2022 Lodi Tour of Tempranillo, the varietal's history and what makes Lodi's style so unique

Spanish selection of Tempranillo grown in Bokisch's Las Cerezas Vineyard in Lodi's Mokelumne River AVA.

Prepare thyself for Lodi's annual Tour of Tempranillo; 2022's iteration taking place the weekend of November 12-13, timed to follow International Tempranillo Day (November 10, 2022).

As in the past, the 2022 Lodi Tour of Tempranillo will be a no-reservations-required, complimentary drive-around event. This year, 10 Lodi wineries will be opening their doors to offer special tastings, many of them with multi-bottling flights, Spanish inspired food bites and weekend-only-discounts (see some of the details for each winery at the end). All you need do is show up and say, ¡olé!

Nov 1, 2022 at 8:00 AM Permalink

Napa-based winemaking couple behind Found Wine Co. explain why they source Lodi grapes

Found Wine Co. owner/winemakers Andy Butler and Mabel Ojeda after collecting 2022 Mission grape samples in Lodi's Somers Vineyard.

"There's something happening here" has been a line copped from the 56-year-old Buffalo Springfield song, For What It's Worth—even the young folks know this tune because of its iconic opening chord progressions of electric and acoustic guitars—by the Lodi Winegrape Commission to bring attention to the "revolutionary" side of the historic Lodi winegrowing region.

The Lodi AVA, to sum it all up, is all about grapes. Lots of grapes. Far more acreage than any other wine region in the U.S.; and on top of that, more variety of grapes than any other region...

Oct 26, 2022 at 8:00 AM Permalink

The Perlegos Family debuts wines fulfilling Lodi's natural Mediterranean identity

Jeff and John Perlegos harvesting their 2022 Cherryhouse Vineyard Zinfandel on the west side of Lodi's Mokelumne River appellation.

Next  week, October 25, 2022, is the day: The day when Jeff and John Perlego release their first ever wines under their Perlegos Family Wine label. 

The Perlegos brothers are second generation Lodi growers of proud Greek heritage. They are also widely known for their meticulous, quality-focused farming practices, developing something of a cult reputation among small, artisanal "cool kid" wineries who have been sourcing their grapes over the past ten years.

For their own long awaited wines, the Perlegos branding is focused and straightforward. As they put it, "Mediterranean inspired, California grown..."

Oct 21, 2022 at 10:00 AM Permalink

A long overlooked Italian grape—Nebbiolo—has found its place in Lodi hillsides

Anaya Vineyards Clements Hills-Lodi Nebbiolo in the light of harvest morning.

Among the many wine grapes commercially grown in Lodi—over 125 of them, at last count—there is one that has has remained an obscurity in the region and throughout California, despite its supremacy in its native Italy.

We're talking about Nebbiolo, the major grape of the Piedmont region of Northern Italy. All evidence points to the long held belief that the grape is indigenous to this region. Roman scribes were writing about about the great red wines of this area 2,000 years ago, describing wines that are almost exactly like the wines now grown and bottled by the names of Piedmont's highest ranked zones: particularly Barolo (often called the "King of Wines, Wine of Kings"), Barbaresco, and Gattinara...

Oct 18, 2022 at 7:00 AM Permalink

Monte Rio Cellars declares red blend from Lodi's regeneratively farmed Teresi Vineyard to be its finest wine yet

Monte Rio Cellars owner/grower Patrick Cappiello (left) with associate winemaker Jesus Aleman during 2022 harvest.

What does a career sommelier-turned-winemaker see in Lodi? Evidently, lots.

In 2017, Monte Rio Cellars owner/winemaker Patrick Cappiello "fled" (in his words) a perfectly good, 25-year, multi-award winning restaurant career in New York City after the closing of Rebelle, for which he served as operating partner and wine director. 

Mr. Cappiello began his next phase in California; first, by working under Pax Wines' Pax Mahle, a talented winemaker with a 20-year track record and personal philosophy for which Cappiello felt, as he puts it, "a kismet connection." Adds Cappiello, "I never looked back..."

Oct 14, 2022 at 9:00 AM Permalink

The Church Ancient Blocks is pure luxury, paying tribute to two Lodi wine industry giants

Markus Wine Co. owner/winemaker Markus Niggli harvest old vine Lodi Carignan.

It is always good news when Markus Wine Co. owner/winemaker Markus Niggli comes out with another one of his vaunted blends.

If there ever was a "Lodi blending king," that would be Mr. Niggli, a Swiss-born winemaker with a yen for European traditions such as blending grape varieties—as opposed to sticking to "varietal" (i.e., single grape) bottlings, which most of the American wine industry seems to be obssessed with—as well as quaint, old school winemaking practices such as native yeast fermentation...

Oct 6, 2022 at 12:00 PM Permalink

Independent Iconic Wines crafts Lodi Cinsaut and ancient vine Zinfandel anyone would love to drink

On a 2022 harvest morning, gnarly, own-rooted 120-year-old Schmiedt family-grown Zinfandel going into Icon's "Old Gods" bottling.

One of the big stories in Lodi wine country just over the past four, five years has been the influx of small, independent winemakers. Itty bitty producers bumping up against gigantic wineries to compete for grapes, bringing new vinous perspectives to America's largest winegrowing region, like breaths of fresh air. Each of these vintners has his or her own reasons for coming to Lodi.

For Birk O'Halloran, of the Napa-based Iconic Wines, the exploration of Lodi grapes has been all about, as he puts it, "the quality, history and variety I have found in the region, which opened my eyes to new possibilities..."

Oct 4, 2022 at 12:00 PM Permalink

2022 roundup of Lodi Zinfandel styles

2022 Zinfandel harvest in Rous Vineyard, consisting of 113-year-old vines located on the east side of Lodi's Mokelumne River appellation.

First thing to remember when buying Lodi-grown Zinfandel is that there are basically two styles:

1. The broadly defined varietal styles usually found on retail shelves. You could call this the "commercial" styles of Zinfandel, since that's what they are—Zinfandels grown, produced and packaged for the market at large.

2. Focused, appellation or terroir driven styles more likely to be found in specialty stores or sold directly by wineries.

The California Zinfandel profile

The commercial styles are produced to meet broad consumer expectations of "Zinfandel" as a varietal category. These wines are made to taste less like, say, a "Lodi" or "Sonoma" Zinfandel than a California style of the grape in general. Consequently, you can expect these Zinfandels to taste full bodied and fairly ripe with "jammy" (a common descriptor), berry-like fruit, which is what most people expect out of California Zinfandel...

Sep 28, 2022 at 6:00 AM Permalink

Lodi has become a new home for... natural wines!

"Natural Wine," ©2022 Greg Clarke. 

One of the most recent—many say surprising—movements within the international wine market has been towards the concept of "natural" wine. That is, wines grown and produced with minimal intervention; mostly by smaller, artisanal style wine producers, since it's the smaller, artisanal producers who are mostly interested in this style of wine. 

This concept has hit home, here in California, and even here in Lodi. It may seem counter-intuitive that natural wines can be associated with Lodi. Lodi, after all, is where most of the big production wineries—producing wines that are more accurately described as products meant for the mass market—source their wine grapes... 

Sep 22, 2022 at 8:00 AM Permalink

On the work, and people, going into the hand picking of Lodi's vineyards

2022 Zinfandel among ancient vine Zinfandel (planted in 1889) in Lodi's Jessie's Grove.

The prevalent image of the wine grape harvest in Lodi, as in other winegrowing regions around the world, is of people working their way through jungles of leafy vines with curved knives or shears, picking off whole clusters of grapes one at a time, entirely by hand. 

This is despite the fact that today, most vineyards in regions such as Lodi are now picked by mechanical harvesters. Picking by machines manned by just one or two operators is more than five times faster than hand picking by crews of six to eight people. Thus, the cost of machine picking is well less than half of hand picking, and usage of fuel and carbon footprint is not much higher, since hand harvesting still requires tractors to pull bins weighing over 2 tons when filled by hand pickers...

Sep 12, 2022 at 8:00 AM Permalink