Most of the Lodi’s growing legion of wine fans have come to know the top brands. Names such as Michael David Winery, Klinker Brick Winery, LangeTwins Family Winery & Vineyards, and Mettler Family Vineyards have been making waves from coast to coast, not to mention in Alaska and Hawaii. Largely within the local market, smaller brands brands such as Harney Lane Winery, Oak Farm Vineyards, McCay Cellars, Acquiesce Winery, the tiny Fields Family Wines or the long established The

As part of Lodi’s 2019 ZinFest, there will be a Zinfandel Blind Tasting taking place at 2 PM on May 17 in the Wine & Roses Hotel Ballroom. We are also calling this event: A Study of Ancient Vine Zinfandels of California. The blind tasting will be led by a panel of three unimpeachable wine pundits: Mike Dunne (former longtime wine columnist of The Sacramento Bee), Steve Eliot (Editor of the authoritative Connoisseurs’ Guide to California Wine), and Master Sommelier Catherine F

To kick off 2018’s National Zinfandel Day week, this past November 14, over 100 winemakers and growers came together from both inside and outside the Lodi AVA for a Technical Workshop co-sponsored by the Lodi Winegrape Commission and ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates & Producers). This educational industry event took place in Oak Farm Vineyards’ historic redwood barn, built in 1864. On the agenda were two 4-man panels – one representing “Growers’ Perspectives,” and the other “Winemake

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

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

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

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

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 (

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

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

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