How global warming is changing winegrowing in Lodi and the rest of the world

Lodi in the third week of July 2024: Old vine Zinfandel veraison (i.e., annual change of colors) looking good, but slowed down by two heat dome events, repercussions of now well documented climate change.

Climate change's global impact and near-future projections

Never mind the squabble over the causes. Vintners all over the world are now living with climate change, manifested as warming of temperatures on a global scale.

The question is, how is the wine industry adjusting to this phenomenon? In France's Bordeaux region, a centuries-old bastion of wine tradition, authorities have recently authorized the planting of six "new" grapes: Albariño, Liliorila (a cross of Chardonnay and Baroque), Touriga Nacional, Castets, Marselan (Grenache x Cabernet Sauvignon cross), and Arinarnoa (Tannat x Cabernet Sauvignon)...

Jul 26, 2024 at 8:00 AM Permalink

While wine consumption in the U.S. slumps, American appreciation of wine grows unabated

1863 Edward Bryant home at Harris Vineyards, Clements Hills-Lodi AVA. Photo courtesy of Harris Vineyards.

Since the start of the year (2024) the media has besieged wine consumers with bad news about the state of wine in America. American wine consumption is down, at least in terms of per capita and total gallons. Yet enthusiasm for wine across the country is greater than ever. Let's discuss...

According to Wine Institute's most recent figures: In 2022 Americans consumed 2.86 gallons of wine per capita (the lowest amount since 2015's 2.85 gallons). Total wine gallons consumed by Americans in 2022 was 964 million, the lowest since 2015's 915 million gallons.

These figures hits home here in Lodi because this is by far the largest wine grape growing region in the country... 

Jul 18, 2024 at 7:00 AM Permalink

In summer the living is easier with fresh salads washed down with contemporary style Lodi wines

Lorenza Wine's Melinda Kearney (miiddle) hosting a light summer lunch with her contemporary style, acid-driven red wines made from Cinsaut and Carignan.

It's summer. Perfect time to talk about... salads!

When weather gets hot, the body almost craves this healthy alternative to heavy, starchy meals. Salad lovers know that if you get crafty⏤like utilizing crisped bits of bacon, slivers of salmon, smoked tuna or crabmeat, slices of cheese like feta and mozzarella⏤you are essentially creating an entire meal in itself. 

If, of course, your spouse or kids complain, you can always fry tiny cuts of beef or pork to meet their carnivorous demands. Summer is like that. Instead of a big steak with a little side of salad, you have a big salad with a tiny side of meat. And besides, if you cut out potatoes, bread or rice, summertime salads are an ideal way of keeping weight or blood sugar down...

Jul 16, 2024 at 6:00 AM Permalink

A summary of the full range of Lodi dry rosés, by grape variety and brands

Mokelumne River-Lodi appellation Grenache—the black skinned grape most commonly used for dry style rosés—in the early morning light.

So far the summer of 2024 has been... let's just say, ugh. A little hot.

Besides well chilled whites or sparklers, the perfect wines for weather like this are refreshingly dry rosés, which are made by more wineries than ever because this style of wine is, simply, more popular than ever.

Lodi produces such a wide range of dry rosés, a wine lover could, theoretically, enjoy a new bottle of Lodi rosé every day of the week for an entire month, yet never consume the same brand or bottling twice.

And all of them tasting exactly like a perfectly good dry rosé should: Light, easy drinking, not too fruity in the aroma (overly fruity rosés can be annoying), and just tart enough in natural acidity to prickle the palate, soothe the soul and freshen the disposition...

Jul 9, 2024 at 7:00 AM Permalink

Do not talk about what younger consumers think about wine unless you're under 30

Image from drobotdean by Freepik.

Anna Delgado (co-writer)

"When was the last time," I recently read in a Substack page called Wineshop Punk, "a wine writer sat down to have a glass with a young person?"

Wineshop Punk is penned by a 26-year-old named Anna Delgado. She herself is crazy about wine, having taken a job at a Lodi tasting room about two years ago. I sat down to share a couple of bottles of wine with Delgado two weeks ago, so I asked her, what's up with the wine interest?

She told me that she graduated with a degree in Political Science at UC Davis, and immediately set sail for the west coast of Ireland, where she stayed an entire year. Somewhere along the line she picked up a book called Adventures on the Wine Route written by Kermit Lynch and got hooked on the idea, or possibility, of working in the wine industry. Then she embarked on a course of formal wine education (through Court of Master Sommeliers)...

Jul 3, 2024 at 6:00 AM Permalink

Belize-born Lodi winemaker Joseph Smith releases a puristic Marsanne, razor-sharp Chardonnay and Provençal style rosé under his JSL family label

St

JSL Wines owner/winemaker Joseph Smith.

JSL Wines is a new Lodi-based brand, founded in 2021, but is far from new in respect to its owner/winemaker, Joseph Smith.

If you have enjoyed the wines of Klinker Brick Winery over the past decade and a half, for instance, you are very familiar with Mr. Smith. He has been the head winemaker of Klinker Brick since 2007.

In recent years Klinker Brick has come to be known for far more than the Zinfandels upon which the brand was built, now sold in 49 of the fifty states. Most significant, as a bow to the entire nation's rapid embrace of lighter, sleeker, fresh and pure styles of wines, Klinker Brick has become known for its Albariño, Grenache Blanc and authentic style of dry rosé⏤the latter, crafted from Southern French grapes and finished in a minerally, flower petal nuanced style reminiscent of classic rosés of France's Provence, tasting more like a Provençal style rosé than most rosés imported from Provence...

Jul 1, 2024 at 8:00 AM Permalink

Towne House Restaurant's Neighborhood Nights brings products of local farmers and Lodi growers together on this historical site

Lodi journalist Suzanne Ledbetter (also of the Vino Farms winegrowing family) enjoying Niman Ranch carnitas at Wine & Roses Hotel's Towne House Restaurant. Jill Means Design.

This past Sunday/Monday (June 23-24), Lodi's Wine & Roses Hotel welcomed guests to the first of their planned "Neighborhood Night" events in Towne House Restaurant. 

The newly launched Neighborhood Night dinners, explains local influencer and marketing consultant Tracci Dare (retained by Wine & Roses Hotel), will entail 3-course offerings for $45 (not including tax and gratuity)... 

Jun 26, 2024 at 7:00 AM Permalink

Factors explaining Zinfandel's spectacular food-versatility

Cellar dinner at St. Amant Winery, a Lodi Zinfandel specialist.

The environmental factor

It's time to talk about Zinfandel. Oh, I admit, for me it's always time to talk about Zinfandel. That is because I am what people often used to call a "foodie." Better than "wine geek," I guess.

Be as it may, Zinfandel is a far, far more food-versatile wine than many wine lovers (especially the geeks) may think. I came to that conclusion after over 30 years of observation and logical conclusions working in or with restaurants, my former career. Even today, when reaching for a bottle for dinner, I am more likely to pop open a Zinfandel than any other varietal wine of any color...

Jun 19, 2024 at 7:00 AM Permalink

Finding ideal wines for foods is as easy as putting together ingredients in a dish

No-brainer of a food and wine match: Spicy, meaty, smoky, savory baby back ribs (in this photo, cooked by Lodi winemaker Mike McCay) with spicy, meaty, smoky, savory Petite Sirah (poured by Lodi winemaker Gerardo Espinosa of Anaya Vineyards).

Picking a perfect wine for a dish, or preparing a perfect dish for a pre-chosen wine, is a lot less mysterious than you may think. In fact, it's easy as pie.

Make that, easy as ice cream sundae. Everyone knows, for instance, that vanilla ice cream and hot chocolate syrup go great together because both the ice cream and syrup are sweet yet vanilla and chocolate are contrasting flavors that compliment each other. There can also a complimenting contrast of temperature (when hot fudge goes on cold ice cream). For textural contrast, you might add walnuts (soft/crunchy/sweet/nutty) and whipped cream (creamy/airy); and for even more and different flavors, bananas and a cherry. 

Call that dessert nirvana. It is also a basic example how we cook⏤putting ingredients together that just make sense⏤as well as how wines and foods are ideally matched... 

Jun 17, 2024 at 7:00 AM Permalink

Artistic colors bring new meaning to our favorite images of Lodi wine country

Artistic rendering of a caravan of Zinfandel pickers—ushered through the old vines like triumphant troops—on a colorful early autumn morning in Lodi wine country.

I spend a lot of time going over my own photos of Lodi wine country. The best ones, I think, are the accidents. It is one thing to see something beautiful in a vineyard. It is another to capture that beauty with a camera. If you're lucky you snap a photo that you find to be very expressive; but only later, when you are sitting at a desk. 

More often than not, though, even with the photos you like the best, you wish they said more. Take, for instance, this close-up below of second crop Carignan grapes taken on a blindingly bright October morning, several weeks after the harvest. I don't know what you see, but what I see is that the grapes themselves are fuzzy, like purplish mud. Not nearly as scrumptious looking as when I saw them with my own eyes in the vineyard.

The camera's eye, on the other hand, captured the leaf's intricate network of veins⏤making me imagine random roadways on a distant planet like Mars⏤etched into the Carignan leaf, which was turning red and crinkly in the aftermath of the season, long after the green color necessary for photosynthesis was gone...

Jun 11, 2024 at 7:00 AM Permalink