How Lodi caused Odisea’s “Temporary Insanity”

Odisea's Adam Webb with Jean Rauser, in her 103 year old Lodi Carigane vineyard

I fought against the bottle
But I had to do it drunk…
- Leonard Cohen (That Don’t Make It Junk)

The 2009 Odisea California Temporary Insanity ($30) is a perfect example of how some of California’s most original, and quixotic, wine producers get hooked on Lodi; and why winemakers consider this American Viticultural Area increasingly where it’s at when it comes to winegrowing derring-do...

Apr 20, 2012 at 8:52 AM Permalink

LangeTwins’ SLEWS project: waking up to smell the mugwort

Mature oaks beside LangeTwins' old Zinfandel plantings along Mokelumne River

LangeTwins Family Winery & Vineyards has been among the Lodi AVA’s leaders in Lodi Rules certified sustainable winegrowing.  During the past eight years they  have also devoted some 10 acres north of their winery on E. Jahant Rd., plus another 10 acres on their Sandpoint property along the Mokelumne River, to habitat restoration projects in association with SLEWS – Center for Land-Based Learning‘s Student and Landowner Education and Watershed Stewardship program –which engages local high school students in the winery’s conservation efforts...

Apr 17, 2012 at 8:47 AM Permalink

Fields Family’s latest midnight smokin’ wines

Fields Family Wines' Ryan Sherman

But to live outside the law, you must be honest…
- Bob Dylan (Absolutely Sweet Marie)

Lodi’s Fields Family Wines has released what might be considered the region’s first Super Tuscan style wine:  the 2010 Fields Family Lodi Il Ladro ($25).

Why il ladro – Italian for “the thief”?  The story goes back some six, seven years ago, when co-proprietor/winemaker Russ Fields was just getting into winemaking as an avid amateur.  As part of his self-training, Fields used to “liberate” tiny bits of fruit that had gone unpicked (hence, tragically wasted) in neighboring vineyards in somewhat surreptitious fashion.  There have been worse things – like ex-presidents’ partying, or ones who lust or never inhale...

Apr 12, 2012 at 8:35 AM Permalink

At bucolic Heritage Oak: the birdmen of Lodi

David Yee, talking about the secret life of the Western Bluebird

The vineyards belonging to Heritage Oak Winery are tucked atop a particularly bucolic bend of Mokelumne River, just east of the town of Lodi.  Out of Heritage Oak’s 186 acres, 105 is devoted to wine grapes, and the rest to fauna and flora:  a beautiful convergence of riparian woodlands and vines, teeming with life — circumstances developed by design as much as by natural extension...

Apr 10, 2012 at 8:32 AM Permalink

Agave sangria & exciting new wines debuted at Lodi Spring Wine Show

"Wine 101" at Lodi Spring Wine Show

These are the good old days…
- Carly Simon (Anticipation)

At an event that is called Lodi Spring Wine Show, which took place on Lodi Grape Festival grounds this past weekend (March 30-31), you would hope and pray for wines that taste of spring:  growth and renewal, hope and light, freshness and flowers, love in the air, palpitations in our glass.

As seasonal serendipity would have it, we got that, thanks to a number of Lodi wine producers (there were 40 total pouring their wares) showing off some of their latest releases, as well as wines which are still a few weeks away from being officially released for sale.  On one hand, it’s frustrating to taste a captivating wine that you cannot yet buy; but on the other, it’s so much fun to taste something that whets your appetite for things to come...

Apr 5, 2012 at 8:27 AM Permalink

Lodi Rules contributes to the earth, industry and community

Solar panels supplying all the power needed by Vino Farms' Grand Vin Lands vineyard

Inspired by Earth Day coming up on April 22, the state of California has designated April 2012 as “Down to Earth Month,” encouraging everyone to embrace earth-friendly California wines made with winegrowing and winemaking practices specifically defined by principles of sustainability.

For over twenty years the Lodi American Viticultural Area has been a leader in earth-friendly practices; its crowning achievement being the formation of Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing:  California’s first ever peer-reviewed and third party certified sustainable winegrowing program; first developed in 1992, and officially launched in 2005...

Apr 3, 2012 at 8:23 AM Permalink

Is Lodi Zinfandel the most food versatile wine in the world?

Lodi winemaker Michael McCay finishing zin-friendly, smoky slow roasted baby backs...

Zinfandel is far, far more food versatile wine than you may think…

But it wasn’t always like that.  Just twenty years ago the country was still awash with pink colored “White Zinfandel,” and obsessed with Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot.  So much so that many of California’s mainstream wineries went so far as to drop red Zinfandel from their lineups – often opting to sell it as a pink wine instead!

Mar 29, 2012 at 2:56 PM Permalink

Stellina’s spice of life in a rarefied Zinfandel neighborhood

Bob & Ali Colarossi in their Stellina Vineyard

Some 200 years ago the French gastronome Brillat-Savarin wrote that “the discovery of a new vineyard does more for the happiness of mankind than the discovery of a new star.”

The exciting thing about the Lodi AVA is that new discoveries like this are happening with more frequency, as vineyards that for a long time were farmed in virtual anonymity – their fruit blended into big production wines by producers like E.&J. Gallo and Woodbridge – are now gaining recognition in boutique scaled single vineyard bottlings.

Introducing the 2009 Stellina Lodi Zinfandel ($24):  a beautifully bright, violet hued, flowery red wine that distinguishes itself among dozens of other top flight Lodi Zinfandels by its gentler, kinder, buoyantly composed structure, and consistent aromatic character evoking perfumed red and blue fruits punctuated by a distinctly peppery, clove-like spiciness...

Mar 26, 2012 at 2:52 PM Permalink

At long last, a pink wine that makes you smile…

Fill the bowl with rosy wine
Around our temples roses twine
And let us cheerfully awhile
Like the wine and roses, smile…
– Abraham Cowley (The Epicure)

Strange as it may seem, nowadays it takes guts to make a good, fruity pink wine. 

Mar 22, 2012 at 2:49 PM Permalink

Peltier Station Teroldego, raw meat and Sheryl Crow

Peltier Station winemaker JC van Staden

If there was a wine he would want to drink every night, according to JC van Staden, the winemaker at Lodi’s Peltier Station, it would be one like the 2006 Peltier Station Reserve Lodi Teroldego ($35).

Peltier Station’s Teroldego is, as Old World wine enthusiasts might say, a “banker” – meaning solid, stolid, and dry as a miser’s heart – and as such, one that combines award winning charms (garnering a gold and “Best of Class” at this past January’s 2012 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition) with some serious caveats. 

The charms:  a deep ruby color, as dark as blood, followed by a concentrated nose of dried trail mix (dates and berries) and notes of leather straps and steeping mocha espresso wrapped up in a densely textured, upbeat, full bodied taste... 

Mar 20, 2012 at 2:46 PM Permalink