For chicken cooked in wine: bountiful Lodi whites to choose from

Spring on the brink in Michael-David Winery's garden

Wine
stirs the spring, happiness
bursts through the earth like a plant…
- Pablo Neruda

‘Tis the season of transition, here at the end of winter and the start of spring.  At the table, our taste for red wines goes from heavier (like Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah) to lighter (like Garnacha, Primitivo or lighter Zinfandels); or better yet, directly into cool, refreshing white wines.

In the kitchen we start to make changes, too – from red meats to whites, from cooked vegetables to salads.  Here’s an idea for an ideal transitional dish:  coq au vin blanc – a classic French inspired stew of chicken, onions and mushrooms, cooked in lighter white wine rather than a dark, heavy red...

Mar 16, 2012 at 2:43 PM Permalink

The rarest Lodi Zinfandel of all

Ever wanna catch lightning in a bottle? 

For a limited time only – and we cannot overstate the term “limited” – you can try some:  the 2010 Michael Klouda Broken Vine Lodi Zinfandel ($16).  A wine that literally qualifies as the rarest of the best of Lodi’s Zinfandels.

The story:  the Broken Vine moniker refers to the 60 year old Zinfandel vine that a then 22 year old viticultural assistant at Michael-David Winery named Michael Klouda knocked over, the first time he got a tractor to mow between the rows of Bob Schulenburg’s vineyard off Moore Rd. on Lodi’s west side...

Mar 13, 2012 at 2:40 PM Permalink

Dry cold 2012 winter concerns Lodi winegrowers

Immaculately pruned trellised vines seen through Phillips Farms' blossoming peaches (March 2012)

By the middle of March the yearly pruning of Lodi’s vineyards, which for big growers can start as early as the December before, is usually all done — just in time for buds left on the naked vines to begin to pop open and grow into new shoots.  But because of 2012’s dry winter – less than half the January-February rainfall than normal – many of Lodi’s growers are thinking that March 2012 may have arrived too soon...

Mar 9, 2012 at 2:36 PM Permalink

The fiery fall and resplendent resurrection of Flame Tokay

2011 Tokay in Jessie’s Grove’s Royal Tee Vineyard

Is there no end to the originality and authenticity of Lodi as an American Viticultural Area?

The 2009 Jessie’s Grove Lodi Ancient Vine Tokay ($35/500 ML) is like a strangely beautiful, exotic bird.  According to winemaker/proprietor Greg Burns, it is “another one of our sweet indulgences.”  Oh, it is something of a sweet, fortified (16.82% alcohol) dessert wine, yet is emphatically the opposite of the heavy, cloying type of sweet wine usually relegated to “dessert.”

Mar 6, 2012 at 2:30 PM Permalink

Ursa Vineyards discovers Basque roots in Lodi grown Tannat

Ursa Vineyards winemaker/proprietor Deborah Elissagaray

 Ursa Vineyards is made up of the husband and wife winemaking team of Greg Stokes and Deborah Elissagaray, who founded their own winery in the Sierra Foothills sub-AVA of El Dorado in 2001.

Yet a large part of Stokes and Elissagary’s book comes from grapes grown by Ron Silva of Silvaspoons Vineyards, located in Lodi’s Alta Mesa AVA.  Particularly one that pays homage to Ms. Ellisagaray’s Basque heritage:  the black skinned grape called Tannat.  They also produce varietals from Silvaspoons grown grapes of Portuguese origin; including Verdelho for white wine, and Souzão for a smooth, bouncy table red as well as a sweet Port style red...

Mar 1, 2012 at 2:26 PM Permalink

Premier grower Leland Noma says “it’s a great time to be a farmer in Lodi”

Leland Noma, in one of his classic old head trained Zinfandel vineyrds

Leland Noma, says Tim Holdener, winemaker/proprietor of Macchia Wines, “is one of Lodi’s premier growers… always agreeable, and a really good partner.”  Holdener adds that Noma also grows “some of the highest priced grapes in Lodi,” but he’s not complaining.  Especially when you consider the consistently award winning acclaim Noma’s grapes have won for Macchia:  particularly for Holdener’s Outrageous Zinfandel – sourced from a shining relic of a 100+ year old vineyard farmed by Noma along Victor Road, just east of the town of Lodi – as well as for a Barbera supplied from a 42 year old vineyard kept on something of life support by Noma’s stubborn labors...

Feb 28, 2012 at 9:31 AM Permalink

The story continues: Lodi’s magical Bechthold Vineyard

Tegan Passlacqua (left) and Christina Turley of Turley Wine Cellars, harvesting Bechthold Cinsault

Part 2 – Why Lodi’s Bechthold Cinsault may be the “future” of wine

The well known phenomenon of “old vines” is, first of all, the fact that they tend to produce more intense wines because older vines naturally set lower crops.  Bechthold Vineyard, planted in 1886, is as old as it gets for Lodi – an American Viticultural Area replete with vines planted prior to 1960 (although the label designation “old vines” is unregulated, for our purposes what we call old vines would be vineyards with vines planted over 50 years ago — but there is more, much more, to the story...

Feb 22, 2012 at 9:02 AM Permalink

Lodi’s oldest existing vines: the magical Bechthold Vineyard

Wanda Woock Bechthold, Lodi's Renaissance woman

Part 1 – The rediscovery of a diamond in the Delta mists

Tegan Passalacqua, the vineyard manager of the esteemed Turley Wine Cellars, calls it “one of the last of the great dry farmed vineyards in Lodi.” Jillian Phoenix, the former winemaker of Bonny Doon Vineyard and current winemaker/co-owner of Phoenix Ranch in Napa Valley, calls it “a magical vineyard” planted to Cinsault grapes that are “by far the most interesting I have ever worked with in California.” Bonny Doon’s famed owner, Randall Grahm, calls the vineyard “the future of California wine… if people can ever become civilized.”

Feb 20, 2012 at 8:55 AM Permalink

Lodi’s memorable 2012 Wine & Chocolate Weekend

Good times during Wine & Chocolate Weekend at Klinker Brick Winery...

Nearly 5,000 lovers of love, life, chocolate and all the variations of lush, juicy Lodi wine cannot be wrong about Lodi’s Wine & Chocolate Weekend this past weekend, February 11-12, 2012.

Just four of the many vinous and chocolate infused highlights that were enjoyed...

Feb 13, 2012 at 8:49 AM Permalink

Oak Ridge is all about Lodi heart (and spice!)

The Oak Ridge Winery tasting room (housed in Tank No. 150)

If we told you that there is a successful 300,000 case Lodi winery owned by some of this American Viticultural Area’s oldest families, producing wines that are flying off store shelves across the U.S. as well as in European countries like Sweden, then you might say, “yep, Michael-David sure has grown.”

Feb 8, 2012 at 8:36 AM Permalink