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Lodi Wine Tasting Blog Part 2

Lodi WIne Tasting

Rural Wine Tasting in Lodi. Thankfully the Barn Smelled Like Fermenting Wine, Not Cows.

Date:
September 22nd, 2013

Wineries Visited:
St Amant Winery – production 6,000 cases
Acquiesce Winery and Vineyards – production 1,000 cases
Kidder Family Winery – production 750 cases
Riaza Wines – production 1,500 cases

Details:
Continuing our wine tasting trip in Lodi, several of the earlier wineries recommended visiting St. Amant Winery. Its web site lists its address as “1 Wine Master Way” but knowing the address and actually finding it are two entirely different things. I now know what it must have felt like in prohibition. Apparently only the cool people got to know where the hidden door was actually located to get into the speakeasy. After a complete trip around a complex that looked like it just as easily could have been building nuclear weapons, we returned to Layne at m2 for more explicit instructions. After a quick snicker and an affirmation that St. Amant could be a little tough to find, he quickly drew a map that bore a slight resemblance to a 300 year old treasure map but the key was to look for the Oleander hedge and there will be a small red awning over a door. Cool…wine tasting in Lodi and a scavenger hunt all in the same day! We returned to the nuclear complex/winemaking facility, made a left at the tree shaped like a skull and crossbones, drove roughly 247 yards and peered behind a well groomed hedge. Our prize was in site and X marked the spot. Well…X didn’t actually mark the spot. The promised red awning did but saying the “red awning marked the spot” just doesn’t sound very manly. Read More→

Gallery of Extra Pictures – Lodi Wine Tasting

St Jorge Winery in Lodi The Courtyard at St. Jorge Winery Read More→

Lodi Wine Tasting Blog, Part 1

 

St Jorge Winery in Lodi

An Ominous Day Wine Tasting in Lodi – The Thunder Storm Started Just After This Picture

Date:
September 21st, 2013

Wineries Visited:
St Jorge Winery – production 5,000 cases
m2 Wines – production 2,500 cases
Stem Theory Wines – 200 cases

Details:
Our recent trip to go wine tasting in Lodi brought me back to some of my earliest memories. My father grew up there and my grandparents lived there until they passed away. I remember summer days swimming in the Mokelumne River which runs through Lodi and the grape fields near my grandfather’s blacksmith shop just outside Lodi in the little town of Victor. To a six year old, the vineyards seemed to go on forever until the rows on each side of me merged in the far off distance. Forty plus years later, this sleepy valley town who’s biggest claim to fame was being the birth place of A&W root beer, would become a premier wine producing area and our paths would cross again as Karen and I started our foray into wine. Read More→

So What’s In A Name? Understanding A Wine’s Origins From A Label

Wine Label Showing Origin and Vineyard

This Bottle Shows the AVA and the Vineyard

What Is An AVA?
The first step to understanding wine origins is understanding the terms that we use to describe wine producing areas.  In the US, we use a term called an “American Viticultural Area” most often referred to as an AVA. So what’s an AVA? If you’ve heard people use the term “Appellation”, then you are on the right track. In the US, technically, we don’t use the name Appellation” which is generally used only in France. If you want to know more information about AVAs and Appellations, check out our page that goes into a lot more detail. In order to be labeled with a specific AVA name, at least 85% of the wine must come from that AVA. Read More→

Aerating Wine Using A Wine Carafe

Wine Carafe

Our Trustworthy Wine Carafe. We’ve Used It For Years.

Gadget Review: Wine Carafe

Purchased at: Virtually anywhere (Ok maybe not a 7-11, gas station McDonalds but anywhere that has wine supplies will have them). We’ve had ours for about 15 years.

Cost: $10.00 to $300.00

Introduction:
Our series of wine breathing tests seemed incomplete without giving the tried and true wine carafe a shot at “fame”. It’s the oldest and most commonly used gadget but it typically requires at least 20 to 30 minutes of breathing to do the wine justice. Our tests are geared to those of us who work long hours and don’t have the time (or patience) to wait half an hour to enjoy red wines. Read More→

Temecula Valley Wine Tasting – Revisited

 

Vineyards in Temeula Valley

Temecula Valley’s Beautiful Wine Country

Date:
August 25th, 2013

Wineries Visited:
Callaway Winery – production 10,000 cases
Monte De Oro Winery & Vineyards – production ?
Lorimar Vineyard and Winery – production 3,000 cases


General Location:
Drive roughly 40 minutes south of Riverside and you’ll hit the Temecula Valley.  Although there are two exits that reach the wine country, all three places we visited were off of the Rancho California exit off of Interstate 15.

Details:
Vacations are great, right? Relaxation…fun…maybe a little drinking and trying to forget about work for the most part. Funny thing about vacations though… just because you go on vacation doesn’t mean every one else does, so when you get back…that’s right, mountains of work. So here I sit, having neglected our blog posts for two weeks while on vacation in Hawaii followed by several business trips directly after (queue the sounds of derision from the crowds who clearly are not going to be sympathetic about “having” to go to Hawaii). For our loyal readers, we’re sorry for the delay but we trust you kept yourselves occupied watching reruns of “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” or something equally “productive” while we temporarily abandoned our duties. Read More→