Bokisch Vineyards demonstrates impact of terroir on grapes (plus new Bokisch label wines)

Albariño harvest in Bokisch Ranches' Terra Alta Vineyard (Clements Hills-Lodi AVA)

Continuing our study of the impact of vineyard conditions – or terroir (i.e. “sense of place”) – on wine grape clusters and finished wines, we asked Bokisch Vineyards to gather 2018 grape samples from their multiple vineyards for us to compare, side-by-side.

The well over 2,000 acres farmed by Bokisch Ranches make a fascinating study. First, because their vineyards are located in five of Lodi’s official sub-AVAs (Mokelumne River, Clements Hills, Borden Ranch, Jahant, and Sloughhouse), plus in the south-east corner of the broader Lodi AVA near Linden (which is not part of any sub-AVA), as well as on Andrus Island just outside the western edge of the Lodi AVA (in the Delta area near Isleton, sandwiched between the Sacramento River and Georgiana Slough)...

Aug 27, 2018 at 10:00 AM Permalink

Lodi's Scott McKenzie is building his family's tradition

Scott McKenzie of McKenzie Vineyards and Winery is a busy guy with harvest this month, a new sparkling wine in production and a new tasting room opening in September in downtown Lodi. 

Scott McKenzie is a winegrape grower, husband and father.

And he’s a curator of his family’s history.

Stepping onto the McKenzie’s property in Acampo is a step back in time. Barns, stables, sheds, tractors, trucks, farming implements, picking boxes, a crank telephone and volumes of photos and records detail a proud family farming history that dates to 1895. Pictures of a bygone era stand on book shelves and night stands and hang from the walls inside the home his great grandparents built, where Woodbridge Road dead ends east of Dustin Road.

“There’s just a lot of history that people don’t know,” McKenzie said. “I’d like to get it out there before it’s all forgotten.”

Aug 22, 2018 at 8:00 AM Permalink

Oak Farm’s latest vineyard-designate Zinfandels are paradigms of terroir

Giant, centuries-old valley oak and oversized owlbox in Oak Farm Vineyards

A quick history of terroir-focused winemaking in Lodi

What is the impact of terroir, or sense of place, on individual Zinfandel plantings in Lodi?

Terroir-related distinctions can be observed in a vineyard – felt below your feet, in the air touching on your skin, in the visible responses of individual vines to their surrounding environment – and in turn, tasted in a wine... if crafted in sufficiently focused fashion.

Most commercial wines, as it were, are not crafted to express terroir. The priority for the vast majority of wineries, especially in the U.S., is to produce wines with a year-to-year consistency of taste; to establish a particular style that results in brand loyalty; or very often, to achieve a certain varietal profile (i.e. more universal sensory qualities distinguishing grape varieties, regardless of vineyard or regional origin) that appeals to consumers and critics alike. Capturing nuances reflecting physical conditions of specific vineyards is usually way down on the totem pole; if considered at all. Mind you, nothing wrong with that. Welcome to the wine world...

Aug 20, 2018 at 5:00 AM Permalink

Lodi’s single-vineyard wines (Part 2: east side growths)

Zinfandel in Süess Vineyard this past week (early August 2018) in Lodi's Clements Hills AVA

Continued from Lodi’s single-vineyard wines (Part 1: west side growths)

Ready to geek out further on Lodi’s old vine growths, and what makes them utterly unique in the entire world of fine wines? Let’s start with this...

Impact of sandy loam soil

When nineteenth century growers first began farming in the areas surrounding the burgeoning community of Lodi, they chose properties with the deep (20 to 50-ft.) sandy loam soil now classified in the Tokay series (named for the pinkish-red Flame Tokay grape, the Lodi region’s #1 grape crop between the 1880s and 1980s)...

Aug 9, 2018 at 5:00 AM Permalink

Lodi’s single-vineyard wines (Part 1: west side growths)

Early harvest veraison in Lodi's Bechthold Vineyard; Cinsaut planted in 1886

What are the top Lodi Viticultural Area vineyards identified as vineyard-designate wines on highly regarded Lodi grown bottlings, and why do they matter?

They matter because of the precedent set in European countries long ago: The simple fact that the finest wine regions are associated with vineyards known to produce great wines...

Aug 7, 2018 at 5:00 AM Permalink

10 of Lodi wine country’s most Instagram-worthy destinations

Instagram-worthy moment in Phillips Farms U-Pick Flower Garden

Lodi wine country is all about the wines and vineyards, the laid-back Lodi natives and small-town vibes; and evidently, for some 40% of visitors under age 33 (at least according to recent surveys taken by vacation planners), the “Instagramability” of the sights and sites.

Most everyone wants to be like someone else in their social media circle; which is a perfectly human thing to feel. 100 years ago it was about living the life of heroes in books; 50 years ago, characters on the silver screen; and today, in places where we can create our own do-it-yourself scenarios for an audience of friends and family...

Aug 2, 2018 at 6:00 AM Permalink

Lodi's R-N-R Vineyard Management adds more layers to the family business

The Machado Family (from left to right): Rhonda, Matthew, Colton and Russell operate R-N-R Vineyard Management

Rhonda and Russell Machado hoped the day would come when their sons, Matthew and Colton, entered the family farming business.

Matthew loved being on the farm when he was a child. He drove a tractor before he could drive a car. It wasn’t a surprise when he joined his parents’ company, R-N-R Vineyard Management, after graduating from the University of California, Davis. Colton, on the other hand, was interested in sports more than farming. But in time, he became passionate about working the land and joined R-N-R after earning a degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Now, Rhonda and Russell have their two sons working beside them every day, and they couldn’t be happier.

Jul 31, 2018 at 2:47 PM Permalink

LangeTwins Family’s all-in commitment to exciting Italian varietals

LangeTwins Family winemakers David  Akiyoshi and Karen Birmingham with co-owner Randy Lange

Lodi’s LangeTwins Family Winery & Vineyards is going Italian!

Never mind the fact that the Langes are descended from Germans: Johann and Maria Lange, who settled in the Lodi region and began farming crops like watermelons during the 1870s.

The Lange family’s first vineyard was established by 1916; although it was the fourth generation twins, Brad and Randy Lange, who first decided to go into the wine grape growing business big time, back in 1974. Today, a fifth generation of Langes – Marissa, Aaron, Phillip, Kendra and Joe – is deeply involved in all aspects of the winegrowing, wine production, marketing and sales of the brand, with still another generation on the way...

Jul 26, 2018 at 6:00 AM Permalink

Mike McCay and Harney Lane’s Kyle Lerner share their prognosis of 2018 Lodi Zinfandel

Riot of vivid colors in Zinfandel just beginning 2018 veraison in Harney Lane Winery's Scottsdale Vineyard

How are Lodi’s vaunted old vine Zinfandel vineyards shaping up so far, as of the third week of July 2018?

As warm as the weather this past month has seemed, so far 2018 has not been an especially “warm” vintage in the overall scheme of things. In fact, according to Harney Lane Winery & Vineyards owner/grower Kyle Lerner, “We are tracking as a cooler than average this year.”

Normally – or at least during the past seven years – at this time of year Lodi’s old vine Zinfandels are well into a stage called veraison: from the French word (véraison) for “change of color of grape berries.” Grapes visibly change their hues from a monochromatic green to a blaze of bright colors, from purplish blues to black-ish reds...

Jul 23, 2018 at 2:00 PM Permalink

Grass Valley’s Sierra Starr excels in Lodi Chardonnay (and conversation with Harney Lane’s Kyle Lerner)

Estate grown Chardonnay in Harney Lane Vineyards, mid-July 2018

In a conversation this past week, Harney Lane Winery & Vineyards owner/grower Kyle Lerner lamented the challenge of being a Chardonnay lover these days. Says Lerner: “You go to a grocery store to pick out a bottle, and never know what you’re going to get. It could be a light, lean, stainless steel style of Chardonnay, or it could be a big, fat, fruity, butter bomb style.”

There is nothing, however, that Lerner likes more than a challenge. And so for his own bottlings of Harney Lane Chardonnay, he (with his vaunted winemaker, Chad Joseph) endeavors to produce a wine with, literally, “everything” in it. Explains Lerner: “We take the traditional approach – 100% barrel fermented, a touch of oak, sur lies aging (i.e. contact with spent yeast cells) and partial malolactic fermentation (i.e. conversion of sharper malic acid to softer lactic acid) – but it still has the acid and fresh fruit components that satisfy consumers that prefer a crisper, balanced style...”

Jul 20, 2018 at 5:00 AM Permalink