By Dennis Hall
Wineries
tasting rooms blend people’s lives with intrigue and discovery
serving as a key social portals. It is phenomenal today that new
wineries keep sprouting up in and around Lodi such as Six Hands, for
example, and long-established wineries such as Jessie’s Grove press
on with their established varietals. Some vintners innovate with
adventurous new wine blends as well. My wife Dana and I continually
venture into downtown Lodi wine tasting rooms to get the low down on
what’s fresh and new at Sorelle – Six Hands, Jessie’s Grove
Winery, Estate Crush, Vinedos Aurora at Pamplona Tapas, Riaza Wines,
and Jeremy Wine Company, plus go to tasting rooms already acquainted
with us for quite some time via the Lodi Wine and Visitor Center,
Cellar Door, Fields Family Wines, HG Vineyards, Toasted Toad Cellars,
and The Dancing Fox Winery & Bakery.
We
return after hours following dining downtown to many of the tasting
rooms transitioned for the evening hours’ entertainment offerings
of soulful, upbeat music, art exhibits, wine with cheese and crackers
pairings, tours and barrel and tank tastings. The evening sunsets,
twilight glow, and then nightfall hours accent ambiance delivering
fun, romantic social outlets.
An
aerial view of downtown Lodi finds the Lodi Wine and Visitors Center
at Turner Road and Lower Sacramento Road, and then just blocks away,
a dozen tasting rooms clustered on the streets of downtown Lodi, all
within walking distance of each other with plentiful parking.
The
surge and sustained interest in Lodi wine converged with social media
such as blogs, podcasts, Match.com, Deal Chicken, Living Social,
Google +, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest. This
convergence transformed every tasting room into portals for reaching
and educating wine lovers near and far thanks to customers inspiring,
viral testimonials. Further, tasting rooms are the new chic dating
destinations. Customers can tap into on-line sites to learn about
the winery and tasting room even while right in the room, hence
allowing them digital appetizers so they can better digest the
information conveyed to them by the vintner or tasting room staff.
Wireless fidelity or “wifi” hotspots empower every guest to
instantly post her or his own instant tell-all with the winery,
tasting room, staff and clientele at center stage. That is
phenomenal social marketing propelling wineries and Lodi appellation
branding. Further, today it is expected in turn that a winery’s
wine tasting room have its own social media brand page or community
via Facebook, Google +, and Twitter at the very least that people can
Like, Join, or Follow.
Camron
King, Executive Director of the Lodi Grape Commission, with a tasting
room and offices at the Lodi
Wine and Visitor Center
asserts that the dramatic changes in the Lodi Appellation amaze even
local seasoned residents. For example, he emphasized, “There are
80 wineries now versus just six about twenty years ago.”
Therefore, whether a person is a resident or a guest from out of the
area, he and staff promise they will “act as a concierge” to make
the experience most pleasant. The Visitor Center wine tasting bar is
stocked with scores of local wines where the staff educates visitors
about how to taste and buy wines. A demonstration vineyard
immediately outdoors allows everyone to learn up close and personally
through seeing actually planted vines with their grapes in various
annual stages toward harvest. Walking through this phenomenal series
of specific rows of vines is most delightful. Posted information
explains each unique varietal of grape grown in the appellation such
as Zinfandel, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon along with the key
annual cycles. Come marvel at this special all-inclusive venue that
includes on-site viticulture.
Estate
Crush
is a particularly enchanting tasting room, as at first glance
transparency is clearly apparent. Setting at the intersection of
West Lockeford Street and North Sacramento Street, the tasting room
is even today what it was originally designed to be decades ago, a
showroom, just not for new automobiles any longer but instead now for
79 bottles of wine. In its former life, the corner area of this
structure was a car dealership showroom. While fully renovated,
existing still are the large paned windows. This view sparks
curiosity drawing you to the corner recessed entrance door opening
into an expansive room of wine bar with cubby shelves holding 79
bottles of wine, stools, tables and chairs for sipping, buying wine,
and relaxing. Smiling tasting room staff greets you welcoming you to
come sip some incredible wines. Each stool finds at the wine bar face
a mounted brass pair of hooks for comfortably hanging purses,
sweaters, or jackets. The entire décor shines with classy, exuberant
understated whites and greens buoying a playful, exploring state of
mind. The tasting menu changes each month offering five wine tastings
for five dollars, but every wine in its long list of offerings is
available for sale. Estate Crush produces some of its own vintages
under its own Estate Crush label, but is also a resource for
entrepreneurs who dream of owning their own lines of wines.
Entrepreneurs no longer need to invest valuable funding into the
actual facilities and vineyards per se, but instead can let Estate
Crush be their incubator and marketing channel. When you taste wine
in Estate Crush’s tasting room, you may be sipping commercially
viable artisan wines produced and bottled by Estate Crush, but for a
client brand such as Miner’s Leap located near Clarksburg,
California, or Twisted Roots which has a tasting room in Carmel
Valley, California. Sitting or standing in the tasting room,
visitors can walk over to a bank of windows looking in on the
production area that includes barrels aging wines. During the fall,
visitors witness the full bottling process. Come in and taste truly
original wines.
H
G Vineyards
tasting room on Locust Street serves its own wines for the label
Hansen-Garbarino, the “H G”, and also those wines of its wine
venture partners. Jeff Hansen, owner and winemaker, does all the
final blending with his winemaking team from throughout California’s
various wine regions. They source grapes from Lodi, California’s
coastal regions, Napa, Sonoma, Paso Robles, and Santa Maria. Dee Dee
Capps manages the tasting room serving up delicious, warm meatballs
from scratch, and cheeses and crackers, plus chocolate to pair with
the wines while tasting. The tasting room is expansive and well lit
by large windows with seats and tables available for tasting and
relaxing. You will enjoy tasting the wines and learning about their
complexities while assembling your own intriguing mix of varietals to
buy.
Sorelle
Winery
in the rural vineyard reaches of Stockton teamed with Six
Hands
winery out of Walnut Grove, California opened during May 2013 its new
collaborative tasting room on School Street. Both wineries offer at
least a flight of three wines to taste at any one time. The “U”
shaped bar at the room’s furthest wall from the entrance allows
visitors easily to scan the entire room while seated on stools and
listening to tasting room staff explaining the characteristics of the
wines. Old-fashioned style, thick glass bulbs encapsulating thick
orange glowing filaments reminiscent of Thomas Edison’s early
inventions suspend down from the ceilings. A huge horizontal
rectangle of windows above the entrance threshold consists of a
series of original, antique opaque glass panes. Inset stylishly into
surrounding panes are three recently handcrafted stained glass panes.
These panes add touches of color that pops across and above the
room’s threshold and reception area. Hardwood, original Douglas fir
floor boards dating back to the early 1900s only recently sanded and
sealed richly shine their proud heritage. Entering the tasting room,
there are plenty of seats and tables inside, with the left wall
exposing original plaster and some chipped away to expose original
brick and mortar. This tasting room addition on School Street will
surely complement those of neighboring Cellar Door and Fields Family
Wines to complete an afternoon’s trio of wine tasting adventures.
Cellar
Door
asserts comfortable chat when describing the wines it pours instead
of all the pretentious jargon. For example, a customer came in from
the warm outdoors exclaiming to Akaylia Sidener pouring behind the
bar, “Something cold!” and her
instinctive response was to pour him a glass of chilled Van Ruiten
Family Winery estate grown Pinot Grigio. While I was sipping the
Michael David Family of Wines 6th Sense Syrah, General Manager
Vanessa Foreman and Akaylia Sidener together gave me a golden idea
for bringing more people from out of the area into downtown Lodi for
wine tasting. Their idea is for people to take advantage of low-cost
roundtrip Amtrac train travel into Lodi from either Sacramento or
Modesto for less than $30 per person. What an incredible adventure!
Arrive by train, wine taste, buy wine, and depart from the station
during the evening back to home.
Erin
and RickTaylor, winemakers for their new Riaza
Wines,
expressed delight at the guests who come into Riaza’s tasting room
on Elm Street where they serve Spanish varietals saying, “We’re
making Lodi a destination point.” Riaza Wines tasting room bursts
with rich Spanish décor aglow from tastefully, discreet small
lights. One step inside finds you at their lounge area with couch,
chairs, and wine table. Guests may opt for al fresco seating just
outside and in front of the tasting room entrance for enjoying their
bottle of wine with conversations.
Jessie’s
Grove Winery
is a name long associated with the Lodi Appellation dating back into
the 1800s. Some of its vines are aged at over one hundred years old.
Today, Jessie’s Grove Winery pours wines for guests in its second
tasting room. It is located in downtown Lodi at Main Street and
Locust, having renovated the Old Ice House. Back in the day several
decades ago, this building provided coveted ice for local residents,
businesses, and the railroads. People visit and recall that they
once bought snow cones and blocks of ice there. They marvel at the
exquisite renovation and repurposing. Entering the Jessie’s Grove
Winery tasting room through the door on Main Street, the rich Tuscan
décor fills your eyes and heart. Tasting Room staff smile and
welcome visitors offering tasting at a granite topped bar faced with
dark, rich vertical mahogany staves with seating at six stools. The
tasting room prominently, yet subtly displays the Jessie’s Grove
horsehead logo behind and above the granite bar with relaxing,
comforting expression. The bar is set back with six stools,
affording an immediate laid-back area in the foreground where there
are six chairs offered at circular granite topped tables. Says
Courtney Chadwell, the Tasting Room manager, “this seating area
affords guests a place to relax and hang out while enjoying their
wine.” Dark, hardwood repurposed 100 year old wood floor planks
that formerly served the ice house as water resistant, insulating
wall boards. Light grey granite bar top and round tabletops, plus
Tuscan style dark mustard colored walls reflect and absorb natural
light shining in from a wide bank of windows. Ceiling lights support
continuous lumens regardless of sunshine, overcast, or winter dusk
skies. This culminates in a warm well lit, balanced hue.
Vinedos
Aurora at Pamplona Tapas
tasting room on Oak Street next to Alebrijes Mexican Bistro is a
collaborative between Gerardo Espinosa, a professional architect and
winemaker, and Ruben Larrazolo, Executive Chef and owner of Alebrijes
Mexican Bistro. Gerardo and his tasting room staff pour at the
Pomplona Tapas tasting room his Vinedos Aurora Spanish varietals. It
is highly recommended to enjoy pairing the wines with the scrumptious
Spanish cuisine tapas. A common wall separates the two distinct
worlds, but they share one common kitchen for the Mexican food
entrees and the Spanish cuisine tapas. Gerardo branded his wines in
loving memory of his grandmother and further the name Aurora means
the first light of the day in the vineyards.
We
want the world to know about California wine. Therefore, Dana founded
SipCalifornia.com during 2012 for introducing people to wine tasting
rooms and buying wines. We market Sip California Wine Tasting Cards
via e-commerce, retail sales, and through fundraising. Each card
affords the cardholder complimentary tasting for two at wine tasting
rooms through December 31, 2013, on a repeat-usage basis. The wine
tasting rooms are all throughout the Lodi Wine Region (at least 22
locations), and the Sacramento Valley / Sierra Foothills Wine Regions
(at least 25 locations).
