Brave new grapes and winemakers discovering Lodi’s Mokelumne Glen

Mokelumne Glen Vineyards’ Brett and Bob Koth at gathering of their winemakers last May

Who'd have thunk? That a planting by a retired Lodi schoolteacher and longtime home winemaker would become the largest, most serious collection (over 40 cultivars!) of German and Austrian grapes in the U.S.

Jul 7, 2014 at 5:25 PM Permalink

Lodi’s Bechthold Vineyard is named California’s “Vineyard of the Year”

Autumn in Lodi’s acclaimed Bechthold Vineyard

I can't quite put words to why I am profoundly comforted by the fact that a wine can also be a place, that mere fermented grapes can coalesce into a product of such rare beauty and meaning. – Randall Grahm (owner/winemaker, Bonny Doon Vineyard)

To many of the growers and winemakers in Lodi today – now in their third, fourth, fifth or even sixth generation of Delta farming – the fruits of their labors have always been what has tethered their families to this American Viticultural Area, with or without the recognition of their peers in California or elsewhere. Lodi is as meaningful a place to its caretakers as any winegrowing region of longevity in the world.

Jun 30, 2014 at 10:28 AM Permalink

Sonoma’s Morgan Twain-Peterson talks about his new Katusha Vineyard in Lodi

Morgan Twain-Peterson in his newly acquired Katusha Vineyard

You see it in films, fiction, music, reality television, and even in the wine world: everybody loves the scruffy character with the countenance of youth and artistic soul, even when it comes with forgivable hints of bravado or brashness. Enter-stage-left, Morgan Twain-Peterson, owner/winemaker of Bedrock Wine Co. in Sonoma Valley.

Over the past six, seven years Mr. Twain-Peterson has emerged as one of California's wunderkind winemakers, with one of the most distinctive feels for terroir. In the beginning, because of his promising bloodline, as the son of Ravenswood founder/winemaker Joel Peterson; and with that, access to many of the most coveted vineyard sites in the North Coast.

Jun 27, 2014 at 11:18 AM Permalink

New to cellardoor: the dangerously delicious Onesta Wines

Onesta’s Jillian Johnson in Bechthold Vineyard

Jillian Johnson is in love. There's not much that her husband (Yuri DeLeon) can do about it, since this is an affair that dates back to 2004 – some nine years before she even met Mr. DeLeon – when Ms. Johnson was still the head winemaker at Bonny Doon Vineyard, based in Santa Cruz.

Jun 24, 2014 at 11:26 AM Permalink

The latest, greatest award winning white wine grown in Lodi (Torrontés!)

Wise Villa Winery Torrontés

Lodi's most celebrated wine at the moment is not a Zinfandel; nor is it a fashionable Albariño or Tempranillo. It is a (drum roll, please…) a varietal white wine made from the Torrontés grape!

Torrontés is fairly rare in California – the only Golden State grower cultivating it with serious commercial interest is Ron Silva in his Silvaspoons Vineyards, located in Lodi's Alta Mesa AVA – but is the most widely planted white wine grape in Argentina.

Jun 17, 2014 at 11:38 AM Permalink

The science behind common sense wine and food combinations

Common sense match: powerful reds with aged Portuguese cheese at Silvaspoons Vineyards

Wine has often been called a combination of art and science; and in our culinary schools, cooking is accurately described as a "food science."

This does not mean that you have to be a brain surgeon to really understand food, or the way wines and foods go together. But it does help to have a basic understanding of the concepts, which we'll try to put together here…

Jun 11, 2014 at 12:40 PM Permalink

Lodi’s thirty-six % solution: delicious wines from less familiar grapes

2013 Verdelho harvest in Lodi’s Silvaspoons Vineyards

One of the more interesting things to come along over the past year have been the "Seven % Solution" tastings popping up here and there. Originally conceived by a Healdsburg wine retailer, the 7% is in reference to the idea that 93% of the wine grape acreage in California's North Coast consists of just eight grapes, going into most of the popular varietal wines sold today: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc.

Jun 3, 2014 at 1:14 PM Permalink

Klinker Brick’s serendipitous rosé, surprising Syrah, and uncommon Dolcetto

Klinker Brick’s Joseph Smith, thiefing Dolcetto barrels this past February

GRANDMA AND GRANDPA HAD IT RIGHT

Summer is three weeks away (June 21, 2014); but lately, it sure has felt like it has already arrived.

May 28, 2014 at 2:42 PM Permalink

A tribute to a family patriarch: Viñedos Aurora’s new Don Victor

Don Victor Lodi Reserva de la Casa

The 2010 Viñedos Aurora Don Victor Lodi Reserva de la Casa ($39) is a deep, dark, brawny and rippling red wine; produced from Cabernet Sauvignon (60%) and Petite Sirah (40%) sourced completely from the 40-acre Clements Hills-Lodi AVA vineyard farmed by the four Anaya brothers – Victor Jr., Ramon, Armando and Gerardo.

Despite the Don Victor's swarthy masculinity, there is also a sweet note of blueberryish fruit singing the wine's sun bronzed Lodi origin, while mildly smoky, vanillin French oak adds a brush of elegance – think of a smiling, raggedy haired Viggo Mortensen in a velvet jacket, right about to break some ankles.

May 23, 2014 at 2:50 PM Permalink

Photo memories: ZinFest is more than about wine, it’s about the people of Lodi

Lodi ZinFesters pouring into Lodi Lake Park

Who comes to Lodi for its annual ZinFest? At least 4,000 devotees of Delta grown grapes each year.

To be more specific, Lodi wine lovers coming from as far away as Florida, Texas, New York and Colorado; plus, in 2014, exactly 38 of them from Vancouver, Canada…

May 20, 2014 at 12:01 PM Permalink