Author: Nancy (CSW)

Lodi Native Project 2013 Vintage: Letting the Vineyards Shine Through

We recently had the opportunity to taste the second vintage of the Lodi Native Project. This collaborative project is designed to showcase Lodi’s heritage Zinfandel vineyards by producing single-vineyard wines following a standardized protocol involving minimal intervention in the wine cellar. The idea is to show what the vineyard itself has to offer by taking the winemaker’s individual style out of the wine making process. The first vintage, 2012, was released in March 2014 and we tasted that first vintage as well.

Mokelumne Glen Vineyards: What’s New in Winemaking

If you are at all familiar with what is happening in the Lodi wine world, you have probably heard of Mokelumne Glen Vineyards. If you are a fan of German and Austrian wine varieties, then you most certainly know that Mokelumne Glen Vineyards is home to plantings of Kerner, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Bacchus, Dornfelder and Blaufränkisch, to name just a few. In addition, there is the “German Collection”, a block of over 30 German and Austrian varieties.

Arneis Paired with Dungeness Crab and Pea Purée Crostini for #winePW

Our challenge for the June wine pairing weekend (#winePW on Twitter) came to us from Italy, literally. This month’s #winePW host is Valerie Quintanilla, you can read all of the details of the challenge in her blog post. She is an American living in Italy, so her challenge to us of pairing a summer dish with Arneis, a delightful northern Italian white wine, was spot on.

Kudos Wine: An excellent value in the Willamette Valley

The Willamette Valley in Oregon has earned a reputation for producing outstanding pinot noir and we are big fans of the region and the variety. In addition to pinot noir from the Willamette Valley, we have recently tasted some very fine chardonnay and pinot gris from the region. Kudos Wines are among the examples we have tasted lately.

Montes: Dry Farming in the Colchagua Valley, Chile

Montes Winery was founded with the goal of producing truly premium quality Chilean wine for export. At a time when Chilean producers were producing wines mostly for local consumption, the two original founders Aurelio Montes, Sr. and Douglas Murray, had bigger plans. The year was 1987 and by the following year Montes and Murray were joined by Alfredo Vidaurre and Pedro Grand and the winery was founded.

Lodi Wines for Earth Day and Everyday

We celebrated Earth Day this year by participating in a online tasting of wine and cheese— naturally. The Earth Day tasting included four wines produced in accordance with Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing and provided a great opportunity to learn about Lodi Rules .