Lodi and West Sacramento Wine Visits, May 2022, Part 1a - Fields Family Wines
I’ve posted a portion of Part 1 of a report on a three-day May wine tour with Eric Anderson of Grape-Nutz to visit vintners in Lodi and West Sacramento. Further parts will be following soon. The full version of this report is on the Grape-Nutz.com website:
Lodi and West Sacramento Wine Visits, May 2022 – Part 1
Fields Family Wines
Sandlands Vineyards / Turley Wine Cellars
St. Amant Winery
Lodi Vineyard Tour
Fields Family Wines
Our first winery visit of this trip was with winemaker Ryan Sherman of Fields Family Wines. The small winery and adjacent estate vineyard are located a little north of the city of Lodi. I’d tried some Fields Family wines at various tasting events and had met Ryan once or twice at those. Each time I’d tasted the wines I was impressed with them, so I was looking forward to this visit. After passing by the winery driveway twice, Eric and I finally found it and parked in a shady spot near the tasting room. We saw that the door at the side of the winery was open so we walked in, and Ryan welcomed us. He gave us a quick tour of the small facility and then told us about the background of Fields Family Wines.
Ryan’s family is from California’s Central Valley, and he’s lived in Lodi since he was a kid. His father is in the construction business, while his mother is in real estate – Ryan eventually followed in her footsteps and his “day job” is as a realtor. Ryan told us that winery owner Russ Fields, who’s an attorney, is from an Italian family in Stockton, and as in many Italian-American families, his grandfather used to make a little wine at home. Russ became interested in continuing that tradition, and in 2005 Ryan helped Russ find a vineyard property, where Russ built a house and the winery. The vineyard already had Syrah planted, and had been one of the earlier certified organic vineyards in the area. The fruit had been sold to a neighbor, but Ryan said that the vines were in poor condition when Russ bought the property so a lot of work had to be done to rehabilitate the vineyard in the first few years.
While work on the estate vineyard was progressing, Russ talked Ryan into making a little Zinfandel for him from a small vineyard that Ryan owned. Ryan told us that this initial attempt at winemaking, in a single six-gallon carboy, didn’t turn out very well, but it was a start! As with so many winemakers at smaller wineries, Ryan is self-taught, so he used this early wine as a lesson. Russ and Ryan started entering their home wines in competitions and soon began to be awarded medals for the quality. They established Fields Family Wines in 2008, and their first estate Syrah came from the 2009 vintage. Their tasting room opened the following year, though they were only producing a few hundred cases at that time. Fields Family is still fairly small-production, making only 1,200-1,600 cases per year – no doubt part of why Russ and Ryan keep their day jobs! Nearly all of their wine is sold direct to consumers through their tasting room and wine club, with some to restaurants. Ryan told us that they’ve been successful getting their wines into some of the top restaurants in Las Vegas.
In addition to the Syrah vines in the Fields Family estate vineyard – planted about 30 years ago – they’ve added Grenache Blanc, Vermentino, Tempranillo, and Mourvèdre there. They also buy fruit from a number of local growers, including old-vine Zinfandel from highly-regarded Stampede and Kirschenmann vineyards. Ryan mentioned that they’ve recently started working with old-vine Carignane from 80+ year old Nicolini Ranch in Lodi. He noted that they’ve been working with most vineyards they source fruit from for at least 6-7 years – they’ve developed good relationships with the growers to be able to bring in fruit the way they want it. Ryan told us that he generally looks to pick between 22-23 brix but this can vary depending on the grape variety, vineyard, and vintage.
Winemaker Ryan Sherman of Fields Family Wines
Over the years, Ryan has moved to less and less intervention in the Fields Family winemaking, and it’s now very minimal. Wines go through native primary and malolactic fermentation, with whites fermented in stainless steel tanks and reds in half-ton macrobins. Most wines are aged entirely in neutral French oak, though Ryan uses a little new French oak on a few reds. He described his winemaking as reductive, meaning the wines see little oxygen during élevage (the progression of wines between fermentation and bottling) and generally need time to show their best, which is why most of the wines are given more time in bottle before they’re released than at many wineries.
Ryan led Eric and me to the simple wood tasting counter set on barrels along one side of the winery space, and he poured us a selection of his wines. He started us off with the 2021 Bechthold Vineyard Cinsault – this had been in bottle for only about two months and not yet released. This famed vineyard has the oldest Cinsault vines in the country and possibly in the world. Ryan uses whole-cluster semi-carbonic fermentation on this Cinsault to give it extra freshness and lift, and it’s only 12.5% alcohol – quite low for this region. The wine was a bright, lighter red with red fruit and herb aromas, vibrant acidity, and a fresh finish. Next was another pre-release wine, the 2021 “Sans Souci”. The name of the wine translates to “carefree”, and the blend in this vintage is Bechthold Vineyard Cinsault, Estate Syrah, and Estate Mourvèdre. This is another whole-cluster semi-carbonic fermented wine – it displayed both red and black fruits with earth and iron undertones, lively texture, and chalky but fine tannins on the long finish.
Ryan next poured us a couple of very different Zinfandels. First was the 2017 Stampede Vineyard Zinfandel, sourced from vines planted in the 1920s-1940s in sandy granitic soil, and aged in older French oak – bold and bright berry and spice aromas, medium-full mouthfeel, with a fairly firm tannic finish. We followed that with the 2019 Kirschenmann Vineyard Zinfandel, from a vineyard planted in 1915 that’s now owned by Tegan Passalacqua. This was quite different from the Stampede bottling, with pretty floral notes plus red berry fruit, with a bright, juicy texture and finish and milder tannins.
Syrahs from Fields Family were the wines that really grabbed me when I’d first tasted them some years ago, since the Lodi wine region is not known for Syrah, and these were particularly good ones. Ryan poured three Syrahs for Eric and me, starting with their current 2017 Estate Syrah. It’s fermented with about 20% whole clusters and aged in 25% new French oak. This showed an herbal character along with plum and darker fruit plus floral undertones, with a lively mouthfeel and moderate tannins. Ryan opened a couple of older vintages for us to compare and to see how his Syrahs develop with additional bottle age. The 2015 Estate Syrah was the first of these, and this had both darker color and a darker fruit profile than the 2017 vintage, plus savory and earthy notes, and firmer tannins, still quite youthful. The 2014 “Roasted Slope” Syrah also came from the estate vineyard, and given the name it was not surprising to learn that it was co-fermented with 9% Viognier in the style of the Côte-Rôtie Syrahs from the Rhône Valley. This was another savory wine, with floral notes, bright texture, and milder tannins than the first two Syrahs.
We finished up our tasting with Ryan with two more current releases. The 2017 Lot 13 Vineyard Tempranillo was aged entirely in neutral oak. Lots of spice, black cherry and plum fruit, earth, and a pleasant smoky note, this had a big yet lively mouthfeel and a grippy tannic finish. The 2017 “Vin du Sol” is a blend of about 60% Syrah and 40% Mourvèdre, aiming for a southern Rhône style wine. This featured bright aromas of plum and darker berry fruit, spice, with black olive and herb notes, medium body, and fine tannins.
In addition to the wines we tasted with Ryan, Fields Family also produces a number of bottlings including Grenache Blanc, Vermentino, a new blend of those two varieties called “Elysian Fields”, a rosé, Petite Sirah, a new estate Tempranillo, and a blend called “Big Red”. They also make a couple of wines sourced from outside the Lodi area – a Sonoma Pinot Noir and a Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon. As we were tasting, Eric commented on the classic, clean look of the Fields Family labels. In addition to these wines, there’s also a second-label wine called “Vicious Delicious” – the 2018 vintage of this is a blend of Tempranillo, Syrah, and Petite Sirah.
Our visit with Ryan at Fields Family Wines was a great way for Eric and me to start out our tour of Lodi wineries. Ryan was an outgoing and enthusiastic host – he had so much interesting information to give us on the vineyards and wines that I could barely jot down notes fast enough to keep up with him! I really enjoyed every wine we tasted so it was tough to pick out favorites, but I thought the 2021 Bechthold Vineyard Cinsault, 2019 Kirschenmann Vineyard Zinfandel, 2015 Estate Syrah, and 2017 Lot 13 Vineyard Tempranillo were particular highlights. Fields Family Wines is one of the newer Lodi producers that have been changing the perception of the region’s wines, and I highly recommend checking out their wines and visiting them if you’re in the area.
Fields Family winemaker Ryan Sherman with Eric Anderson