Letters from Lodi
An insightful and objective look at viticulture and winemaking from the Lodi
Appellation and the growers and vintners behind these crafts. Told from the
perspective of multi-award winning wine journalist, Randy Caparoso.

Photographic report on start of Lodi’s 2012 harvest
Liz Bokisch with their first pick of 2012: Vista Luna Vineyard Verdelho
This past Tuesday, August 14, we spent a day checking out the progress of Lodi‘s 2012 crop; which, in fact, was already underway — at least in the Vista Luna Vineyard in Lodi’s Jahant AVA, where we found Markus and Liz Bokisch hand picking Verdelho for their Bokisch Vineyards brand, a select group of their small batch artisanal winemaker/clients (Odisea, Forlorn Hope, Kongsgaard, and The Scholium Project), as well as machine picking Verdelho for one of their bigger clients (Constellation Brands)...
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Lodi zins rock it at ZAP’s Grill-O-Rama
Wine barrels at Rock Wall Wine Company
The Zinfandel Advocates & Producers’ Grill-O-Rama took place this past Saturday, August 11 at Rock Wall Wine Company’s giant hangar-turned-winery by the San Francisco Bay, in Alameda. Kudos to ZAP for showcasing Zinfandel in context of where it really tastes best: with grilled, or barbecued, foods, such as the pulled pork tacos in fresh lime vinaigrette prepared by Picán chef Sophina Uong (named Grill-O-Rama’s “Best Grill Master” by a panel of professional wine/food judges)...
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Van Ruiten’s new winemaker has an uncommon “touch”
Van Ruiten winemaker Matt Ridge
There is a new winemaker at Van Ruiten Family Winery; which, since founded by John Van Ruiten Sr. in 2000, has emerged as one of the Lodi American Viticultural Area’s most consistent, and beloved, producers of wines that are now sold in over 40 states across the country.
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Lodi puts on most arduous wine seminar in the world at Steamboat Wine Festival
Winter, spring, summer or fall, a visit to Steamboat Springs – a 6,732+ ft. elevation ski resort/community in the Rockies of Colorado – is a breathtaking affair. Especially if you happened to participate in the Mud, Sweat and Cheers event that was part of the yearly Steamboat Wine Festival, which took place this past August 2-5...
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Signs of eminent greatness in the 2010 Maley Zinfandel
Zinfandel cluster in Maley’s Weget Vineyard Zinfandel, undergoing veraison (color change) last week
Sometimes a wine just makes itself. Or practically…
In the case of a good red Zinfandel, you still have to pick the grapes and get it into a fermentation vat, and watch it a little to make sure things don’t go south as it starts to bubble up and turn those sugars into alcohol, while all the goodies found in the skins turn into a taste resembling, say, quivering spoonfuls of raspberry preserve with sprinkles of cinnamon toast, nostril tingling pepper, and just-roasted coffee grounds…
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Finicky Graciano grape achieves mini-cult status in Lodi’s Clements Hills
Graciano grapes in Bokisch's Terra Alta Vineyard
It was during one of their first trips to Spain when Rick and Erin Taylor first tasted a wine made from the Graciano grape, right from a barrel in a little bodega (winery). “We were blown away,” says Mr. Taylor. “It was unlike anything else we’d ever tasted.”
Later, when the Taylors discovered that Markus and Liz Bokisch were growing Graciano here in Lodi, where the Taylors were also living, “we knew we had to make that wine...”
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Michael David easy-skankin’ at their annual REGGAE & RHONE concert
Reggae master, Mystic Bowie
Oh lord, stuck in Lodi has never been so irie, mon… Michael David Winery continues with their 10th annual REGGAE & RHONE concert (Saturday, August 18, 6 PM), which will include an unbelievable Rhone style wine tasting under the winery’s gigantic weeping willow tree, a full-on Caribbean style barbecue dinner (by Stockton’s Breadfruit Tree), and the authentically Jamaican, so-jah-say, dem-belly-full, lively-up-yourself (and don’t say no!) sounds of Mystic Bowie and his band...
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Pasos Tannat can crank up summer grills
Lodi grown Tannat grapes
Tannat is not a wine grape to be trifled with. Its black-purplish color can be intimidating, and its thick, tannin laden texture a mountainous affair. If none of that bothers you in a red wine, then you can, to paraphrase Jimi Hendrix, chop it down with the edge of your hand. Maybe pick up all the pieces and make an island, like a kid playing with food on the plate...
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ZAP’s upcoming Grille O’Rama speaks to Zinfandel’s barbecued soul
Lodi winemaker Michael McCay's specialty slow cooked oil drum smoked baby backs
ZAP – the Zinfandel Advocates & Producers organization that has done more to popularize the joys of California Zinfandel than anything in the world, apart from the wines themselves – knows where its bread is buttered.
Zinfandel has become an everyday go-to beverage around the world (they’re even rocking with it in places as far-off as Shanghai and Stockholm, Berlin and Bombay…) not just because the grape produces a truly fine and delicious red wine, but also because at its very essence is the bare naked fact: Zinfandel makes an incredible barbecue wine...
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Sorelle’s Sangiovese defies all odds
The old Dodge House on Sorelle's estate, fronted by Sangiovese
There’s always one in the bunch. A newly loosed winegrower, seemingly oblivious to industry trends; making a decision to plant, as his centerpiece, a grape with a solid track record of market disappointment: California grown Sangiovese...
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