Lodi Native
You often hear the term terroir with reference to wine. Terroir references where a wine is grown including the geography, geology climate and type of soil Terroir impacts the flavor of the grapes and therefore the taste of the wine produced from those grapes. Certain regions of the world are famous because of their terroir and the flavors imparted to the wines grown in those regions.
Lodi has vineyard going back to the late 1800’s and many families have been farming the land there for several generations selling their grapes to large wine producers and making wines for their own consumption, it is only more recently that Lodi wine growers and wine makers have begun to promote their own AVA and their grapes not only as part of blends but also as capable of being made into notable wines in their own right.
Lodi Native is a collaborative project of 6 winemakers to highlight the taste of the terroir of the vineyards of Lodi. The mission of the project is to demonstrate distinctly identifiable vineyards in Lodi, to encourage preservation and appreciation of old vine plantings by focusing attention on vineyard sites and tangible sensory expressions in each bottling and to bring Zinfandel specialists together to promote and advance the wines of Lodi.
I was recently invited to participate in a discussion of the Lodi Native Project on Twitter hosted by Lodi Winegrowers and Charles Communication. Part of the discussion included a tasting of the 6 Single Vineyard Zinfandel wines produced as part of the Lodi Native project with the winemakers who made them.
The winemakers had to use 100% Zinfandel from a single vineyard located in the Lodi AVA, they could only use native yeast fermentation, no amendments, no acidification or de-acidification, no use of new oak or interstaves in the aging process, no water addition or de-alcoholizing measures and no additives of any kind including tannins, Mega Purple, or other concentrates and no filtering, fining, must concentration or extraction measures.. Each producer had to submit their proposed cuvee for sensory evaluation and approval by the entire group. The goal was to highlight the grapes and not introduce individual wine making styles into the process, although the winemakers did have some discretion such as when to pick the grapes.
The 6 wines that are part of the Lodi Native Project for 2012 are:
1. Wegat Vineyard from grower Todd Maley & winemaker Chad Joseph from Maley Brothers
2. Soucie Vineyard from grower Kevin Soucie & winemaker Layne Montgomery from m2 Wines
3. Trulux Vineyard from grower Keith Watts & winemaker Michael McCay from McCay Cellars
4. Marian’s Vineyard from growers Jerry and Bruce Fey & winemaker Stuart Spencer from St. Amant Winery
5. Century Block Vineyard from winemaker Ryan Sherman from Fields Family Winery
6. Norma Ranch from grower Leland Norma & winemaker Tim Holdener Macchia Wines
These wines are available for purchase in 6 bottle cases only at the Lodi Wine & Visitors Center.
Tasting these wines side by side was quite an education as the fruit and spice flavors definitely varied between each of them but what I found most interesting about the project was the response of the winemakers to the process. Many of the wine makers admitted that by focusing on the varietal itself and the terrior of where it was grown rather than focusing on creating big fruity zinfandels, they were pleased with the results and might exercise some restraint going forward in order to highlight the elegance of the Lodi zinfandel grapes and balance that with the bold fruit Lodi zinfandels have come to be known for. In my opinion, that can only mean exciting things ahead for Lodi!
For more information on Lodi Wines, the Lodi Native Project or to purchase the 6 bottle case of Lodi Native wines go to www.lodiwine.com
Tags: Century Block Vineyard, Charles Communication, FieldsFamily Winery, Lodi, Lodi Native Project, m2Wines, Macchia Wines, Maley Brothers, Marian's Vineyard, McCay Cellars, Norma Ranch, Soucie Vineyard, St. Amant, Trulux Vineyard, Wegat Vineyard, Zinfandel
