Let's talk Lodi Wine!!!

Here we go - Let's talk some Lodi Wine!!!
There's some many womderful wines, and better yet, some great people. For instance, Tom and Carmela Hoffman, who own Heritage OAk Winery just east of Lodi, make some stunning wines from land that Tom's great-great grandfather homesteaded on back in the 1860s. On this land, they grow some stellar Zinfandel (as well as Chardonnay and Cabernet), and make some of the tastiest Zin from Lodi, but for my money, it's the Sauvignon Blanc that really steals the show. Always crisp and full of wonderful notes of citrus, pineapple and melon, it has been a wine I have enjoyed since they opened their winery - and even before, as Tom was a VERY accomplished home winemaker, and his Sauvignon took numerous big awards in amateur competition before turning pro a few years ago. On those wonderful summer eveings we get in Northern California, especially in the Fall, the Heritage Oak Sauvignon Blanc goes great with pasta, chicken, fish and pork (especially grilled pork tenderloin!). What makes going to Heritage Oak even more special is that Tom and Carmela are truly enjoyable to talk with, about wine or any number of topics. Plus, with this land in Tom's family for five generations, you feel a sense of place on this special piece of land.
To learn even more about Heritage Oak Winery, stop by and visit on the weekends, or you can visit virtually at www.heritageoakwinery.com. Until next time, when we move onto another great place, wine and people,
Salute,
David

What? More Rain?

A thousand pardons to those of you waiting for the Lodi series - with last week's rain, and then this week's, things have been pretty hectic with some of us working with Sonoma County - the Lodi series will resume by no later than Thursday!
Also, kudos to fellow Lodi Wine Nation writer Jon Bjork, passing on the info on Iberian varietals growing in Lodi, presented at UCD by Markus Bokisch earlier this year - a must see (about an hour long, but SOOOOO worth it)!

http://stream.ucanr.org/fps_grapes_of_iberia/Bokisch/index.htm

More to come!!!

David
p.s. the ark is almost done......

And this news from our sponsors.....

That would be A LOT of rain (we had well over 3" in my neck of the woods in Sonoma County yesterday), plus some power issues, but we're back up and running! We will be continuing our Lodi series later today
Cheers
David

Lodi wine everywhere - every climate!

So, twice in the last 15 days, I had the opportunity to sample (as well as assist!) wines from the Lodi Appellation. If you're not familiar with where this is, Lodi is about half an hour south of Sacramento, and about 1 1/2 hours east of the San Francisco Bay Area. It has warm (and sometimes hot) summer days, but breezy and cool summer evenings, sandy-loamy soils, and dedicated families, which makes for growing wonderful wine grapes! The first event was the annual "Taste of Lodi" in late September, where Lodi displayed its full late summer heat, with 100-plus degree days, which were helping finish ripening this years' crop, and the second was mid October (the 11th to be precise), on a very cool day on Treasure Island, for the aptly named inaugural Treasure Island Wine Fest. Both were informative, enjoyable, and full of surprises (including the Blue Angels!). Over the next week, I'll relate some of the wines I sampled, and some of the people behind them. Hope you'll enjoy!
More coming soon
David

And the grapes keep coming......

What a harvest this is shaping up to be - tonnage is up, quality is great, and it's busy busy busy all around wine country! So far what I'm seeing on the North Coast
Pinot Noir - crop tastes wonderful, and will be coming in for some time, as the really cool regions won't be ripe for several more weeks, and tanks are full full full!
Cabernet Sauvignon - quality very good, but there is A LOT of it - hopefully that will translate into lower consumer prices down the road
Syrah - the stuff I've tasted so far - YUMMY - now, can it all be sold?
and one of my personal favorites -
MALBEC - WOW - this could truly be the break-out vintage for this wonderful variety in California.
Whites are coming in really ripe, so expect that there will be a lot of blending to get alcohols in check, or higher alcohol whites, especially Savignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio.
More later, especially some of the wines I've been tasting lately
Cheers
David