Onesta releases wines from Lodi’s oldest historic vineyard

This past May there was much ado about a wine event taking place in Healdsburg called the Seven % Solution, highlighting wines made from grapes other than the 93% (such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, etc.) to which most of California’s vineyards are planted.

Although the emphasis of Seven % Solution was on the products of wineries sourcing from California’s North Coast, the grapes that were celebrated happened to be grapes that are also planted extensively in Lodi:  including Sémillon, Montepulciano, Chenin Blanc, Picpoul, Grenache, Grenache Blanc, Mourvèdre, Vermentino, Counoise, Barbera, Cinsaut, Carignan, St. Laurent, Albarinõ, Tinta Cão, Tourigna Nacional, and Verdelho...

Jun 21, 2013 at 8:46 AM Permalink

Ripken’s award winning Pinot Noir, home grown in the Delta

Attention, fine wine shoppers:  Lodi is now growing some first class Pinot Noir!

At least, this is what a discriminating panel thought about the 2010 Ripken Vineyards Lodi Pinot Noir ($20) when they awarded it a Gold medal and “Best of Class (of Lodi)” earlier this month, during the judging process of the 2013 California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition.

Jun 19, 2013 at 8:42 AM Permalink

Six sexy Lodi rosés for summer sips and nibbles

Nothing screams “summer” better than a good, well chilled bottle of rosé, and American grown rosés are hotter than ever.

Just ask Randy Lange, co-founder/co-owner (with brother Brad) of Lodi Wine Country’s LangeTwins Family Winery & Vineyards.  The family’s 2012 LangeTwins Family Lodi Sangiovese Rosé ($14) is dry as a bone, yet stunningly lush, bright and juicy.  “The good news,” says Lange, “is that our 2012 Sangiovese Rosé is a wonderful wine to drink right now, in the heat of summer.  The bad news is that the wine sold out in a matter of days after it was released, so even we don’t have any left to enjoy this summer.”

Jun 11, 2013 at 8:37 AM Permalink

A Master Sommelier talks ZinFest wine and cheese

In this blogpost, we have a guest writer:  San Francisco’s Catherine Fallis MS.  MS stands for Master Sommelier, which is a lofty title.  According to the Court of Master Sommeliers Web site, only 133 wine professionals in North America have earned the title of Master Sommelier.  Of those, 114 are men and only 19 are women (Fallis earned her MS in 1997, among the first 6 women to do so).  Only 201 Master Sommeliers in the entire world have earned this title since the first Master Sommelier Diploma Exam was administered, back in 1969 in the U.K. (between the mid-seventies and early eighties, the first 5 American Master Sommeliers had buy their own plane ticket to London to take the exam).

Besides being a widely published wine writer and founder of Planet Grape LLC, Ms. Fallis (a.k.a. “grape goddess”) is on the faculty of the San Francisco Wine School, and has taught at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone (Napa Valley).   She was so thrilled to be part of the 2013 ZinFest that she composed a piece summarizing her thoughts on the experience. 

Jun 6, 2013 at 8:33 AM Permalink

The Landsman Lodi Zinfandel is not just kosher, it’s a doozy

Kosher Lodi grown Zinfandel?  Maybe not something you can say was “bound to happen,” but there now is one, and it’s a doozy – produced and bottled by the Napa Valley based Covenant Wines.

The newly released 2011 Landsman Lodi Zinfandel ($40), crafted by Covenant winemaker/owner Jeff Morgan, is a genuinely rich, vivid, powerfully aromatic expression of Lodi grown Zinfandel:  teeming with raspberry and blueberry fruit qualities that are not quite jammy, yet generous enough to coat the palate with sensations akin to eating drippy berries with svelte, black lambskin gloves.  Medium-full body – that is, not coming across as fat or ponderous – and nuanced by faintly gamey whiffs that are more like the animal smells you find in black, oily, dark roast coffee beans than red meat, laced with suggestions of cardamom and cinnamon...

May 28, 2013 at 8:20 AM Permalink

Abba Vineyards grows Grenache comparable to “Pinot Noir”

Michael McCay, the owner/winemaker of McCay Cellars, believes that Lodi might have discovered “its own Pinot Noir.”  He’s thinking, however, that it may be red wines made from the Grenache grape.

“There is a lot of potential for Grenache in Lodi,” says McCay.  “It may become one of the great grapes of Lodi, right up there with Zinfandel.  It’s the perfect fit for our Mediterranean climate...

May 9, 2013 at 7:45 AM Permalink

Michael Klouda’s Stem Theory magnifies the wild side of Cabernet grapes

If you dig super-rare wines no one else knows about, lend us your ears:  the 2011 Michael Klouda Lodi Stem Theory ($26) is a worthy follow-up to winemaker/owner Michael Klouda’s debut wine from last Spring, the 2010 Michael Klouda Broken Vine Lodi Zinfandel.  A couple of things going for Stem Theory:

1.  Mr. Klouda handcrafted 100 cases of it (doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a big jump from Broken Vine‘s measly production of 25 cases, which some zin lovers can consume all by themselves within a month)...

May 7, 2013 at 7:42 AM Permalink

The wine & cheese goddesses’ choices at the ZinFest Wine School

Catherine Fallis MS & Cindy Della Monica share “Secrets of Wine & Cheese Matching”

“ZinFest wine lovers,” says Master Sommelier Catherine Fallis, “prepare your taste buds for lift-off!”

In her 4-4:40 PM ZinFest Wine School presentation on Saturday, May 18, 2013, Ms. Fallis – a.k.a. the one and only grape goddess® – is teaming up with Cindy Della Monica, the owner of Lodi Wine Country‘s Cheese Central.  Ms. Della Monica, on her part, is a bonafide cheese goddess – or, shall we say, a walking encyclopedia on all things cheese (in the same way that Fallis is a walking, talking encyclopedia of wine, which is why she also teaches at San Francisco Wine School, and has counseled untold numbers of aspiring wine professionals)...

May 2, 2013 at 7:39 AM Permalink

Michael David’s annual Zinfandel growers tasting reveals east vs. west side distinctions

Michael David Winery hosted their yearly Grower Barrel Flight Tasting for their Zinfandel growers this past April 24 and 25 at the winery’s Bare Ranch facilities.

This annual rite of Spring, organized Kevin Phillips –Michael David’s Vineyard Manager and VP of Operations – is put on to give the winery’s Zinfandel suppliers the opportunity to taste, and evaluate, over 60 of their own single-vineyard wine lots from the previous vintage, while the wines are still in a raw, unblemished state (without the influence of new or extended oak barrel aging).  The tasting is done “blind” – no one knows whose wines are whose – and the top rated 20%, according to scores given out by the growers themselves, are eligible to receive $125/ton bonuses from the winery...

Apr 30, 2013 at 12:25 PM Permalink

Watts ups the ante with pure Chardonnays, a classic Zinfandel & adventurous Montepulciano

Quietly, pretty much under the radar, Watts Winery & Vineyards has been growing before our eyes.  From 1999 to 2011, Watts was one of many winemaking tenets in Vino Piazza, near the little Lodi CDP of Lockeford.  At the Watts family’s “new” tasting room/winery on Locust Tree Rd., just south of Victor/Hwy. 12, Watts’ French-born and schooled winemaker, Franck Lambert, proudly showed off his new baby, sure to attract the oohs and ahs:  the 2012 Watts Upstream Lodi Chardonnay ($18).

What’s so special about Watts’ Upstream Chardonnay?  Lots.  It is, to begin with, a more floral scented, sleek and moderately weighted style of Chardonnay – if you’re looking for a ponderous, buttery popcorn/candied apple/pineapple-fruit bomb style of Chardonnay, don’t expect to find it here.  Instead, the Upstream delivers a white flower/violet-like fragrance, nuances of citrus, lemon and minerals, enhanced in the nose and texture by smidgens of fresh cream derived from just partial barrel fermentation.  But the overall feel is on a crisp, clean purity, enhanced by mostly stainless steel fermentation.

Apr 19, 2013 at 12:17 PM Permalink