin’ at their annual REGGAE & RHONE concert

Reggae master, Mystic Bowie

Oh lord, stuck in Lodi has never been so irie, mon… Michael David Winery continues with their 10th annual REGGAE & RHONE concert (Saturday, August 18, 6 PM), which will include an unbelievable Rhone style wine tasting under the winery’s gigantic weeping willow tree, a full-on Caribbean style barbecue dinner (by Stockton’s Breadfruit Tree), and the authentically Jamaican, so-jah-say, dem-belly-full, lively-up-yourself (and don’t say no!) sounds of Mystic Bowie and his band...

Jul 25, 2012 at 8:20 PM Permalink

Pasos Tannat can crank up summer grills

Lodi grown Tannat grapes

Tannat is not a wine grape to be trifled with.  Its black-purplish color can be intimidating, and its thick, tannin laden texture a mountainous affair.  If none of that bothers you in a red wine, then you can, to paraphrase Jimi Hendrix, chop it down with the edge of your hand.  Maybe pick up all the pieces and make an island, like a kid playing with food on the plate...

Jul 19, 2012 at 8:30 PM Permalink

ZAP’s upcoming Grille O’Rama speaks to Zinfandel’s barbecued soul

Lodi winemaker Michael McCay's specialty slow cooked oil drum smoked baby backs

ZAP – the Zinfandel Advocates & Producers organization that has done more to popularize the joys of California Zinfandel than anything in the world, apart from the wines themselves – knows where its bread is buttered.

Zinfandel has become an everyday go-to beverage around the world (they’re even rocking with it in places as far-off as Shanghai and Stockholm, Berlin and Bombay…) not just because the grape produces a truly fine and delicious red wine, but also because at its very essence is the bare naked fact:  Zinfandel makes an incredible barbecue wine...

Jul 17, 2012 at 8:36 PM Permalink

Sorelle’s Sangiovese defies all odds

The old Dodge House on Sorelle's estate, fronted by Sangiovese

There’s always one in the bunch.  A newly loosed winegrower, seemingly oblivious to industry trends; making a decision to plant, as his centerpiece, a grape with a solid track record of market disappointment:  California grown Sangiovese...

Jul 12, 2012 at 8:45 PM Permalink

Lodi at its crazy best: Borra’s exciting, new Intuition White

The crazy thing about Lodi these days is that the surprises never seem to cease.  Instead, we have vignerons who insist on constantly breaking the mold, while shattering commonly perceived misconceptions in the process.

This month Borra Vineyards – which holds the distinction of being the oldest of Lodi’s small, family owned wineries (originally bonded in 1975) – will be coming out with a brand new sub-label of sorts, to be called Intuition, which will pleasantly surprise, if not shock, even the most knowledgeable of Lodi wine lovers...

Jul 10, 2012 at 8:51 PM Permalink

Round-up of Lodi’s finest dry rosés

Summer sipping in Lodi...

Summer is heating up with a vengeance; and this year the wines that seem to be on everyone’s lips are dry rosés.  And a good rosé, to paraphrase the bard, by any other name may smell as sweet, but are certainly not all the same.

To begin with, rosé wines come in many shades of color, from transparent orange/bricks to extremely bright coral or flamingo-like colors.  Yet all are classified as rosé wines because they are made from black skinned grapes that normally produce red wines:  most commonly, grapes like Grenache, Tempranillo, Carignane, Sangiovese, Pinot Noir, and Zinfandel (although those pink wines that first became so popular in the eighties – sold as White Zinfandel – were also commonly called “blush” wines)...

Jul 5, 2012 at 8:56 PM Permalink

Summer sensations of Downtown Lodi’s Farmers Market & Wine Bars

Fields Family Wines' Russ and Melinda Fields and Jalynn Sherman hanging loose at their Downtown Lodi tasting room during last week's Farmers Market

It’s that time of year, when locals, visitors and families by the thousands are flocking to Downtown Lodi‘s picturesque main drag (School St.) to enjoy The Downtown Certified Farmers Market, which got  off in full swing at the beginning of this past June, and will continue every Thursday (5 to 9 PM) through the month of August...

Jul 3, 2012 at 9:03 PM Permalink

Delicious winemaker obsessions over “odd” grapes and blends

Silvaspoons Vineyards Torrontes, Sept. 2011

An heirloom vine grows in Lodi

What is it with winemakers and their “odd” varieties and blends?  Well, as Robert Mondavi always used to say, winemaking is as much an art as it is a science; and if there’s even a speck of truth to that statement, we have to expect something coming out of left field from some of our more artistic winemakers every once in a while.

Sometimes they produce a wine that is as outlandishly good as it is unusual, and it ends up getting picked out of over a thousand other white wines for an honor like “Best of Show White” in a big-time event like the California State Fair; which is the story of the 2011 Kenneth Volk Silvaspoons Vineyards Alta Mesa Torrontés ($24), grown right here in Lodi by Ron Silva...

Jun 27, 2012 at 9:30 PM Permalink

Mohr-Fry’s celebrated Alicante Bouschet may soon be kicking up daisies, not gold medals

Mohr-Fry grown Alicante Bouschet grapes

One of the Lodi AVA’s most venerated plantings – Mohr-Fry Ranches’ twelve and a half acres of Alicante Bouschet, which originally went into the ground in 1921 – may not be long for this world, which would be a tragic turn of events...

Jun 25, 2012 at 9:37 PM Permalink