Thanks Michael and John for the mention. Uvaggio also makes Primitivo from Lodi, which is for those people who like the flavor of Zin w/o the 16% alc…
I think Lodi has something for everybody except high prices. There are wines like ours at lower alcs and wines more powerful than a speeding locomotive. There are lots of wineries in Lodi and lots of people outside the area who buy grapes there. I am thinking of Ramey’s Sidebar project and the wines Morgan makes.
Was visiting a grower last month and right across the street was Peltier Winery. Is that the same?
Anyway, dropped in and tried a few and ended up leaving with half a case! Their old vine Zin was good, but I though their regular cheaper Zin was even better. Chards were OK as well. She even dropped the price since I was in the business, so it ended up being dirt cheap, too. Nice surprise. I’d buy again.
Oh, wow. I’d like to try that. I thought I’d had all the CA Mission there were… What’s the winery’s name?
Mine is traditionally made. Cold soaked, then lightly crushed, spent almost a month on skins w. punch downs, then onto barrels for secondary. It’s the “biggest” of the Missions I’ve tasted, nice structure. Feels like a PN. But I’m terribly biased, of course. We’ll see in the end if anyone cares about it. The grape is a hard sell, I know this.
When I think of Lodi wine I think of sweet, fruit forward zinfandel. But we found much more.
Lodi is the same distance to us as Napa, but very different. There are over 80 wineries there now. We spent all day Saturday making the rounds.
Klinker Brick
Our wine group and wives started the day at Klinker Brick winery. Two years ago at the Prima Zinfandel Dinner Steve Felton, owner of Klinker Brick, sat next to me. He invited us up and sent us a half case of his Marisa Vineyard Old Vine zin for the group to taste. We tried about a half dozen of his wines. A few really liked his new sparkling Albarino. The best wine there was his Old Ghost zinfandel (available everywhere) which was one of my favorites from the zinfandel dinner.
Lucas Winery
Next we stopped at the smaller Lucas Winery. Glo, the Hospitality Manager led our tour and tasting of about 5 wines (“swirl, smell, and taste”). The chardonnay ($42) and ZinStar zinfandel ($58) were both excellent - made very simply so that you could taste the grapes, with some complexity and depth. No oak or butter in the chardonnay and no fruit forwardness in the zin. Too bad they were priced so high. My wife did buy a bottle of the chard.
Michael David Winery
This used to be the home of 7 Deadly Zins, the most popular zinfandel in the US and the one that put Lodi on the map, but they sold the brand last year to the Wine Group. The place is huge with multiple parking lots and tasting rooms. They still feature their Freakshow label plus Earthquake and Michael David as their 3 wine tiers with a lot of different varietals available making about 20 wines to taste with unlimited tasting - no wonder the place is so popular. The outside of the place in back reminds me a little of Disneyland with the large painted wine storage tanks, waterfalls, pools and a pizza/sandwich bistro with park-like seating areas and tents. We ate lunch here while we tasted about a half dozen wines. My favorites were the Michael David Lust Zinfandel ($59) and the Michael David Rapture Cabernet Sauvignon ($59) both overpriced in my opinion. How can these wineries expect to get Napa prices in Lodi?
Fields Family Winery
We saved the best for last. This is the smallest of the wineries we visited. Michael Perry, who has been in the winery business for over 20 years and seems to know everyone and everything about wine, oversees the winery. He took us to a private room and talked to us about Lodi wine making history, the proper way to taste, how to identify TCA and corked wines - for over 2 hours while we tasted about a 10 different wines including a few older ones from their library. He told us about the Lodi Native Project (https://www.visitlodi.com/blog/lodi-native-a-showcase-for-lodi-terroir/) Lucas was part of in 2012 to make wines with no additives, such as cultured yeast, or other tricks in order to show off what Lodi wines could really be like instead of the sweet, fruit forward zins they were know for. It was very illuminating, entertaining and educational. Everyone bought some of their wines and one joined their wine club. My favorites were the 2014 Lodi Native zinfandel ($40) and their 2013 Mt. Veeder Napa cab ($59) - I thought these were well worth the money. Others liked their red blend and pinot noir.
The interesting thing about Lodi is that it has not only some of the oldest vines in the US, but some of the oldest in the world. Much older than most in Europe.
I was making beef braised in red wine tonight and needed some red. A friend had given us a bottle of ‘Freakshow’ which I’d kept in the kitchen for a purpose like this. Afterwards I had a glass, and its pretty ‘freakish’ indeed. I think its 15-16% abv, and thick/goopy/low acid. I’m not sure if it has RS in it, but it seems that way. I’d been drinking a dry older St Emilion while cooking so this tasted syrupy afterwards. I don’t want to knock the producer too much - its pretty hot down in Lodi and this might be what the weather and soil give them. And to be honest, the local BBQ culture around here supports this kind of wine. They’re wines you can drink out of plastic solo cups, and are none the worse for throwing a few ice cubes in when its warm.
Personally though, I wouldn’t buy this stuff. When I want this profile of wine, I’d just look for something in Spain. Maybe a Montsant or something.
I had one more sip tonight, and my wife saw the face I made. So she suggested I freeze the rest in little cubes to use the next time I need a splash of rouge for a recipe! Brilliant and that’s what I did.
The label is pretty cool though. It’s like something out of The Greatest Showman.