Sensible wines for summer barbecues

Lodi's Jon Bjork grilling up some Korean style short ribs

Who doesn’t associate summer with barbecue? It’s an American thing, but you might also consider it a return to primal instincts. “Ugh, me Tarzan, you Jane, we smoke ribs and drink Zinfandel tonight.”

Over the years we have gathered perfectly intellectual thoughts on the art of enjoying barbecues with wine. Not. It’s really more of a sensory thing – you feel what are the best wines for different barbecues, you don’t think it.

Jul 3, 2015 at 1:58 PM Permalink

Lodi son cooks Hawaiian inspired lunch with Acquiesce wines

What happens when a young, curious, forward-thinking, Lodi raised chef, after rigorous training under one of Hawai`i’s most renowned chefs, is given the opportunity to create a menu to match the wines of the Lod Viticultural Area’s Acquiesce Winery?

Summery hot, fun, culinary fireworks, of course!“

Jul 1, 2015 at 12:42 PM Permalink

Lodi wines garner top honors at California State Fair

Oak Farm Albarino: California State Fair’s “Best of Show White”

At the The Best of California Awards Ceremony this past Tuesday, June 23 in Sacramento's Cal Expo, a significant number of Lodi AVA grown wines were awarded Blue Ribbons or Golden Bear trophies for finishing at the very top of several categories at the 2015 California State Fair Commercial Wine Competiton.

Jun 25, 2015 at 8:00 AM Permalink

PRIE Vineyards joins Lodi's community of small, artisanal wineries

PRIE Vineyards co-owner/winemaker John Gash in his Cabernet Sauvignon estate planting 

The Lodi Viticultural Area’s latest artisanal wine producer, PRIE Vineyards, quietly opened its tasting room at 15628 N. Alpine Rd. (practically across the street from Klinker Brick Winery’s tasting room), this past April.

Owners John and Lisa Gash may be newbies – “home” winemakers since 2005, and commercial winemakers since 2011 – but they are dead-serious about their winegrowing operation; having invested in an 8.5-acre vineyard previously planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, surrounding their low-key winery facilities designed for a maximum yearly production of 2000 cases.

Jun 22, 2015 at 7:41 PM Permalink

Dreams of real, velvety wines (or, dream case of Lodi drinking reds)

Photo by Evgeniy Lankin (image available through fineartamerica.com)

We have this recurring dream. It’s almost mid-day. We wake up late, after some wine-soaked conversation deep into the night before, and still haven’t yet eaten. So after stopping at a tiny charcuterie for some cooked sausages, marinated olives, a round of local bread – tasting as sweet and silky as pancakes in the inside, crunchy as toasted crusts on the outside – and a bottle of wine, we follow a winding brook at the foot of a steep hill outside the village, in search of a table in the sky.

Jun 17, 2015 at 8:00 AM Permalink

Why cool kids are lovin' Lodi

Wine lovers at 2015 Lodi ZinFest

Recently, folks at local wineries have been reporting a growing influx of wine lovers of a different stripe. They’ve been coming in from major cities – San Francisco, L.A., Dallas, Chicago, New York, Vancouver – after reading about it in national magazines or the blogosphere, or catching a taste of it in a few bottles that say “Lodi.”  Sleek women in citified heels (awkward for walking between the rows of grapevines for selfies), and guys in goatees and/or hipster hats.

Jun 11, 2015 at 5:59 PM Permalink

Lodi Grenache reds rated among the finest in California

Lodi grower Phil Abba and McCay Cellars winemaker/owner Mike McCay in Abba Vineyard

Some things just creep up on you – like the unsuspected appeal of red wines made from the black skinned Grenache grape. Especially those grown in Lodi.

Earlier in the month we endeavored to take a measure of varietal bottlings of Lodi grown Grenache; gathering 15 of the finest examples grown and produced in California for a “blind” tasting. Meaning, the bottles were poured from paper sacks, their identities unknown to the tasters, which included three of Lodi’s most respected vintners: Markus Bokisch of Bokisch Vineyards, Chad Joseph of Harney Lane Winery and Oak Farm Vineyards (plus three more Lodi based wineries), and Michael McCay of McCay Cellars.

Jun 9, 2015 at 8:15 PM Permalink

Rare hat trick: Lodi garners awards for Vineyard, Grower & Winery of the Year

Three generations of the Indelicato family behind the award winning Delicato Family Vineyards

Lodi hat trick

Over the past year the Lodi Viticultural Area has achieved something of a hat trick; garnering no less than three prestigious California wine industry awards for...

Jun 1, 2015 at 8:00 AM Permalink

Stama Winery unveils new tasting room and exciting plans for Lodi’s future

Phase 1 of Stama Winery’s Mediterranean inspired winery, where a temporary tasting room has just opened

Very quietly, over the recent ZinFest weekend, Stama Winery unveiled a spanking new, if low key, tasting room – open 7 days a week, from 11 AM – centrally located at the site of their new winery facility on Davis Road, just south of Turner Road on Lodi's west side.

May 25, 2015 at 8:00 AM Permalink

Photos of Lodi Wine Nation at another fun, tranquil ZinFest

ZinFesters know what they like…Lodi grown wine!

Blame it all on their roots, they showed up in boots, and all kinds of hats and wine-country-chic apparel, including threads studded with corks from their favorite bottlings of Lodi wine!

May 19, 2015 at 8:00 AM Permalink