March 10, 2021
The Lodi Wine Region, located in the heart of the vast Central Valley that produces the majority of California’s bulk wine, has slowly been differentiating itself by producing some extremely elegant high-quality wines from ancient vineyards. Indeed, Lodi has the largest number of century old vineyards of any wine region in America.
“Many wine regions pulled out their old vines years ago,” explains Randy Caparoso, with the Lodi Winegrape Commission, “because as they age, they produce less wine. On the flipside, however, they often produce more intense complex flavors with beautiful natural balance of acidity, fruit, and tannins. Fortunately, Lodi was founded by many German and Italian families returning from the Gold Rush, and they planted vineyards in the 1880’s through the early 1900’s, and decided to keep them in the family.”
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Wine Talk: Better With Age
Years ago, on a trip to Bordeaux to taste samples from a new vintage, I had the opportunity to have dinner at Domaine de Chevalier. The host, Domaine de Chevalier owner Olivier Bernard, used the occasion to raid the Chevalier cellar for a couple of seriously old bottles of wine.
If memory serves, the vintage was 1927, or thereabouts. There were two wines. Both had been decanted and presented at table. One was red; the other white. Remarkably, both were the same color.
Bernard explained that red wines get lighter as they age, and white wines get darker. To my surprise, both wines were quite drinkable although well past their prime.
Years ago, on a trip to Bordeaux to taste samples from a new vintage, I had the opportunity to have dinner at Domaine de Chevalier. The host, Domaine de Chevalier