Fun in sun and perfect Lodi Lake day at 2016 ZinFest

Another perfect Lodi day and memorable ZinFest for these colorful wine lovers

Are Lodi wine lovers different? We think so. At least judging from over 4,000 of them who entered through the gates to Lodi Lake Park to enjoy the 2016 Lodi ZinFest Wine Festival this past Saturday, May 14.

What we saw were peeps looking to enjoy wine without a speck of attitude, pretension or self-consciousness, among those of like mind. Sure, many were there to learn; or more like, to enhance their experience by discovering new and delicious things. Some came dressed in crafty style, and everyone came just to have fun, an d enjoy the perfect, breezy, sun splashed 72°-average-temperature Lodi spring day. That's what makes Lodi and its wines Lodi... 

May 16, 2016 at 4:11 PM Permalink Comments (2)

Blame it on the boogie at Lodi's 2016 ZinFest

Don't blame it on the sunshine
Don't blame it on the moonlight
Don't blame it on good times
Blame it on the boogie

- The Jacksons

It may be all about the luscious, juicy Zinfandel, crisply balanced Albariño, powerful Petite Sirah, suave and earthy Tempranillo, and dozens of other styles of wine among the 200-plus bottlings that will be poured for your sampling pleasure at this Saturday’s Lodi ZinFest Wine Festival (May 14, 2016, 12 to 5 PM), taking place on the pristinely lush peninsula of Lodi Lake Park (or ticket information and online purchase, go directly to zinfest.com). 

But as longtime ZinFesters well know, it’s also about friends, family, good times and the great life engendered in a classic, all-American, proudly agricultural town like Lodi. And what’s the great life in a beautiful park and town without great music? At 2016’s ZinFest there will be lots of everything, setting the mood and sprucing up the palate:

May 11, 2016 at 11:30 AM Permalink

2016's Lodi ZinFest Cooking School is more stellar than ever

Culinary wine enthusiasts enjoying wine during previous ZinFest Cooking School

OMG, the 2016 Lodi ZinFest Wine Festival is already here, this Saturday, May 14!

What is good wine without food? As the late, great wine sage Andre Simon put it, “Food without wine is a corpse; wine without food is a ghost; united and well matched they are as body and soul, living partners.” Amen, bro'!

There is a reason why our yearly Lodi ZinFest Cooking School is one of our most popular events: It is the naturally lush yet balanced, fruit forward qualities of Lodi grown wines that make them such an easy match for an endless variety of dishes.

May 8, 2016 at 7:00 PM Permalink

Older Millennials are now America's most important wine consumers

Younger Millennial wine lovers at Lodi's Oak Farm Vineyards

If you are a wine lover between 30 and 38, there is now a target on your back.

But congratulations, because you are now officially the largest and most important age group to wine producers, who are scrambling to adjust their marketing as well as products to suit your preferences as we speak.

May 5, 2016 at 1:15 PM Permalink

Lodi's dry rosés are lighter, zestier, herbier, more food-versatile than ever

Harney Lane owner/grower Kyle Lerner brings on the bone dry Lodi rosé

When recently tasting through the latest bottlings of dry style rosés grown in Lodi, we could not help but notice a few common threads, despite the variety of grapes from which the better ones are crafted...

Apr 26, 2016 at 7:00 AM Permalink

Up-in-smoke barbecue and sommelier-led wine school experiences at ZinFest

Entrée to ZinFest Wine Festival in Lodi's bucolic Lodi Lake Park

Next month's Lodi ZinFest Wine Festival (Saturday, May 14, 12-5 PM) will be chock-full of opportunities for Lodi wine lovers experience things they love most (like barbecued foods and wines) or to expand their wine knowledge with the guideance of two of the state's most respected sommelier/educators, under the cozy tent of our ZinFest Wine School.

Apr 20, 2016 at 7:00 AM Permalink

The old Mondavi home in Lodi is still an artistic hub

The unmarked former home of the Mondavi family near the center of Downtown Lodi

Lodi artist and businessman Tony Segale – who has also been profiled by Lodi News-Sentinel as “Lodi’s best-known sign painter” – lives in the original, longtime home of the Mondavi family, just two block west of Downtown Lodi’s main drag (School Street).

Apr 18, 2016 at 7:00 AM Permalink

The love-in of diversity at Lodi ZinFest

Lodi Lake Park entrance to 2015 ZinFest

ZinFest Wine Festival – by far, Lodi’s biggest yearly event – is just a motion away: Saturday, May 14, 2016 (12-5 PM), taking place on the lush, dreamy peninsula between Lodi Lake and the Mokelumne River, where towering oaks, willows and riparian brush and birdlife set the table for a natural love-in feel to this vinous experience.

This may be called ZinFest; but as thousands of wine lovers discover each year, the Lodi Viticultural Area is all about far more than Zinfandel. Lodi has evolved into a magnet for the newest generation of grape connoisseurs who, frankly, have grown tired of conventional varietals and bigger-than-thou (or high “scoring”) attitudes.

Apr 13, 2016 at 7:00 AM Permalink

Fields Family's wines epitomize the best of boutique handcrafting

When Lodi's Russ Fields and Ryan Sherman first got together to start making wine back in 2005, you could well describe the endeavor as your classic two-guys-with-day-jobs-and-extra-time-and-a-tub-of-grapes-on-their-hand situation. Mr. Sherman looks back on their first three vintages as “mad scientist” days; telling us: “We had no formal background, training, experience or reference points other than our own. So we did dozens of trails... just being curious, trying to learn, figure shit out for ourselves without anyone else’s protocol or dogma.”

Apr 11, 2016 at 8:00 AM Permalink Comments (1)

Women of Lodi's wine industry: Grape exec Amy Blagg

Amy Blagg in her Petite Sirah Vineyard on Lodi's east side

We are continuing our series of profiles on the Lodi wine industry’s most powerful women with a conversation with Amy Blagg, the Executive Director of the Lodi District Grape Growers Association (LDGGA).

Apr 6, 2016 at 7:00 AM Permalink