East side, west side, Lodi Zinfandels getting around the block

Beach blanket Zinfandel: November in Noma Ranch’s dry farmed planting on the east side of Lodi where the soils are the sandiest and deepest

Part 2 of our autumn paen to Zinfandel (starting with Lodi Zinfandel's transitioning styles and food moxie):

In 1991, some 600 of Lodi’s grape growers came together to form the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission (since shortened to Lodi Winegrape Commission). At that point in time, according to the Commission’s former Executive Director, Mark Chandler, “The trade and consumers viewed Lodi as a jug wine region, despite the fact that even then we were the largest producer of premium quality wine grapes in the state, which we still are.”

Today wine bottles bearing the Lodi appellation are seen on retail shelves and fine dining restaurant wine lists across the nation, and it is no longer a surprise when Lodi wines win double-golds and even “Best of Show” accolades in tasting competitions involving thousands of wines from other American wine regions...

Nov 27, 2012 at 4:33 PM Permalink

The many faces of Lodi in 2012 (part 1)

One man winter pruning team, on Lodi's west side

As we approach the end of another auspicious year in Lodi‘s wine country, it is as good a time as any to revisit the first half of 2012 with some of our favorite images of the people who are making this American Viticultural Area what it is:  one of the most exciting (no longer just one of the most prolific) winegrowing regions in the world...

Nov 25, 2012 at 4:41 PM Permalink

Memories of The First Sip 2011

Another First Sip in Lodi has come and gone! There were some memorable moments, during this annual harvest celebration this past November 12-13, when wine lovers can go around visiting over 40 of Lodi’s finest vignerons and taste unbottled samples of their latest vintages — including just picked 2011s. Born and raised here in the Delta, Dee Yates of Dee Yates Photography has always had a keen eye and natural feel for Lodi’s wine country. Below is a photographic accounting by Ms. Yates, mixed in with shots taken by lodiwine.com (Yates’ artistic expessions identified by her signature). Good times at…..

Nov 21, 2012 at 6:04 PM Permalink

Lodi Zinfandel’s transitioning styles & unbeatable food-moxie

Classic old vine Zinfandel: Soucie Vineyard, planted in 1916 in the super-sandy loam soil of Lodi's Mokelumne River AVA

This is the first of three consecutive parts of an autumn paen to Zinfandel. That is, Lodi‘s special Zinfandels…

Not too long ago, when people said “Zinfandel,” they usually meant something pink and sweet. But those days are gone; and aside from Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi, virtually no winery in Lodi makes a (now) old fashioned, fruity White Zinfandel. Zinfandel is back to being a red wine, period.

The styles of Zinfandel, however, have undergone a few transitions since the White Zinfandel craze. Before Zinfandel became pink, varietal bottlings of red Zinfandel tended to be fairly light, soft in tannin, and fairly zesty with prickly acidity. 13% alcohol was considered “big,” and the grape was associated with traditional producers of the day, like Louis Martini and Sebastiani...

Nov 20, 2012 at 4:58 PM Permalink

The Phillips family’s turkey day run & killer chestnut stuffing

Holiday strutters at Phillips Farms

“We are not very exciting when it comes to Thanksgiving,” says David Phillips, co-owner and president of Lodi’s Michael David Winery.

Instead, what Mr. Phillips does – together with his wife Corene, and two sons Connor and Joseph – is wake up early every Thanksgiving morning, and hit the pavement in the Run and Walk Against Hunger in Downtown Stockton, benefitting the Stockton/San Joaquin Emergency Food Bank.  Par for the course for a family who also enjoys skiing, mountain biking, and competing in triathlons together.

Then after this year’s Thanksgiving run, they will go home and prepare a $700 turkey...

Nov 15, 2012 at 5:07 PM Permalink

Lange family Thanksgiving & wild rice

Thanksgiving table at the Langes'

“All happy families are alike,” wrote Tolstoy.  In this day and age, even the happiest and closest knit of families end up varying their Thanksgiving celebrations – that’s just the way it is, even in Lodi wine country...

Nov 13, 2012 at 11:15 AM Permalink

New, exciting, even strange brews at m2 Wines

Layne Montgomery with artist's depiction of future m2 estate

For the past eight years, the compelling quality of m2 Wines has been all the impetus Lodi wine lovers have needed to beat a path to winemaker/proprietor Layne Montgomery’s unadorned warehouse/winery, on the far eastern side of town along Turner Rd.

Nonetheless, Montgomery thinks it’s high time that he makes a move into a “real winery.”  Thus, Montgomery and his original group of partners and investors have announced plans to break ground – as early as this December, if weather and permitting goes well – for a new m2 estate on a triangular 17 acre site south of Peltier Rd., just west of Hwy. 99 along the railroad tracks...

Nov 7, 2012 at 11:23 AM Permalink

Get into holiday spirit with LoCA by helping with Lodi Community Food Drive

Holiday squash at Michael David Winery

‘Tis the season to give thanks and praise for everything we are fortunate to be blessed with in our lives:  family, friends, a caring community, and — especially for Lodi — the generosity of the 2012 wine grape harvest (a truly rare combination of exceptional quality and crop size)...

Nov 1, 2012 at 11:34 AM Permalink

Tom Hoffman goes against the grain at Heritage Oak

Tom Hoffman doing his canoe paddle punch-downs

Like his wines, Heritage Oak Winery’s Tom Hoffman has never been one for hyperbole or false deprecation:  he just says it like it is; and if it makes sense, that’s the way he does it.

One thing you can always depend upon when enjoying a Lodi grown Heritage Oak wine:  it will taste pretty much like the grapes it is made from, along with the vintage conditions shaping its sensations...

Oct 30, 2012 at 11:41 AM Permalink

At Peirano, the power of believing – and the famous Red Shorts

Lance Randolph & his famous Red Shorts

As of Thursday, October 25, 2012, there are still grapes to be picked in Lodi, despite the dark weather and downpour at the start of the past week.

Meanwhile, the memo came in Monday (October 22) from Peirano Estate Vineyards, a property originally planted by an Italian immigrant named Giacomo Peirano in the 1890s:  Lance Randolph – Giacomo’s descendent, and current Peirano winemaker/owner – has taken off his red shorts!  Wrote Mr. Randolph...

Oct 25, 2012 at 11:52 AM Permalink