Lodi Zinfandel’s transitioning styles & unbeatable food-moxie

Classic old vine Zinfandel: Soucie Vineyard, planted in 1916 in the super-sandy loam soil of Lodi's Mokelumne River AVA

This is the first of three consecutive parts of an autumn paen to Zinfandel. That is, Lodi‘s special Zinfandels…

Not too long ago, when people said “Zinfandel,” they usually meant something pink and sweet. But those days are gone; and aside from Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi, virtually no winery in Lodi makes a (now) old fashioned, fruity White Zinfandel. Zinfandel is back to being a red wine, period.

The styles of Zinfandel, however, have undergone a few transitions since the White Zinfandel craze. Before Zinfandel became pink, varietal bottlings of red Zinfandel tended to be fairly light, soft in tannin, and fairly zesty with prickly acidity. 13% alcohol was considered “big,” and the grape was associated with traditional producers of the day, like Louis Martini and Sebastiani...

Nov 20, 2012 at 4:58 PM Permalink

The Phillips family’s turkey day run & killer chestnut stuffing

Holiday strutters at Phillips Farms

“We are not very exciting when it comes to Thanksgiving,” says David Phillips, co-owner and president of Lodi’s Michael David Winery.

Instead, what Mr. Phillips does – together with his wife Corene, and two sons Connor and Joseph – is wake up early every Thanksgiving morning, and hit the pavement in the Run and Walk Against Hunger in Downtown Stockton, benefitting the Stockton/San Joaquin Emergency Food Bank.  Par for the course for a family who also enjoys skiing, mountain biking, and competing in triathlons together.

Then after this year’s Thanksgiving run, they will go home and prepare a $700 turkey...

Nov 15, 2012 at 5:07 PM Permalink

Lange family Thanksgiving & wild rice

Thanksgiving table at the Langes'

“All happy families are alike,” wrote Tolstoy.  In this day and age, even the happiest and closest knit of families end up varying their Thanksgiving celebrations – that’s just the way it is, even in Lodi wine country...

Nov 13, 2012 at 11:15 AM Permalink

New, exciting, even strange brews at m2 Wines

Layne Montgomery with artist's depiction of future m2 estate

For the past eight years, the compelling quality of m2 Wines has been all the impetus Lodi wine lovers have needed to beat a path to winemaker/proprietor Layne Montgomery’s unadorned warehouse/winery, on the far eastern side of town along Turner Rd.

Nonetheless, Montgomery thinks it’s high time that he makes a move into a “real winery.”  Thus, Montgomery and his original group of partners and investors have announced plans to break ground – as early as this December, if weather and permitting goes well – for a new m2 estate on a triangular 17 acre site south of Peltier Rd., just west of Hwy. 99 along the railroad tracks...

Nov 7, 2012 at 11:23 AM Permalink

Get into holiday spirit with LoCA by helping with Lodi Community Food Drive

Holiday squash at Michael David Winery

‘Tis the season to give thanks and praise for everything we are fortunate to be blessed with in our lives:  family, friends, a caring community, and — especially for Lodi — the generosity of the 2012 wine grape harvest (a truly rare combination of exceptional quality and crop size)...

Nov 1, 2012 at 11:34 AM Permalink

Tom Hoffman goes against the grain at Heritage Oak

Tom Hoffman doing his canoe paddle punch-downs

Like his wines, Heritage Oak Winery’s Tom Hoffman has never been one for hyperbole or false deprecation:  he just says it like it is; and if it makes sense, that’s the way he does it.

One thing you can always depend upon when enjoying a Lodi grown Heritage Oak wine:  it will taste pretty much like the grapes it is made from, along with the vintage conditions shaping its sensations...

Oct 30, 2012 at 11:41 AM Permalink

At Peirano, the power of believing – and the famous Red Shorts

Lance Randolph & his famous Red Shorts

As of Thursday, October 25, 2012, there are still grapes to be picked in Lodi, despite the dark weather and downpour at the start of the past week.

Meanwhile, the memo came in Monday (October 22) from Peirano Estate Vineyards, a property originally planted by an Italian immigrant named Giacomo Peirano in the 1890s:  Lance Randolph – Giacomo’s descendent, and current Peirano winemaker/owner – has taken off his red shorts!  Wrote Mr. Randolph...

Oct 25, 2012 at 11:52 AM Permalink

Silvaspoons Souzão picked for the prestigious R label

Ron Silva examining his tiny clustered 2012 Souzao

“It will be a European style vintage for the Souzão this year,” says Ron Silva.  While picking his Souzão grapes in his Silvaspoons Vineyards in Lodi’s Alta Mesa AVA last week Thursday (October 18), Mr. Silva elaborated on one of the peculiarities of the 2012 vintage...

Oct 23, 2012 at 2:42 PM Permalink

Viñedos Aurora’s 2010 reds are ripped & rich as a box of chocolates

Vinedos Aurora's Gerardo Espinosa field sorting Petite Sirah

Last week Thursday (October 11) Viñedos Aurora – on the western edge of Lodi’s Clements Hills AVA, near the little town of Lockeford – began their 2012 harvest, starting with their Petite Sirah, followed (two days later) by their estate grown Cabernet Sauvignon...

Oct 18, 2012 at 2:53 PM Permalink

Phillips Farms finishing up on “phenomenal” 2012 harvest

Kevin Phillips with his Jahant Vineyard Petite Sirah

If you’ve seen Kevin Phillips – Michael David Winery’s VP of Operations, and sixth generation Lodi farmer – walking around lately, you probably noticed a big smile on his face.  Like he’s just inhaled one of Phillips Farms’ surrealistic-pillowy grape pies, or taken in a fresh load of aromatic compost (hey, so Lodi farmers have slightly different predilections).

But what’s actually gotten Mr. Phillips turned on is Lodi’s 2012 wine grape harvest, which he’s calling “phenomenal.”  Mind you, farmers are by nature glass-half-empty types – dealing with the harsh realities regularly dished out by Mother Nature comes with the territory – and so words like phenomenal are indeed seldom heard...

Oct 16, 2012 at 3:01 PM Permalink