If you’ve seen the film Sideways, you might remember the scene when the character played by Virginia Madsen takes a sip of very old wine and thinks about the people who made the wine and are no longer alive.

That scene might have been the first time that viewers really thought about where their wine was made, and who made it.

Well, imagine all the history you would “drink in” (well used pun) if you, like our little group of post-trippers from the Wine Bloggers Conference 2016 focusing on Old Vine Zinfandel wine, took a voyage to some of the oldest vineyards in Lodi to see the Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel vines.

Our guide for the Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel was the celebrated Randy Caparoso, sommelier, wine writer, and all around nice guy!

Bravely, he stood in the bus, explaining the history of the region and enticing us about the ancient vines we would soon see!

The first vineyard, Bechthold is one of the oldest vineyards in Lodi, planted in 1886. The vineyard is planted with Cinsault, and gives good yields despite its age. Owned until recently by the late Al Bechthold, it is such a valuable, prized vineyard virtually every famous winery in the area wants a section of its fruit (Turley, Randall Grahm, Michael David, Onesta, Fields’ Family, and more). Also purchasing fruit from Bechthold: Clos Saron, Scholium Project, & Odisea

Greeting us in the vineyard is Kevin Phillips of Michael David Winery/Phillips Farms, who had left the joy of splashing around in a cool pool to be with us in the vineyard on this 100+ degree day.

Interestingly, the 25 acre Bechthold vineyard produces two styles of wine depending on if the grapes are sourced from the plots near the river, where they have more access to water, or sourced from the sandy interior where the vines reach down thirty feet and more.

After tasting wine made from the Cinsault grapes made on this very soil from several of the producers, we walked down ten feet to meet Onesta Wines’ winemaker Jillian Johnson, and Fields Family Wines’ winemaker Ryan Sherman. Both Jillian and Ryan spoke about their wines, the vineyard, and poured different styles of their Cinsault wine.

We next experienced a tasting led by winegrower and vineyard owner Todd Maley (Maley Bros.) and winemaker Chad Joseph at Wegat Vineyard in Lodi’s Mokelumne River AVA, on the west side. The West side is marked by loamier soils with slightly more water holding capacity. Also the temperature is slightly cooler because there is more proximity to the Delta.

Afterwards, at Mohr-Fry Ranches’ Marian’s Vineyard in Lodi’s Mokelumne River AVA (South Side) we are greeted by Bruce Fry and his father Jerry Fry. Bruce cut a cluster of Tokay vines for us to taste on the bus before we descended into the luscious Zinfandel vineyard where the grapes are luscious fat and ripe, and have a few more weeks before they would be picked.

The last vineyard visit of the day is McCay Cellars Lot 13 Vineyard, where a tent has been erected for us. Here, we are greeted by McCay Cellars’ winegrower/winemaker Michael McCay and Bokisch Vineyards’ winemaker Elyse Perry who give us taste of their Old Vine Zinfandel, Carignan, and Tempranillo.

With that, we depart for Macchia Wines, where we hear a fabulous presentation about the “Lodi NativeProject,” created to highlight, in part, the unique characteristics of six single vineyards in the area (most from Lodi’s Mokelumne River appellation, all from different producers. The idea is to let the old vines speak about the terroir so the wines are all fermented with native yeasts, no new oak is allowed. No fining or filtration either.

In turn, each of the six producers stood up and presented their wines. It was remarkable how Zinfandel could be expressed so differently. And what was impressive about all the wines were their silky, elegant tannins – one does not usually think of elegant tannins and Zinfandel together.

The wines were all 2013 and were from the producers below:

Fields Family
Macchia
Maley Brothers
m2 wines
St.Amant
McCay Cellars

After the tasting, we experienced some rose and white wines before dinner and the finale of our #WBC16 experience.

The post Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel & Ancient Wines During #WBC16 appeared first on AWINESTORY.COM.

Very interesting visit and tasting today with Camron King, Executive Director of the Lodi Winegrape Commission, and Craig Ledbetter of Vino Farms, who also has a position on the commission.

Lodi is one of California’s major winegrowing regions located 100 miles east of San Francisco, and in the last 15 – 20 years has made tremendous strides though it’s actually one of the oldest winegrowing regions in California, as producers have been growing wine here for 150 years. Though it is known for its Zinfandel wine (producing 32% of California’s premium Zinfandel) it is also a great plas to grow Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, Tempranilo, and others.

The climate is Mediterranean, warm and sunny with cool nights and “delta breezes” from the Pacific ocean that help cool the grapes. Soils are quite diverse, which may be the reason Lodi has seven sub-regions. Some of the old vines in sandy soil is grown on its own rootstocks.

Right now, Lodi is positioning itself to be a name brand, and from the tasting today quality certainly is there. People may not think of Lodi as a white wine producing region, yet the Verdelho I had today (2012 Bokisch Vineyards Verdelho, Vista Luna Vineyards) was rich and full, bright grapefruit and passion fruit on the nose, and a body with texture and grip.

One of the more interesting things I discovered was the Lodi Native project, a collection of six different Zinfandel wines made from six separate heritage vineyards of Lodi’s Mokelumne River AVA.  The wines are individually made using only ambient yeast fermentations, in neutral vessels, without the addition of anything beyond sulfur, without alcohol reductive techniques, and avoiding fining, or filtering. The goal is to offer the best expression of the vineyards themselves. The wine I tried from the Wegat Vinebard (Maley Brothers) was quite rich and balanced, very smooth and round even though there was no oak.

Other favorites included McCay Cellars Carignane 2011, very rich and sophisticated, St. Amant Barbera Tools of the Trade 2012 (which tasted like its counterpart in Piedmont with rich, ripe cherry and modest oak), and Harney Lane Winery 2011 Lizzy James Old Vine Zinfandel, very structured and well made. Borra Vineyards 2011 Heritage Field Blend  was a blend of Barbera, Carignane, and Petite Sirah, with 2% of Zin. This spends 20 months in 35% new French barrels. It’s a wine for today, easy to drink with a touch of residual sugar.

The region has tremendous potential and with forward thinking winemakers and a wide diversity of soil and terroir, it’s just a matter of time until it the wines and region win national recogiton.

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