ZinFest Wine School will explore Lodi’s wonderful diversity of wines

Lodi ZinFest 2014

The Lodi ZinFest Wine Festival has never been just about Zinfandel. It’s always been about the huge variety of wines grown and produced in the Lodi AVA.

At this year’s ZinFest, taking place Saturday, May 17, 2014 (12-5 PM) in Lodi Lake Park, two of California’s leading wine educators and professional wine judges will lead ZinFest Wine School tastings, addressing the amazing array of alternative style wines now being produced by Lodi’s artisanal wineries. Re:

Apr 2, 2014 at 11:23 AM Permalink

Lodi “Outsiders” joining “Natives” at 2014 ZinFest Wine School

Turley Wine Cellars’ Tegan Passalacqua (standing in his Kirschenmann Vineyard, located on Lodi’s east side) will be on the “Lodi Outsiders” panel as part of 2014′s Lodi ZinFest Wine School

Don't look now, but the annual Lodi ZinFest Wine Festival is nigh upon us; this year, taking place on Saturday, May 17, 2014 (12-5 PM) at the bucolic Lodi Lake Park.

Mar 18, 2014 at 11:34 AM Permalink

Borra Vineyards releases very interesting feminine whites

2013 Mokelumne Glen Vineyard Kerner cluster, going into Borra’s Artist Series white

You might have heard that some crazy, unlikely, yet very in-ter-resting (to quote Arte Johnson) things have been happening in Lodi these past few years.

A lot of this activity has been emanating from one winery: Borra Vineyards, where owner/grower Steve Borra Sr. and winemaker Markus Niggli have been making waves.

Mar 12, 2014 at 11:53 AM Permalink

Odisea releases first Lodi grown Verdejo

Lodi’s first Verdejo

Odisea Wine Company – a small, artisanal winery based in Napa – has produced Lodi's first Verdejo: a 2013 bottled under their Flor de Viña sub-label. The Verdejo grapes were grown in the cobbley clay loam slopes of Bokisch Ranches' Clay Station Vineyard, in Lodi's Borden Ranch AVA. The planting went into the ground in 2011, and these young vines yielded just 2 tons per acre (Bokisch Vineyards also produced a little Verdejo, just recently bottled).

Mar 9, 2014 at 12:20 PM Permalink

Winter of 2014′s certain Slant of light

Winter pruning of own-rooted, head trained 53-year old Zinfandel vines on the west side of Lodi’s Mokelumne River AVA

There’s a certain Slant of light, Emily Dickinson famously wrote, describing “Winter.” Don’t we know it, whether or not we can put it into our own words.

Mar 7, 2014 at 2:10 PM Permalink

m2′s sleek new winery, producing Lodi wines as unique as ever

m2′s dramatically high ceilinged new tasting room

The new m2 Wines winery and tasting room, located at 2900 E. Peltier Rd. (just north of the town of Lodi), is a low slung, rectangular, 6,000 square-feet affair; looking like a gigantic lego brick with a square hole near the middle, plopped down on an open field of flowering mustard (a surrounding vineyard is planned as phase 2), yet every bit as congruous against the Lodi landscape as an Andrew Wyeth house/barn in Maine.

Mar 3, 2014 at 2:37 PM Permalink

Lodi Native group to debut at ZAP/LoCA’s Lodi Zinfandel Experience

“This ol’ truck” in Lodi’s Harney Lane Winery estate…

ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates & Producers) & LoCA present
THE LODI ZINFANDEL EXPERIENCE
Saturday-Sunday, March 29 & 30, 2014

Earth shaking things are happening in the Lodi AVA, which has always crushed over 40% of California's Zinfandels. Today, a significant percentage of this crop – still sourced from largely own (or St. George) rooted, head trained ancient vines – is going into handcrafted bottlings, unveiling a style of Zinfandel hitherto unsuspected, and surprisingly contemporary.

Feb 20, 2014 at 10:07 AM Permalink

The problem with reading alcohols and other assumptions about California Zinfandel

Winter mustards coming up between old vine Lodi Zinfandel

To truly grasp Lodi Zinfandel, it helps to understand how they compare with Zinfandels from other California wine regions

The problem is, there is a lot of misinformation out there; often perpetuated by journalists or, these days, by wine bloggers. In a recent “tips” blog, for instance, one helpful writer proffered these pearls of wisdom concerning California Zinfandel:

Feb 18, 2014 at 10:25 AM Permalink

Distinguished judges share thoughts on the 12 Zins of Lodi 2014

The 12 Zins of Lodi 2014 have been chosen by a jury of eight respected wine professionals, as a result of a formal tasting taking place in San Francisco this past February 5^th, organized by Charles Communications Associates for LoCA. These 12 Zinfandels were selected for being representative of the best of what the Lodi AVA has to offer today, in every price point; and samples will be sent out in care packages to media across the country.

The jurists made their selection after tasting a total of 57 Lodi grown Zinfandels in a double-blind format – meaning, they did not know the names of the brands (winery submissions were limited to two bottlings per winery). The envelope, please...

Feb 12, 2014 at 10:45 AM Permalink

The decidedly unknown (yet fantastic) Charbono grape

The near forgotten Charbono grape

In a recent polemic issued on his Web site, the widely read wine critic Robert M. Parker Jr. commented on the disproportionate attention paid to "unknown" grapes by some of the new "absolutists":

“What we also have from this group of absolutists is a near-complete rejection of some of the finest grapes and the wines they produce. Instead they espouse, with enormous gusto and noise, grapes and wines that are virtually unknown. That’s their number one criteria – not how good it is, but how obscure it is”

Feb 4, 2014 at 11:22 AM Permalink