The Historic Vineyard Society, in coordination with Sonoma’s Best, hosted its second Virtual Tasting event via ZOOM in March, 2021. This remote roundtable discussion focused on Lodi and Contra Costa old-vine sites.
Historic Vineyard Society Vimeo video “Lodi and Contra Costa Virtual Tasting with Sonoma’s Best”
March 11, 2021
"While we await the day we can once again taste and tour vineyards in person, we’re excited to announce a special opportunity to taste wines from historic vineyards Contra Costa and Lodi appellations!
"Contra Costa and Lodi Regions
"Hosted by Certified Sommelier & Wine Director at Sonoma’s Best, Todd Jolly and Emily Rasmussen of the Historic Vineyard Society.
"This virtual tasting will feature Bechtold Vineyard and Stampede Vineyard in Lodi along with Evangelho Vineyard and Duarte Vineyard in Contra Costa County.
“Panelists include Tegan Passalacqua (Turley), Shauna Rosenblum (Rock Wall), Nathan Kandler (Precedent Wines) and Alex Pitts (Maitre de Chai)!”
The most recent virtual tasting highlighted old vineyards from Santa Clara, San Benito, and San Luis Obispo Counties. I will submit my personal notes that video soon.
“Bechtold Vineyard”: oldest known Cinsault vineyard in the world; currently owned by the Phillips family (Michael David Winery)
· Cinsault is also known as “Cape Hermitage” and “Black Malvoisie/Malvoisier”
· Many of California’s oldest vines were planted and trained by arborists.
· “Bechtold” Cinsault is Turley’s only whole-cluster wine; harvested at 21°-22° brix; aged in neutral French oak
· Turley bottle labels are ordered before the wine is made, so “Bechtold’s” alcohol typically is listed as 12.5%, although true alcohol content varies by vintage (2019 Cinsault is 12.3% abv)
21:20 - Explanation of Geology & Climate of Lodi and Contra Costa:
· Sierra Foothills’ fractured soil materials are deposited in Lodi area by water, deposited in CoCo by wind
· DeltaBreeze tempers the heat in the area
“Stampede Vineyard” is located in Clements Hills area of Southeastern Lodi on Sandy clay soils
· “Stampede” was originally planted between the 1920s-40s to Zinfandel, Mourvedre, Mission, Alicante Bouschet, etc.; original vines are own-rooted, with tiny clusters and berries
· Maitre de Chai’s “Stampede” Zin (12.8% ABV); 50% whole cluster fermentation for lower extraction of the site’s high-tannin varieties; aged in neutral oak barrels
· Perlegos brothers John and Jeff were assisted by Morgan Twain-Peterson of Bedrock Wine Co. in rejuvenating the vineyard: replants included Petite Sirah, Grenache, and other “mixed black” varieties.
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35:00 Question: Are replants permitted to be grafted onto new rootstock as risk mitigation in old, own-rooted vineyards?
The second portion of my notes on this HVS Virtual Tasting, focusing on the Contra Costa County, will follow shortly.
Tegan Passalacqua:Turley Wine Cellars began working with grapes from Contra Costa in 1995.
· Ehren Jordan, while the partner winemaker at Neyers Vineyards, secured 2 tons of “Pato Vineyard” fruit from Rosenblum in 1994. He, in turn, encouraged Larry Turley to consider using the region’s old-vine Zinfandel at Larry’s eponymous winery. Jordan became the head winemaker for Turley shortly thereafter. Tegan, who started at Turley in 2003, took over the position in 2012.
Shauna’s father Kent Rosenblum began working with Contra Costa growers in 1980!!!
Tasting notes specific to red wines from Contra Costa include “dusty cocoa, dark & red raspberry, saddle leather, unlit pipe tobacco”
Rock Wall’s “Jesse’s Vineyard” Zinfandel has, by necessity, been made from different single-vineyard sites over the years, but consistently has been sourced from Meadowsfamily properties planted in the 1890’s.
According to Shauna, the “Planchon Vineyard” grapes are available on the market for winemakers once again.
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“Evangehlo Vineyard”: the most recognizable old vineyard in eastern Contra Costa, with grapes going into wines from Bedrock, Dirty & Rowdy, Turley, Neyers, Dashe, Desire Lines, Three Wine Co, and others.
PG&E owns most of the land occupied by “Evangehlo” (along with many other CoCo sites);
· Frank Evangehlo owned part of the property, and leased the remaining portion of the vineyard from PG&E, then Bedrock took over the lease and purchased the privately-held acreage.
Tegan Passalacqua was the one who initially recommended to Morgan Twain-Peterson that he take fruit available from “Evangehlo”.
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Nathan Kandler (Precedent):
Precedent “Evangehlo Vineyard” Zinfandel
· Tegan secured the fruit source for Nathan.
When eminent domain claimed a strip of the vineyard, ripped-up vines had roots running 30-40 feet into the sandy soil.
It can be difficult to calculate the exact percentage of each grape variety found in “field blend” bottlings: proportions are often calculated by the number of (each variety’s) vines in a block, rather than by the quantity of fruit harvested.
Carranza family has farmed the “Evangehlo Vineyard” for years.
· Soil is often tilled in old Antioch and Oakley vineyards in the winter.
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Tegan Passalacqua: The now-uprooted “Salvador Vineyard”, once a Turley source, was the first site in the area to use cover crops.
Historically, most Contra Costa vineyards have not been trellised, as the vine canopies can behave like sails, catching the strong Delta winds and pulling up posts.
Urban sprawl has exploded across CoCo in last 2 decades, threatening vineyard properties:
· Contra Costa’s old-vine plots are embedded in the middle of growing cities;
· Lodi has greater geographical delineation between urban and agricultural areas.
John Strentzel, pioneering orchardist and father-in-law of John Muir, was pivotal in establishing Contra Costa as a grape-growing region in the 1870s.
