The perfect spring chicken is cooked in white wine

Spring flowers in Michael David Winery's gardens.

Wine
stirs the spring, happiness
bursts through the earth like a plant…
—Pablo Neruda

One month into spring in 2025—finally, nights are less chilly, days are warmer, and the sun is up until past 7:30!

‘Tis also the season of transition at our tables. Our taste for red wines goes from heavier reds, such as Cabernet Sauvignon or Petite Sirah, to lighter reds such as Grenache, Cinsaut, Mission or easy drinking Zinfandels. Slowly but surely, we also find ourselves reaching for more cool, refreshing white wines, or maybe rosés...

Apr 24, 2025 at 7:00 AM Permalink

Dent de Lion is a new handcraft brand established for the best of all reasons—to save a special old Lodi vineyard

Zinfandel harvest in Dent de Lion Vineyard. Dent de Lion.

There is a brand new, handcraft local wine label here in Lodi, started up for all the right (at least in our book) reasons: To save a special old vineyard.

Make no mistake, old vineyards in Lodi need saving. Many of them are in grave danger of disappearing, mostly because sales of value priced wines are currently down, and big wineries are not renewing contracts with many of the families holding on to old, head trained vineyards planted to heritage grapes such as Zinfandel or Carignan...

Apr 22, 2025 at 7:00 AM Permalink

The recent 2025 Wine Market Council conference tackles the domestic wine industry's current setbacks head-on

Dr. Liz Thach, MW, President of the Wine Market Council.

This past April 2 at the 2025 Wine Market Council (WMC) Annual Research Conference and Members Meeting, held in the City of Napa, there was some illuminating discussions on the overall state of the American wine industry.

Some of the burning questions that were addressed included:

• What are the core reasons explaining the current lack of enthusiasm for wine on the part of consumers, reflected in the alarming downward trend in consumption over the past two years?
• How can the wine industry rebuild relevance with modern consumers?
• To what extent will impending tariffs further hamper the health of the domestic wine industry?
• What or where are the potential growth opportunities over the next few years?

Apr 15, 2025 at 7:00 AM Permalink

Visual discussion of grapevine training during April bud break

The first week of April is a special time of year, when you can observe early bud break as well as the beautiful "bones" of old vine plantings, such as in this 116-year-old Zinfandel on the east side of Lodi's Mokelumne River appellation.

Bud break and beautiful bones

It’s that time of year when grapevines are bursting all over with new buds. When 2025's spring equinox arrived up this past March 20, most of Lodi wine country’s vineyards were still bereft of these tiny buds. But during the last week of the month, when temperatures finally started to warm up, the bare buds began to swell, and out popped the leaves, unfurling like sails on a ship, along with the tiny precursors of grape clusters, which eventually become the flowers from which individual berries form.

Early spring and April is an interesting season because the bare “bones,” the trunks and limbs, of all the plants are still quite visible. It will be another two months or so before the canes become long enough to drape over and hide the spur positions with grapevine “canopy,” the anatomy consisting of leaves and shoots essential for the process of photosynthesis, necessary to bring plants to fruition...

Apr 11, 2025 at 7:00 AM Permalink

Lodi's Marian's Vineyard is named 2025 Vineyard of the Year by California State Fair

Lodi's Marian's Vineyard—the 2025 California Vineyard of the Year—in late March 2025, during first bud break.

Last week Mark Chandler, Chief Judge at the California State Fair Wine Competition, announced that Marian’s Vineyard, located in Lodi’s Mokelumne River appellation, was named the 2025 “Vineyard of the Year” by the State Fair Wine Industry Task Force.

Each year one vineyard out of the entire state of California is accorded this lofty honor. Marian’s Vineyard is the second Lodi Vineyard to be named “Vineyard of the Year.” In 2014 Bechthold Vineyard—a historic vineyard originally planted in 1886 (Lodi’s oldest continuously farmed planting consisting of 25 acres of own-rooted Cinsaut)—was recognized in this fashion...

Apr 8, 2025 at 7:00 AM Permalink

A current list (over 100!) of wines that celebrate Lodi’s sense of place

Late March blossoms in mixed old vine block sitting in the deep, rich sandy loam soil of Lodi's Mokelumne River AVA.

Night and day

You might want to pass Goal and scroll all the way down to the end of this post to look at the list of Lodi grown wines that strongly express terroir—the catch-all French term for “sense of place,” in reference to environmental factors defining vineyards and wine regions perceived in sensory qualities of wines. I currently count well over 100 of these wines, yet no doubt I missed a few.

Fifteen years ago if I made this list, I probably would have counted less than a dozen wines that I could honestly describe as terroir focused. Lodi viticulture and winemaking styles have changed that much—drastically...

Apr 3, 2025 at 7:00 AM Permalink

Why, in Lodi, the finest sparklers are made from Assyrtiko, Albariño, Piquepoul, Bacchus, Clairette blanche, Grenache and Carignan

Clements Hills-Lodi's Terra Alta Vineyard, source of both Piquepoul and Albariño now going into some of California's most exciting alternative style champagne method sparkling wines.

One of the beauties of a warm climate region such as Lodi is that you can now find sparkling wines made from alternative grapes more naturally adapted to Mediterranean climate zones.

Not that Chardonnay and Pinot noir—the two primary grapes of France’s famed Champagne region—aren’t found in Lodi. There is, in fact, plenty of Chardonnay and Pinot noir grown in the region, much of it planted to supply big name sparkling wine producers out on the coast. A minuscule percent of the Chardonnay and Pinot noir grown in Lodi does go to local wineries producing classically inspired champagne method wines such as LVVR, Nostra Vita, Peltier Winery and Michael David Winery...

Apr 1, 2025 at 7:00 AM Permalink

Why big, oaky California whites have always been food-worthy

Coopering oak barrels, the use of which drastically altered the style and scope of California wine in the 1970s and '80s.

Nowadays we talk a lot about crisp, light, minimally or "non" oaked white wines. That's because they represent cutting-edge wines becoming increasingly associated with Lodi. We push that fact because we want to explode the myth that Lodi only produces big, fat, ultra-ripe wines. This is not, however, to take away from fuller bodied white wines that are often less sharp in acidity, and often perceptively or even generously "oaky."

Not too long ago (where does the time go?) people often referred to those kinds of wines as "cougar juice." Full bodied, buttery or creamy textured white wines often drunk more as cocktails than with food. Guess what, though? These wines can also be wonderful with food—lots of dishes most of us love to eat...

Mar 25, 2025 at 7:00 AM Permalink

What to do about creeping prohibitionism

Is red wine a "prescription" for good health? Let's discuss. wineandchampagnegifts.com.

Why are there perpetually conflicting reports on either the health benefits or health risks of wine?

Simple answer: Wine is an alcoholic beverage. It is the alcohol content that is identified as the potentially dangerous substance, often as a carcinogen (i.e., cancerous agent)...

Mar 20, 2025 at 7:00 AM Permalink

How to be a pompatus of wine

Lodi winemakers at work (Markus Niggli, Layne Montgomery).

For me, moving to Lodi fifteen years ago was a conscious act of embracing my inner wine lover. There were practicalities. At the time, I was hooked on Zinfandel as the best possible everyday drinking wine, and Lodi was where nearly half of California's Zinfandel was grown. 

Mind you, by then I had already been around the world and had the privilege of walking through many of the world's greatest vineyards and wine regions, as part of my previous career as a restaurateur... 

Mar 18, 2025 at 7:00 AM Permalink