Lodi: The Quiet Napa(3)
Lodi’s largest winery and one of the nation’s biggest producers of wine, Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi, is located off the beaten path. The a-typical property consists of a large factory compound of cement buildings with a tasting room and gift shop that are surprisingly small and simple. The wines themselves are the attraction at this Lodi destination. While most Americans are familiar with Woodbridge’s popular magnums of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay, visitors to Woodbridge are treated to limited-production specialty wines. Senior Winemaker David Akiyoshi passionately creates these treasures, some of which are only available at the tasting room: Portacinco a port style wine made from Portuguese varieties, Olde Vine Zinfandel, Barbera and Muscat.
Mondavi Woodbridge produces over seven million magnum bottle cases of wine
annually. I was surprised to learn that all of these wines are still barrel aged in American & French oak. The winery cellars up to 60,000 oak barrels at a time.
While touring and tasting at Lodi’s smaller wineries may take you through some rural areas, it is rewarding to meet the people responsible for turning the juice into wine. You might even get to see one of the Olde Vine Zinfandel plants,
like the gnarly 150 year-old vine knick named “Yoda”at Jessie¹s Grove Vineyards.
One of the most unique experiences I enjoyed was visiting Michael-David Vineyards roadside cafe/fruit stand and tasting room, just on the edge of town on Highway 12, near Highway 5. Brothers Michael and David Phillips are fifth generation grape growers. With over 350 acres of planted vines, they run one of the largest family wineries in the area. Don’t let their farm
stand appearance fool you. Michael David Vineyard’s produces a luscious selection of award-winning wines. They are also brilliant marketers with highly attractive wine label designs and branding. Their wines include: 7 Deadly Zins, Incognito, Zinphony and Earth Quake Syrah, to name just a few.
Two notable Lodi gems worth visiting, admittedly do not source all of their fruit from Lodi. Jewel Collection Fine Wines is a medium-sized winery by California standards that focuses on producing varietally correct, premium quality wines at an attractive $8 to $14 price point. St. Amant Winery, a family-owned boutique operation, focuses on warm weather varietals like
Barbera, Tempranillo, Zinfandel and Verdelho.
While Lodi is growing massive amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Zinfandel, a number of famous and not so famous grapes are also being grown.
Delicato’s Clay Station Vineyards focuses on grape varieties that have rarely been tried before in Lodi such as Viognier and Syrah (grapes of Southern France), Malbec (from Bordeaux), Pinot Grigio (Italy’s premier white varietal) and Petite Sirah (California’s own version of a Mediterranean varietal).
Vino Con Brio Winery is one of only a handful of US wineries that produce Pinotage wine, a red grape that is as popular in South Africa as Zinfandel is in Lodi. Known as a difficult grape to cultivate, good Pinotage has been said to have the elegance of Burgundy, combined with the rich flavors of Rhone.
During recent years, a good percentage of growers have replanted sections of the vineyards in attempt to follow consumers changing taste buds. Mike Matson, co-proprietor of Vino Con Brio Vineyards and Winery predicts that Zinfandel will always be Lodi’s number one grape yet Syrah, Tempranillo and Sauvignon Blanc are bound to be big grapes for Lodi by the end of this
decade.
The Discover Lodi Wine Center is a must visit destination for those who do not have time to visit. It is run by the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission, which is an organization funded by Lodi’s grape growers. The center has a spacious tasting bar featuring a wide selection of regional wines, interactive and educational exhibits on grape growing and winemaking, and a gift shop featuring handcrafted products and wine sales.The center also stocks over 100 wines for tasting and sale. The tasting bar offers a selection of nine different wines daily, rotating the selection every day.
The Lodi Wine Grape Commission has also spearheaded the industry’s continued growth and focus on quality. Its latest initiative is setting standards for the regions “Certified Sustainable” winegrape label. This is a “green” program that raises the bar and sets standards for Sustainable Agriculture. In simple terms, this means replacing pesticides with a more organic solution to pest control. Lodi is taking this issue quite seriously and consumers will soon see special labels indicating that a producer has met these qualifications.
