Harney Lane Vineyards Zinfandel sources (from top): Home Ranch, Scottsdale Vineyard and Lizzy James Vineyard. First, let's taste three different Lodi Zinfandels, all made by the same local winery, Harney Lane Vineyards: • The 2020 Harney Lane "Home Ranch" Zinfandel ($32) is almost an essence of what many people love about Zinfandel—round, plumpish yet bouncy on the palate, with velvety flavors, almost plush in their softness, signaled by exuberant aromas of chocolaty fresh berries and a touch of strawberry. "Friendliness" personified. • The first thing you notice when sipping the 2021 Harney ..read more

Burlington Chandler proprietor Mark Chandler (middle) and his son Dave (right) pouring at the 2024 Lodi Wine Festival. Lodi wines are better than ever.  That's the happy thought I walked away with after a spin through the spring Lodi Wine Festival, taking place last Saturday (April 6, 2024) at the historic Ole Mettler Pavilion on the Lodi Grape Festival grounds. In what ways are Lodi wines better? Number one, they're fresher and purer than ever, not so much overripe, overly alcoholic or overly oaked as many of them were just 10 or 15 years ago. Sure, many homegrown Lodi wines are still m ..read more

Inside the historic, barrel-shaped Ole Mettler Grape Pavilion at the Lodi Grape Festival. Each spring since 1980, the Lodi Grape Festival has been holding an early April wine festival on its fairgrounds. It is always the Lodi region's first large wine tasting event of the year. This year, the 2024 Lodi Wine Festival takes place this coming Saturday, April 6. As always, it is held in the historic Ole Mettler Grape Pavilion, a ribbed wooden showroom built in 1949 that makes you think you're in the inside of a gigantic wine barrel. Very Germanic... very "Lodi!" The recent bud break in Lodi's fa ..read more

Haarmeyer Wine Cellars winemaker/owner Craig Haarmeyer in his cellar filled with puncheons (double-size barrels) An orchestra contained in a wine Let's start by talking about a single Lodi grown wine, which could very well be the most unusual wine in the world (no exaggeration), before getting to the vintner behind it. Today's topic of interest is the 2023 Haarmeyer Wine Cellars Victor Weisser, Gemischter Satz ($28), which is a pale gold colored wine with the faintest rose tinted hue. It looks like a typical white wine, and walks and talks like one—honeyed and floral scents somewhat akin to d ..read more

Lodi winemaker Mike McCay in Bonotto Vineyard—originally planted in the 1930s and, up until recently, producing Zinfandel that disappeared into anonymous vats of "jug" wines, but now recognized as a vineyard-designate varietal with distinctive qualities of its own. Just minutes before a virtual webinar coming out of London and hosted by The Old Vine Conference this past March 25, 2024, a distinguished British journalist named Tamlyn Currin—also widely known as the Sustainability and Senior Editor for JancisRobinson.com—peppered me with questions in preparation for her on-air introduction to r ..read more

Oak Farm Vineyards winemaker Marilia Nimis-Schrader presiding over a recent harvest in Lodi's Mokelumne River appellation. March is Women's History Month. We should, no doubt, celebrate the contributions of women to events and history every month, on each day of the year; but in its wisdom, U.S. Congress (in 1987) selected March as the month to celebrate the achievements of women towards our nation's fortunes and destiny. The wine industry, however, is one place where women are still "catching up," so to speak, despite the fact that women make up just over half of the country's population, an ..read more

Harvesting of Nebbiolo—a rare (for California) grape native to Italy's Piemonte region—in Clements Hills-Lodi's Anaya Vineyards. When the first-ever scholarly book on Lodi winegrowing was published in 2022, an entire chapter was devoted to 130 grapes, complete with photographs, representing each and every variety commercially grown in the appellation. Re Lodi! The Definitive Guide and History of America's Largest Winegrowing Region (2022, KitchenCinco Press). Almost immediately after this 400-page tome was published, it was out of date. At least insofar as grape varieties. A few grapes listed ..read more

Block of blooming almond trees cultivated in the midst of Lodi's vast expanse of vineyards. In the seasonal rhythms of life, the cusp of spring (in 2024, coming up on March 19) is when the earth is exhaling, after and months and months of breathing and holding still, conserving energy for the longer days, the warmer temperatures and brighter, more nourishing light. We respond in kind, as walking, talking, singing organic extensions of the Mother we call Nature. Spring awakens our appetites, and our thirst for wines and life is piqued, re-energized, hopeful, healing, as pent up and b ..read more

Tempranillo cluster in Anaya Vineyards, Clements Hills-Lodi AVA. Tempranillo is not an obvious wine. Yet by now, you have had either a personal experience or have heard all about this red wine varietal, made from the cultivar of this name that is native to Spain.  At least within the Lodi appellation, where the varietal has a place of little more importance than in other American wine regions. Among local wineries, there are now as many bottlings of Tempranillo as Cabernet Sauvignon (but not nearly as many as Zinfandel, Lodi's signature variety). Like Lodi itself, Tempranillo has a ..read more

McCay Cellars' Mike McCay raising a toast in one of his old vine Zinfandel blocks. California's 2023 harvest, you might have heard, was problematic, especially in the Lodi appellation.  In Lodi, the challenges were more economic than those of issues imposed by Mother Nature. It was, in short, a cooler than usual vintage. Theoretically, this is good, because Lodi is a warm climate winegrowing region. But as San Joaquin County Viticulture Farm Advisor Jim Kissler put it, “Some growers had trouble obtaining the minimum sugar requirements of 22˚ Brix [i.e., sugar readings]... and growers wit ..read more