This year’s San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition was the not only the largest competition of its kink in the world, it broke its own record for the number of wines entered. Over 7,000 wines from across the country competed for awards in a dizzying number of categories. We were thrilled to learn that some of our favorite wineries won awards!
The Rock Wall Wine Company pairs great wine with amazing views of San Francisco. This is amazing on a sunny afternoon, but can this pairing work on a rainy day? It was time to pick up December’s wine club pack and El Niño was in full force, so this question was about to be answered.
Wine tasting in a wine store is a very different experience from a winery. Typically, a wine store trades ambiance for diversity. Many times, the wine guide is pleasant, and has memorized a few key facts about each wine, but otherwise is more comfortable stocking shelves. K & L Wine Merchants is the exception to this […]
The Lodi wine region is home to wineries big and small. Not surprisingly, winery size does not predict winery quality. We love discovering small wineries with huge skills, so we build our tours with lots of new, unexplored wineries. Sometimes, though, a winery is so nice that we have to visit twice. That was exactly the case when we visited Omega Cellars to explore it all over again.
Most wineries aspire to prosper for a generation. Many wineries succeed in passing their success on to their heirs. Rarely does such success run for three generations. One notable example of three generations of success is Jessie’s Grove. Starting in 1868, the Spenker family has continuously operated a ranch and farm in Lodi. Today they produce amazing wine from 120 year-old grapes. It was with great anticipation that we visited their tasting room!
The Lodi wine region undergoes constant change, with wineries and tasting rooms popping up, morphing and (sometimes) disappearing. Popularity brings with it a lot of good challenges, and we were able to enjoy the fruits of one such challenge when we visited the sparkling new tasting room of Stama Winery.
The picturesque downtown area of Lodi is home to boutique shops, brew pubs and, happily, winery tasting rooms. During our recent visit we were able to enjoy two out of three of these attractions. You guessed it, we skipped the boutiques. Our first stop was an amazing visit to the Jeremy Wine Company.
Dear Franzia, Cook’s, and Barefoot:
I know, I know: it’s been too long. You probably barely even recognize me at this point. That may also be related to the lack of crop tops and neon in my wardrobe, or the number of Wine Wednesdays that I have recently missed. Graduating from college and moving back home means I’ve been avoiding you lately. That lower shelf at the grocery store hasn’t caught my eye in a few months. My parents’ wine shelf beckons, full of wines that were bottled when I was a preteen. But can I be honest here, cheap wine? I miss you.
After boning up on the heritage of the zinfandel grape, we set off for Lodi. We had a full day planned, full of new wineries to explore, with an emphasis on smaller wineries that produced a range of varietals. We were all excited enough about our day that we got up early (which is saying something), packed the car and arrived at our first winery at the stroke of 11:00. Our opening tasting? Today that call went to the Van Ruiten Family Winery!
As I prepared for our next wine tasting trip to the Lodi region, it was only natural to think fondly of the Zinfandel grape. Lodi is famous for producing powerful Zins from 100 year-old vines. Then it hit me: what, exactly, is a Zinfandel? It turns out that the Zinfandel grape has some mystery in its background, but I can save you some time on Google, because here is what I discovered.
One of the many great things about the wine tasting experience is the wide range of knowledge levels that can co-exist in the tasting room. There’s no judgement made of your understanding of wine, whether you have a PhD in oenology (yup, that’s the study of wine. It’s a thing.) or you’re making your debut in the wine tasting scene. That said, there are a few things that you should probably should not say in the winery. With tongue firmly in cheek, here are our 5 things not to say in a winery: