Lodi and West Sacramento Wine Visits, May 2022, Part 2a - Bokisch Vineyards
I’ve posted a portion of Part 2 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 2
Bokisch Vineyards
Harney Lane Winery
Acquiesce Winery & Vineyards
m2 Wines
Bokisch Vineyards
Our first winery visit on Friday morning was at Bokisch Vineyards, located in the Clements Hills AVA of the Lodi wine region. Unlike most of the Lodi area, Clements Hills features – you guessed it! – hills. It’s really the lowest part of the Sierra Nevada mountains’ western slope, with gently-rolling low hills rising above California’s vast Central Valley. I’d visited Bokisch on a couple of previous occasions but this was the first time for Eric. I’d arranged a morning visit there with winemaker Elyse Perry, whom I’ve known for a number of years. She started at Bokisch in late 2013 as assistant winemaker and was promoted to winemaker in early 2016. I’d hoped that we could also see Markus and Liz Bokisch, but Markus had told me earlier that they would be in Spain, taking wine club members on a tour of three wine regions there. Markus’ mother was originally from Spain, and he spent his summers during childhood with family in the Catalunya region, where he was introduced to Spanish wine. He and Liz met while attending UC Davis, and after Markus began working in the wine business, they lived in Spain for a time before returning to California.
Bokisch Terra Alta Vineyard
Eric and I walked out to admire the view over the adjacent Bokisch Terra Alta Vineyard from the shaded tables just outside the tasting room, perhaps the best view for tasting wine in all of Lodi. After a couple of moments, Elyse came out to greet us and then led us back toward the production portion of the winery building, which was remodeled from a vineyard equipment shop in 2014. We walked out to the edge of the crushpad to get an overview of Terra Alta Vineyard, just one of the Bokisch estate vineyard properties. The site was first planted in 2008, originally with Syrah and Chardonnay. There is still some of each of those varieties there (some of the Syrah goes to Terre Rouge), but 90-acre Terra Alta now also includes Viognier, Picpoul Blanc, Albariño, Garnacha, Graciano, Merlot, and a small amount of Prieto Picudo.
The first of the Bokisch estate vineyards was Las Cerezas Vineyard, adjacent to Markus and Liz’s house in the Mokelumne River AVA of Lodi. Some years ago, Markus mentioned to me that the region reminded him of the area in Catalunya where he would visit every summer. The three-acre vineyard was planted in 1999 to Albariño, Tempranillo, and Graciano, and the first Bokisch wines were released from the 2001 vintage. The cuttings for the Bokisch plantings of Spanish grape varieties came from Spain, so many of their clonal selections are different than most in California. Other vineyards include Vista Luna and Clay Station in the Borden Ranch AVA and Liberty Oaks in the Jahant AVA – both of these Lodi wine regions feature significantly different soil from either Mokelumne River or Clements Hills.
Bokisch has recently planted a new estate site called Miravet Vineyard, in the northern part of Clements Hills, right on the edge of Borden Ranch. Elyse said that Markus started planting the vineyard three years ago, and that they were able to harvest some Tempranillo from there last year – she’s very excited about it. More recent plantings there include Garnacha Blanca, Verdejo, and a couple of grape varieties that are typically used in Spanish Cava sparkling wines – Xarel·lo and Parellada. Elyse mentioned that they may start producing Cava-style sparkling wine in 2023.
All of the vineyards that provide fruit for the Bokisch wines are Certified Green by the Lodi Rules for sustainable winegrowing, and Las Cerezas, Terra Alta, and Vista Luna vineyards are also Certified Organic by the California Certified Organic Farmers organization. Markus recently closed a vineyard management company that he had headed up, and this is now allowing him to spend more time managing the farming at the three current Bokisch estate vineyards of Las Cerezas, Terra Alta, and Miravet, totaling about 140 acres. Markus was one of the key people behind the creation of the seven distinct AVAs that were approved in 2006 within the larger Lodi AVA.
We took at quick look into the winery space, and Elyse told us that Bokisch currently brings in about 125 tons of fruit per year, with another 150-175 tons currently processed there for four custom crush clients. White wines are mostly fermented and aged in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks, though some are made in neutral oak. I asked Elyse whether she lets any of the whites undergo skin contact before pressing, and she said that their Verdejo is the only one – it’s destemmed and left on the skins for about 24 hours prior to pressing. Red wines typically spend 18-26 months in barrel before bottling.
We followed Elyse back to the tasting room, which opened in 2016, and she opened a number of the current Bokisch releases for Eric and me to taste. She started us with the 2021 Terra Alta Vineyard Estate Sparkling Albariño. Made using Méthode Champenoise, it had bright citrus and stone fruit, floral, and mildly yeasty aromas, fine bubbles and a crisp finish. We continued with three different single-vineyard Albariño bottlings, and all were quite distinct from one another. The 2021 Terra Alta Vineyard Estate Albariño, made entirely in stainless steel, is largest production Bokisch wine at about 1,000 cases. Elyse told us that the fruit for this wine is generally picked at around 20.5-21 brix to give it acidity and freshness. This featured apple and orangepeel notes with floral and herbal undertones, with a vibrant mouthfeel and finish. All of the Bokisch white wines are bottled under screwcap except the next one we tasted, the 2020 Las Cerezas Vineyard Family Estate Albariño. This is the only one of the three Albariños that’s not fermented and aged entirely in stainless steel, and it typically sees about 40% neutral oak. With citrus, apple, and pear on the nose with spice and flowers in support, plus a saline note that’s characteristic of the variety, it had a bit more weight and depth on the palate than the previous wine. The 2020 Andrus Island Vineyard Albariño was sourced from a low-elevation site near the Sacramento River delta. This had more upfront stone fruit and herb aromas with a broad yet lively texture and finish.
Elyse opened two more white wines for us, the first of which was the Tizona 2020 Terra Alta Vineyard Estate Picpoul Blanc. The Tizona label is used for Bokisch bottlings of non-Iberian variety wines, including Picpoul Blanc, Malbec, Carignane, Petit Verdot, Syrah, and a red Bordeaux-style blend. Another white made entirely in stainless steel, the fruit for this wine is typically one of the last picks each year, and it’s usually picked at around 19 brix. It showed bright lemon and green apple fruit, floral, and herb aromas, great acidity, and a fresh finish. The 2021 Vista Luna Vineyard Estate Garnacha Blanca was fermented and aged entirely in neutral French oak. Displaying stone fruit and tropical fruit, spice, and a leesy note on the nose, this had medium weight on the palate and a long finish. As we finished the last of the white wines that Elyse poured for us, she noted that more white grape varieties are now being grown in Lodi as they’ve shown that they can be quite successful there.
Next up were two Tempranillo bottlings, starting with the 2018 Liberty Oaks Vineyard Estate Tempranillo. This was aged in 30% new French and American oak, and Elyse told us that more recent vintages of this wine have used Hungarian oak rather than American. This featured plum and darker berry fruit and earth plus touches of spice and vanilla, with good structure and fine tannins. We compared that wine with the 2018 Las Cerezas Vineyard Family Estate Tempranillo, aged for 19 months in about 35% new French and Hungarian oak – black cherry and plum, dried herbs, smoky oak, and earth aromas, full bodied with a bigger structure, and grippier tannins on the finish. One Bokisch Tempranillo we didn’t try during this visit is their “Gran Reserva” bottling, which is barrel-aged for longer than their other ones.
We followed this with a couple of Gracianos, both of which are 100% varietal. The 2018 Terra Alta Vineyard Estate Graciano was aged in about 15-20% new French and Hungarian oak – showing bright red and black fruits with a touch of citrus, spice, earth, and hints of smoked meat, with medium-full body and firm tannins. The 2018 Las Cerezas Vineyard Family Estate Graciano was aged entirely in French oak, with about 35% new barrels, and displayed more intense and focused aromas of darker berry fruit, earth, spice, flowers, and orangepeel, mouthfilling yet lively, with a firm tannic finish. Elyse poured us one more wine, the 2015 Estate “Reserva” Spanish Blend. This is 70% Tempranillo and 30% Graciano, and was barrel-aged for longer than other Bokisch wines, in 100% new French oak. Smoky plum fruit, with earth, clove, and dried herbs on the nose, full body with great structure and fine tannins on the long finish.
Eric Anderson and Bokisch winemaker Elyse Perry
Bokisch produces quite a number of different bottlings, both under their own label as well as the Tizona label. I’ve mentioned their Tizona wines above, and some of the Bokisch wines we didn’t taste on this visit include a Garnacha and both still and sparkling Rosados. The total annual production for the two labels is about 5,000 cases.
Bokisch has been at the forefront of changing the view of Lodi wines, showing that the area can produce outstanding wines from grape varieties other than Zinfandel. Elyse was a great host for Eric and me – even though I’ve been familiar with Bokisch for a number of years and have visited there before, she still expanded my knowledge of their vineyards and wines. It was hard to pick out favorites from the wines Elyse poured for us since they were all so good, but I thought that highlights included the 2021 Terra Alta Vineyard Estate Albariño, 2020 Las Cerezas Vineyard Family Estate Albariño, Tizona 2020 Terra Alta Vineyard Estate Picpoul Blanc, 2018 Las Cerezas Vineyard Family Estate Tempranillo, and 2018 Las Cerezas Vineyard Family Estate Graciano. Bokisch has consistently produced some of the best wines from the Lodi region, and it’s well worth a visit to their tasting room for both the beautiful scenery and the terrific wines.