Are own-rooted grapevines superior to grapevines grafted on rootstocks?

Two east side Mokelumne River-Lodi Zinfandel specimens over 100 years old: (left) from Kirschenmann Vineyard planted on its own natural roots; (right) Steacy Vineyard planted on St.George rootstocks.

When wine buffs talk about the great wines of the world, they often talk about terroir, an important term of French origin that entails the natural environmental factors—such as climate, soil, topography, aspect, elevation, latitude, etc.—that have a direct effect on grapevine growth, and ultimately on the taste of wines. While terroir is more than about natural conditions—the hand of man also plays a big part of winegrowing—soil plays a crucial role.

Because the closest part of any plant to the ground is its root system, another hot topic of discussion when it comes to grapevines is rootstocks. That is to say, the rooting habits of specifically chosen rootstock selections that might be favorable to a site's soil, or to meet specific objectives such as drought tolerance, disease and pest resistance, grapevine vigor, canopy growth, a targeted average cluster weight, and a host of other concerns...

Jun 5, 2025 at 7:00 AM Permalink

Minerality in Lodi wines

Assyrtiko—a grape known for minerally, sometimes briny qualities—harvested in Perlegos Family's Thera Block, in Lodi's Clements Hills appellation.

Let’s talk about minerality, something a growing number of consumers look for in their wines. 

But why? Because many wine lovers have grown tired of the very qualities which have made American wines—particularly those of predominantly warm Mediterranean climate regions such as California (over 80% of wines produced in the U.S. are from California)—so popular for well over the past 50 years: Fruitiness. That is, predominantly fruity qualities in both aromas and flavors of wines.

Many of the consumers who are tired of fruitiness are turning to wines expressing some degree of minerality. As a sensory descriptor, it alludes to what the word suggests: Perceptions that suggest minerals, stones or an earth-related component in a wine's nose or palate feel, often in the presence of subdued fruit, floral or oak-derived sensations... 

Jun 3, 2025 at 6:00 AM Permalink

A new, different, exciting style of ancient vine Lodi Carignan

Lorenza's Melinda Kearney with ancient vine Carignan in Lodi's Rauser Vineyard, planted in 1909.

Ancient vine Lodi Carignan, 2.0

Lorenza Wine—owned and operated by the mother/daughter team of Melinda Kearney and Michèle Ouellet—has recently released their first red wine sourced from Rauser Vineyard, an own-rooted, east side Lodi vineyard planted in 1909 primarily to Carignan, with small amounts of interplanted Alicante Bouschet and Zinfandel.

The 2023 Lorenza Rauser Vineyard Mokelumne River-Lodi Carignan ($36), however, consists entirely of Carignan. What is noteworthy is how this wine came about, resulting in a totally unique style of this varietal red...

May 28, 2025 at 6:00 AM Permalink

With their new Heleje brand, the Des Voignes family turns culinary dreams into dreamy contemporary wines

Chefs Jake and Shauna Des Voignes in their kitchen with their newly released Heleje wines.

Once upon the time there were two career chefs who met in a super-fine big city restaurant, got married, worked their fingers to the bone. 

Some would say it was a perfect combination since she was a pastry chef and he an executive chef, so it was match made in culinary heaven. Dishes and dessert, right?

But it really wasn’t. So they packed up and retreated (as Eva Gabor used to sing, goodbye city lights!), three kids and all, to her original home in Lodi. He continued to labor, as Executive Chef and later as Food & Beverage Director of the tony Wine & Roses Hotel. Once settled into life back in the country, however, they connected one of the family occupations—grape farming—with a passion that had been simmering, just waiting to ignite, all along during their restaurant careers: Wine. What could be more natural?

May 22, 2025 at 7:00 AM Permalink

Lodi grown wines shine at Historic Vineyard Society In the City tasting

Historic Vineyard Society sign marking Lodi's Marian's Vineyard, also recently named the 2025 Vineyard of the Year (for the entire state of California) by the California State Fair.

At the Historic Vineyard Society In the City tasting in San Francisco this past May 10, 2025, 42 wineries or brands presented a surprising variety of wines (not just Zinfandel!) sourced from some 65 vineyards certified by the non-profit organization known as the Historic Vineyard Society (a.k.a., HVS).

Since its founding in 2011, HVS has been fighting a seemingly uphill battle to preserve the state’s most historic vineyards. Sites going into wines more widely known, in the commercial wine world, as “Old Vine" wines...

May 19, 2025 at 7:00 AM Permalink

Michael McCay talks baby backs

McCay Cellars's Michael McCay barrel smoking his dry rub spiced baby back pork ribs.

Lodi is made for barbecue

The weather is warming up, folks, hitting the 80°s although in Lodi wine country we’re still enjoying those cool Delta breezes. Time to get out of the house, enjoy the rays of sun and cook up some barbecue!

For years now, Lodi winemaker/grower Mike McCay of McCay Cellars has made the perfecting of one of his personal specialties—dry rub seasoned smoked baby back pork ribs—one of his goals in life. I’ve had it enough times to know that he’s got it down. He can probably smoke ‘em in his sleep...

May 12, 2025 at 7:00 AM Permalink

Lodi captures Best of Show and numerous Golds at State Fair, what happens in wine competitions and age-old thoughts on wine appreciation

Blind tasting of Lodi reds.

A Lodi wine is named #1

First, this just in: The 2025 California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition just announced that this year’s “Best of Show Red” is the 2023 St. Amant Winery Barbera, which happens to come from Lodi’s Jahant appellation. It is hard to achieve something as lofty as this—chosen as the best red wine out of thousands of others entered into a wine fair that happens to be the oldest (ongoing since 1854!) and perhaps most prestigious in the country.

Barbera, as it were, is a grape that yields wines of very high acidity, far higher than almost all other black skinned varieties, but in Lodi’s sun soaked environment this acidity finds just the right amount of balance with the grape’s varietal fruit character. That is, when grown in Lodi, the typically high acid of the grape has a way of embellishing the fruit profile of Barbera, rather than taking over with a sharp, palate-prickling tartness...

May 8, 2025 at 7:00 AM Permalink

Exciting first for American grown wines—Bokisch’s Lo Xalet Cava (champagne style sparkler) crafted from authentic Spanish grapes

Bokisch Vineyards' Liz and Markus Bokisch introducing Lo Xalet, America's first cava style sparkler, at their Clements Hills-Lodi winery.

Hang on to your hats, Lodi wine lovers, because the latest innovation coming out of Lodi is a doozy: The 2023 Bokisch Vineyards Clements Hills-Lodi Lo Xalet ($60). This is the first champagne method sparkling wine in California grown and crafted in the style of Spain’s cava (the Spanish word for sparkling wine).

To be an authentic cava style sparkler, a wine has to be made from the traditional grapes of Spain’s Cava D.O. (Denominación de Origen, or “Designation of Origin”), perched along the Mediterranean Sea in Catalonia’s Penedès region, south of Barcelona. The required grapes indigenous to Cava form something of a “holy trinity”...

Apr 30, 2025 at 7:00 AM Permalink

A new Cerasuolo inspired rosé is already rocking the Lodi wine scene

A rosé that thinks it’s a red

Take a gander at this bottle of wine adorned with the plainest of labels, explaining exactly what it is: The 2024 Kirschenbloom Lodi Rosé ($24), produced and bottled by Sandlands Vineyards. However, looks can be deceiving. There is nothing plain or ordinary about this wine because it is already a game changer in the Lodi wine scene, perhaps in all of California.

First thing you notice through its clear glass is that it is a very rosy, an almost reddish colored rosé. I can tell you, after having tasting it, that it is dry as a bone, very lively and energetic with prickly fresh fruit acidity, and deep, deep in flavors suggesting peak season cherry with a touch of kitchen spice. The wine’s dryness, in fact, is only emphasized by the barest sensation of tannin, the firming sensory quality derived from skins and seeds of grapes normally found in red wines. 

It is a rosé, in fact, that tastes as light and zesty as any of today’s rosés, yet is a little richer than that. It has a sturdiness that forces you think of a red wine as you sip it... 

Apr 28, 2025 at 7:00 AM Permalink

The perfect spring chicken is cooked in white wine

Spring flowers in Michael David Winery's gardens.

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

One month into spring in 2025—finally, nights are less chilly, days are warmer, and the sun is up until past 7:30!

‘Tis also the season of transition at our tables. Our taste for red wines goes from heavier reds, such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Petite Sirah, to lighter reds such as Grenache, Cinsaut, Mission or easy drinking Zinfandels. Slowly but surely, we also find ourselves reaching for more cool, refreshing white wines, or maybe rosés...

Apr 24, 2025 at 7:00 AM Permalink