New York sommelier comes to Lodi (and Michael David’s latest Cinsault & Inkblots)

A sommelier, according to standard dictionaries, is the person in a restaurant in charge of buying, storing and serving wines.  You can say “wine steward,” which sounds pedestrian.  And so people prefer to say sum-uhl-YAY; which, as you might surmise from the hoity-toitiness, is originally a French concept.   The word itself is derived from the Old French word for pack animal driver – probably an alteration of sommerier (from somier or “pack animal”), and prior to that, the Medieval Latin saugmarius, from Late Latin sagma (“packsaddle”) – since somehow, sommeliers in France evolved from officials in charge of transporting supplies to dudes with the keys to restaurant wine cellars.

Sommeliers, in other words, are a breed apart.  Since only high-end restaurants tend to have sommeliers, quite often they live in glorified worlds of their own, even though they are basically wine lovers, like any wine lover, who happen to get paid for cultivating their predilection.  But inevitably, the way they think about wine can be different from the way even other wine professionals (like winemakers, retailers or journalists) think...

Mar 5, 2013 at 11:27 AM Permalink

Neyers Vista Luna Zinfandel perfectly suits contemporary tastes

When certain vintners speak, many others are listening.  Bruce Neyers, who has owned the acclaimed Napa Valley based Neyers Vineyards (tucked into Conn Valley, in the eastern mountains surrounding the shimmering Lake Hennessey) since 1992, has recently been spreading the word to his legions of wine savvy followers, in every state from Hawai`i to New York:  there is Zinfandel unlike any other being grown in Lodi’s eastern hills.

The 2011 Neyers Vista Luna Vineyard Lodi Zinfandel ($24) is, by all definitions of the varietal, a beaut.  That is to say, not a beast.  Its medium-full body has a very refined, silky feel, with spice nuanced raspberry/rhubarb pie flavors punctuated and woven together by lively, lip smacking acidity, without being sharp.  There is some mild, sinewy tannin (think Angelina Jolie’s, not Brad Pitt’s, biceps) flowing through the center, and just smidgens of sweet oak lingering way in the backdrop.  A Zinfandel for contemporary tastes for restraint, yet not without complexity – almost the opposite of what many people think about Lodi Zinfandel today...

Feb 28, 2013 at 10:51 AM Permalink

Lodi icon leaves legacy of uncompromised quality & character

Hundreds of related family, friends and colleagues gathered at Vinewood Community Church and Harney Lane Winery today to remember and celebrate the life of George Mettler (born March 14, 1943), who passed away this past February 15, 2013 (please see our September 2013 post, the patriarch of Harney Lane).

In many ways, the Harney Lane Lodi Patriarch’s Promise ($40) – a varietal blend sourced from grapes grown on the winery property, from four vintages (2007 through 2010) – is a direct reflection of the man, for whom home, love, laughter, family (and just below that, farming and fly fishing) loomed largest.  On a sensory level, the Patriarch’s is deep, dense yet perfectly smooth; with flavors of berried trail-mix spiced with cinnamon, cracked pepper and earth toned suggestions of fennel root and mushrooms, plucked from rich, organic loam...

Feb 21, 2013 at 10:47 AM Permalink

Acclaimed Mikami Zinfandel is culmination of 100 years of undaunted Lodi farming

One of the finest Zinfandels made in California today is one that even the most devoted Zinfandel lovers never heard of:  made by Mikami Vineyards, sourced from a 15-acre vineyard owned by Jason Mikami, located on the west side of Lodi’s historic Mokelumne River AVA. Mr. Mikami grew up on the family farm in the seventies and eighties, but branched out on his own as an adult – establishing a successful career in the tech industry (particularly in Interactive television and cloud computing).  He now lives in the Bay Area, but maintains the same Sargent Rd. vineyard property originally purchased by his parents, Jim and Aiko Mikami, in 1963.

The vineyard, however, is a legacy that will always remain in the family; and the Mikami Vineyards Zinfandel (produced since 2009), according to Mikami, is something that he is conscious of doing “in honor my father and grandfather… something that would make them proud...”

Jan 31, 2013 at 10:08 AM Permalink

Culinary orgy of Lodi wines & chocolate dishes in San Francisco’s Naked Kitchen

Lodi Wine Country’s Wine & Chocolate Weekend (our 16^th Annual!) is nigh upon us, this coming February 9 & 10, 2013! To get the our juices flowing, this past January 9 Camron King, Executive Director of the Lodi Winegrape Commission, invited eight influential members of the Northern California media to an intimate dinner in San Francisco’s Naked Kitchen – an underground eatery of sorts, housed in a classic Valencia St. Victorian, where chefs and artists gather for periodic exchanges of nourishing ideas.

For this particular occasion, Mr. King asked Joshua Oakley – one of the Bay Area’s more talented underground chefs (having no permanent brick-and-mortar home, Chef Oakley’s Tango & Stache cooking company simply pops up, like a culinary Robin Hood, or the proverbial Underdog) – to execute this challenge:  a dinner around Naked Kitchen’s dining room table (which seats only 12 comfortably) consisting of five courses, all made with chocolate as a core ingredient, each course matched to a Lodi grown wine (or two)...

Jan 16, 2013 at 9:39 AM Permalink

Turley’s Passalacqua to pay tribute to classic Lodi Zinfandels at 2013 ZAP Festival

This past December, Tegan Passalacqua – the winemaker/vineyard manager of the prestigious Turley Wine Cellars (a Napa Valley based Zinfandel specialist, also sourcing several wines from Lodi) – took an afternoon to talk and walk through the Lodi vineyards he will be highlighting in a special tasting taking place in San Francisco this coming February 1, 2013, as part of the ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates & Producers) yearly celebration of the Zinfandel grape.

Mr. Passalacqua is also one of the founding minds behind the Historic Vineyard Society, which endeavors to chronicle and encourage the preservation of heritage plantingss (defined by HVS as any vineyard planted prior to 1960) throughout the state of California.  As part of ZAP’s February 1 FLIGHTS/Forums of Flavor (taking place at the Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill), HVS will be presenting four Zinfandels from historic vineyards in Lodi, and another four each from Napa Valley, Sonoma County and Mendocino County...

Jan 9, 2013 at 9:30 AM Permalink

Hux’s Roussanne & Mourvèdre recall the pioneering spirit of Rhone Rangers

The adventurous spirit of California’s Rhône Rangers, an unofficial movement that began to spark just over 30 years ago, still lives on here and there, seemingly everywhere you look:  particularly at Hux Vineyards, one of Lodi’s little-wineries-that-could.

The 3.5-acre Hux Vineyards, established just south of the town of Lodi by Dave and Barbara Huecksteadt some 15 years ago, consists of only a couple rows each of a surprising variety of grapes, primarily of Mediterranean origin:  Roussanne and Grenache Blanc among the white wine grapes; and among the reds, Mourvèdre, Souzão, Tempranillo, Teroldego, a little bit of Zinfandel and Petite Sirah, and the extremely rare, virtually unheard-of Marzemino (see past blogpost, Many wines other than Zinfandel at 2012 ZinFest)...

Jan 2, 2013 at 9:23 AM Permalink

Markus Bokisch looks back at 2012

Markus Bokisch tastes 2012 Verdelho harvest in his Vista Luna Vineyard

Here at the end of 2012, it makes sense to catch up with Markus Bokisch, whose Bokisch Ranches have become one of the most important vineyard management companies in the Lodi American Viticultural Area (a.k.a. AVA).

Bokisch Ranches is not the largest grower in Lodi – that would be companies like LangeTwins Family, John Kautz Farms, Vino Farms, the Dosio family’s Pacific Agri Lands, and a few others – but they are significant because of their upward growth despite increasing economic barriers (2,200 bearing acres of wine grapes, with another 900 acres in development), and because they sell to such a large number of specialty wineries throughout the state, who also tend to garner the most press...

Dec 27, 2012 at 4:22 PM Permalink

The perfect holiday refresher: Sorelle Vin Brulé

The Sorelle estate, on the site of the historic Dodge House

In recent weeks, lucky visitors to Sorelle Winery have been treated to a special drink:  a classic mulled (or “spiced”) wine that Mike Scott and his family – owners and growers of this outstanding Lodi AVA winery, specializing in Italian varietals – have been calling Sorelle Vin Brulé...

Dec 18, 2012 at 5:37 PM Permalink

An ultimate Christmas gift: Lodi’s 12 most interesting wines of 2012

For Christmas, what do you give a Lodi wine lover who’s tried everything?  A full case (12 bottles) of Lodi’s 12 finest wines, of course.

Herein lies the dilemma:  the Lodi wine industry has recently reached the point where it is simply an impossibility to pick Lodi’s “12 finest wines.”  There’s just too darned many of them!

Dec 11, 2012 at 5:48 PM Permalink