News | Save The Old

Lifestyle_3_Lodi Wine_Stephanie Russo Ph

Search

Jessie’s Grove's Royal Tee field mix – Lodi’s oldest, most historic Zinfandel planting

Oct 31, 2018

Jessie’s Grove's Royal Tee field mix – Lodi’s oldest, most historic Zinfandel planting

Jessie’s Grove Winery’s Royal Tee Vineyard is the Lodi Viticultural Area’s oldest existing Zinfandel planting; put into the (Tokay Series) fine sandy loam of Mokelumne River’s west side, on its own (Zinfandel) rootstocks, by Joseph Spenker in 1889. The vines were originally planted at the request of Stockton’s El Pinal Winery (which eventually closed during Prohibition) with cuttings supplied by the winery’s nursery. The vineyard adds up to precisely 4.95 acres. The peculiar

3 views0 comments

LODI’S single-vineyard wines

Oct 20, 2018

LODI’S single-vineyard wines

What Are The Top Lodi Viticultural Area Vineyards Identified As Vineyard-Designate Wines On Highly Regarded Lodi Grown Bottlings, And Why Do They Matter? They matter because of the precedent set in European countries long ago: The simple fact that the finest wine regions are associated with vineyards known to produce great wines. One could make the argument, for instance, that Napa Valley first emerged as a wine region of some significance or prestige during the 1960s and ‘70

24 views0 comments

Can Zinfandel be saved? Conversation with Turley's Tegan Passalacqua

Jan 26, 2018

Can Zinfandel be saved? Conversation with Turley's Tegan Passalacqua

This past Saturday (January 20, 2018), Turley Wine Cellars winemaker Tegan Passalacqua announced, during our talk at Zinfandel Advocates & Producers’ (a.k.a. ZAP) Zinfandel Experience in San Francisco, that he recently purchased the old, abandoned Eastside Meats building on the east side of Lodi, where he intends to establish the winemaking facility for his personal brand, called Sandlands. Passalacqua had much more to say on subjects bearing a number of implications for the

6 views0 comments

What Lodi can do to slow down the loss of old vine plantings

Oct 6, 2017

What Lodi can do to slow down the loss of old vine plantings

A continuation of our previous post, Last rites for Lodi's old vine growths It’s a good time to enjoy good ol’ old vine Zinfandel. There’s a little bit of chill in the air, leaves are turning color, and the mind drifts off into memories of brown spices, baking pies, stews on the stove, bread in the oven, ugly sweaters. But enjoy those wines while you can; because – as we mentioned in a previous post, Last Rites for Lodi’s Old Vine Growths – decently priced old vine Zinfandel

21 views0 comments

Last Rites for Lodi's old vine growths

Sep 15, 2017

Last Rites for Lodi's old vine growths

The Phillips Family Issues Dire Warnings Imagine a Lodi without old vine Zinfandel. It’s not an impossibility. This issue always comes up in years when yields are down, as they were in 2017, 15%, 25%, or even more than 50%. This time around it comes in the middle of an economic clusterfudge: Sales of $10-and-under varietal Zinfandel continue to drop, winery supplies of fermented juice are backed up to the hilt, and White Zinfandel is no longer setting the wine world on fire (

171 views0 comments

Appreciating endangered ancient vines during National Zinfandel week

Nov 18, 2015

Appreciating endangered ancient vines during National Zinfandel week

Wednesday, November 18, 2015 is National Zinfandel Day. Who thinks of these days anyway? International Tempranillo Day was just last week (November 12), right on the heels of International Merlot Day (November 7). We’re drinking as fast as we can, folks! Of course, it is Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (a.k.a. ZAP) that has been behind the annual observation of National Zinfandel Day. No organization has done more to expand appreciation of Zinfandel than ZAP. In events in cit

5 views0 comments

The story continues: Lodi’s magical Bechthold Vineyard

Feb 22, 2012

The story continues: Lodi’s magical Bechthold Vineyard

Part 2 – Why Lodi’s Bechthold Cinsault may be the “future” of wine The well known phenomenon of “old vines” is, first of all, the fact that they tend to produce more intense wines because older vines naturally set lower crops. Bechthold Vineyard, planted in 1886, is as old as it gets for Lodi – an American Viticultural Area replete with vines planted prior to 1960 (although the label designation “old vines” is unregulated, for our purposes what we call old vines would be vin

12 views0 comments

Lodi’s oldest existing vines: the magical Bechthold Vineyard

Feb 20, 2012

Lodi’s oldest existing vines: the magical Bechthold Vineyard

Part 1 – The rediscovery of a diamond in the Delta mists Tegan Passalacqua, the vineyard manager of the esteemed Turley Wine Cellars, calls it “one of the last of the great dry farmed vineyards in Lodi.” Jillian Phoenix, the former winemaker of Bonny Doon Vineyard and current winemaker/co-owner of Phoenix Ranch in Napa Valley, calls it “a magical vineyard” planted to Cinsault grapes that are “by far the most interesting I have ever worked with in California.” Bonny Doon’s fam

34 views0 comments