The Wine Spectator gives credence to Lodi’s “rising tide” of premium winegrowing

First two pages of the Wine Spectator story on Lodi wine country, depicting Bokisch Vineyards' Markus Bokisch in his Terra Alta Vineyard (image courtesy of Wine Spectator; photograph by Michelle Drewes)

In the current (December 2018) issue of Wine Spectator – America’s most widely read wine magazine – Lodi is described as “the engine of California’s wine industry” in a 6-page spread, entitled Lodi Looks Ahead – California’s grapegrowing dynamo is adding fine wine to its résumé...

Nov 19, 2018 at 12:00 PM Permalink

Thanksgiving shopping list: One dozen “very Lodi” wines

Winemaker's daughter (Marina Holman) with bounty of Lodi grapes

What makes a wine “very Lodi?”

First, it’s more than just grown and produced in Lodi. It’s also a wine that would be hard to duplicate elsewhere in the world.

The finer white wines grown in Lodi, for instance, tend to be light, fresh, and ringingly pure in their fruit qualities. The region’s dependable Mediterranean climate and well drained sandy soils dictate a lot of that. Lodi’s white wine specialists tend to pick their grapes early in the season – early August is the norm, but sometimes it’s as soon as late July – before the grapes reach higher sugar levels and before they lose their natural acidity. Lower sugars means moderate alcohol levels (12% to 13%), and more natural acidity means tingly tart tastes; framing the natural fruit aromas and flavors in a pristinely fresh, crisp packages...

Nov 13, 2018 at 3:00 PM Permalink

Maître de Chai finds “new California” wine in Lodi’s Clements Hills

Maître de Chai's Alex Pitts (left) and Marty Winters in Clements Hills-Lodi's Stampede Vineyard

Every “new” generation re-invents the wheel. Why not?

Old-timers can recall when Robert Mondavi boldly proclaimed, in the late 1960s, that we are entering the “Golden Age of California Wine.” The 1976 “Judgement of Paris” – when a California Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon happened to “best” a collection of classic French wines of similar ilk – further emboldened the Golden State wine industry, and certainly captured the attention of wine lovers across the country and around the world. It is one of many reasons why, to this day, California still produces over 66% of the wine consumed in the U.S. (re Thach MW’s Overview of the U.S. Wine Industry in 2018)...

Nov 8, 2018 at 2:10 PM Permalink

The Burlington Chandler reds of longtime Lodi natives Mark and Jan Burlington Chandler

Burlington Chandler grower Mark Chandler taking sugar reading of 2018 Malbec with his refractometer

Mark Chandler and Jan Burlington Chandler are well known in the Lodi community – Mark as the former Executive Director of Lodi Winegrape Commission and a current wine industry consultant and Lodi City Council member, and Jan as President of San Joaquin Sulphur Co. and a Co-Chair for Lodi Memorial Health Foundation – and together they are now producing wines under the Burlington Chandler label, all grown from their own estate vineyards in Lodi.

Last week – during the final days of harvest at the Burlington Chandler Vineyard on the north and south sides of E. Peltier Rd. near Des Moines Rd. – Mr. Chandler took the time to chat about his two current releases...

Nov 5, 2018 at 7:00 AM Permalink

McManis Family’s transition to Lodi appellation wines (that are also fantastic buys)

Harvest dawn in McManis Family Vineyards' Sierra Loma Vineyard (Borden Ranch-Lodi AVA)

McManis Family Vineyards might be the largest grower of Lodi grapes still unfamiliar to most Lodi wine lovers. There are two reasons for that.

Number one, the McManis Family operation is based in the south end of San Joaquin Valley in the City of Ripon, population 14,000 or so. Like Lodi, Ripon is an agricultural community; dominated, if anything, by almonds, which the locals charmingly call “am’ns.” But right behind nuts are wine grapes, and the quiet force behind this economic factor is McManis Family, who have been farming in San Joaquin Valley since 1938...

Nov 1, 2018 at 6:00 AM Permalink

Lodi continues efforts to reach new audiences

More than 20 Japanese wine professionals recently visited Lodi and learned a whole lot about the region's wines, terroir and people.

Hiro Tejima is a wine professional new to his job as Japan Director with the California Wine Institute after working many years in the Australian wine industry.

Tejima, who is based in Sydney, Australia, recently brought a group of 20 acclaimed Japanese wine professionals to Lodi. The contingent included sommeliers, wine educators, restaurateurs, media and representatives from the top 10 most successful restaurants in the 2018 California Wines by the Glass Program.

Oct 30, 2018 at 8:00 AM Permalink

Aficionados of Spanish inspired wines to celebrate 2018 Lodi Tour of Tempranillo this coming November 9-11

For what has become an autumn ritual for Lodi wine country, we advise you to block out the second weekend of November – Friday the 9th through Sunday the 11th – to partake in the 2018 Lodi Tour of Tempranillo Weekend.

While there are easily over two dozen red wine grapes grown successfully in the Lodi Viticultural Area, Tempranillo has emerged as one of the most natural fits for the region’s Mediterranean climate and terroir; whether grown in the sandy loams or gravelly clay loams of Lodi’s west side appellations (Mokelumne River, Jahant and Alta Mesa), or in the cobble or boulder strewn volcanic mounds of the east side AVAs (Clements Hills and Borden Ranch)...

Oct 25, 2018 at 12:30 PM Permalink

Michael David’s new Politically Correct red continues to shake things up in Lodi’s wine industry

Michael David Winery's new Politically Correct red

Bold, decisive strokes. That’s what’s turned Lodi’s Michael David Winery from a modest (2,000-case), local winery in 2002 to a million-case winery producing wines sold all over the world in 2018.

With yesterday’s news that Michael David Winery has sold their eponymous brand, 7 Deadly Zins, to the The Wine Group (TWG) – a Livermore-based management-owned company that also controls Cupcake, Franzia, flipflop, Almaden, Big House, Benzinger Family, Glen Ellen, Mogen David and even more brands – it has become clear that more changes are afoot at Lodi’s most widely known family-owned winegrowing/winemaking company...

Oct 23, 2018 at 12:00 PM Permalink

The nitty-gritty on Lodi’s seven American Viticultural Areas (AVAs)

Beautifully restored riparian environment showing classic San Joaquin Series soil (a clay alluvium, and also the official state soil of California) in LangeTwins Family Vineyards' Jahant AVA estate

 Why sub-divide a region by smaller AVAs?

In August 2006, when the TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau) approved the usage of seven new American Viticultural Areas (a.k.a. AVAs) within the broader Lodi AVA (originally established in 1986), the question in the minds of a lot of people among the wine industry, the media and consumers was: why?

Isn’t getting anyone to recognize Lodi as an existing wine region hard enough, without complicating the matter with seven more sub-regions?

The question is legitimate. Then again, so is the answer – the reasons for establishing the Lodi sub-appellations even if, in the beginning, they are unfamiliar to just about everyone outside the growers who actually work these vineyards...

Oct 18, 2018 at 8:00 AM Permalink

Bokisch Vineyards releases groundbreaking Monastrell (a.k.a. Mourvèdre)

2018 Monastrell this past week in Bokisch's Sheldon Hills Vineyard (Sloughhouse-Lodi AVA)

This past weekend, Lodi’s Bokisch Vineyards debuted a Monastrell – a Spanish moniker for the varietal more commonly known as Mourvèdre – that has to be described as no less than groundbreaking. For Lodi, as well as for California in general.

First, the wine in question: The 2016 Bokisch Vineyards Sheldon Hills Vineyard Sloughhouse-Lodi Monastrell ($25) is a dark ruby colored wine showing off an elusive yet compelling nose suggesting sweet Santa Rosa plum and sun dried cherry, tinged with rosemary/thyme-like fragrances against a faint backdrop of coffee/mocha spices and roasting meats. On the palate, the wine is meaty textured with a medium-full body that has a dense, textured, viscous feel – like a vinous equivalent to fluid, savory demi-glace – without being weighty or plodding; the plummy/dried cherry sensations playing with the kitchen herby/mocha spice sensations all the way into a lip smacking finish. In short, good enough to eat!

Oct 11, 2018 at 1:30 PM Permalink