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Thursday, May 8, 2008
California’s next up-and-coming wine region
One of the ancient vines that are a common sight in the vineyards of Lodi.
I have finally blown the dust and the mold (was that botrytis?) off of the notes from my trip to California a month ago and wrote a wine column that will run in Friday’s Dayton Daily News. But once again, you Uncorked readers are SO special that you get a sneak-peek. I hope to write in greater detail about Lodi and its wineries and wines here on Uncorked in the coming days, but in the meantime ….
LODI, Calif. — A handful of California wine-producing regions — Santa “Sideways” Barbara and Paso Robles come to mind — have taken their turn in the “new,” “hot” or “up-and-coming” spotlight in recent years, striving to join the ranks of the Napa and Sonoma heavyweights.
But watch out. There’s a new kid in town — a surprising contender that no one thought could ever rub shoulders with the big boys. Suddenly, the underdog has blossomed and is ready to rumble.
Say hello to Lodi. Yes, Lodi.
For decades, this was the bulk-wine capital of California, where flat terrain and fertile soil nurtured vast acreage of vineyards to produce mammoth yields of grapes whose juice went into jug wines and other mass-produced brands. The Lodi region’s annual yield of 600,000 tons comprises nearly one-fifth of the entire state’s wine production — more than Napa and Sonoma combined. The focus was definitely on quantity, though the quality was by no means shabby. Just a bit diluted, perhaps.
Through the 1980s and 1990s, though, some winemakers and grape-growers started looking toward other wine regions that were enhancing the quality (not to mention prestige and — ahem — prices) of their wines and figured, “Why not us?” They started irrigating less, pruning more, dropping fruit during the growing season to concentrate flavors, and taking other steps to boost quality.
And it worked.
You can taste the results in widely available wines such as Seven Deadly Zins, 6th Sense Syrah, Incognito and Earthquake wines from the Michael David Winery, the region’s highest-profile quality leader. You can also taste it in the wines of several emerging stars such as Macchia, makers of several zinfandels from various parts of Lodi and the Sierra Foothills and of Italian varietals suh as nebbiolo, sangiovese and barbera; Borra Vineyards, which produces stunning Rhone blends it calls simply Red Fusion and White Fusion; and Jessie’s Grove, makers of a fine white Rhone blend and an inexpensive ($12.99) zin it playfully calls “Earth Zin & Fire.”
The best place to sample Lodi’s quality renaissance is at the source. The region is easy to get to — it’s 90 miles east of San Francisco. The tasting rooms are uncrowded, and most don’t charge for samples. Unlike Santa Barbara and Paso Robles, the wineries are fairly close together, and in between visits, you’ll drive by some of the most beautiful, gnarled old vines (some well over a century old) that you’ll find anywhere.
There are, however, a few signs of growing pains: a handful of wineries have let success go to their heads and are mimicking their colleagues in other California wine-producing regions by releasing highly extracted, over-oaked reserve wines at prices heretofore unheard of in Lodi.
Let’s hope that virus doesn’t spread.
Lodi’s best wines exhibit the region’s signature attributes of lush, forward fruit with comparatively low tannins. The wines seem perfectly in tune with what today’s new generation of wine consumers is looking for. And the quality-price ratio is very, very attractive.
Score another victory for the underdog.
— For more about Lodi and its wineries, check out www.lodiwine.com.
(Photo by Mark Fisher)
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