Highlights from recent wine-related explorations:
Lodi’s Bokisch Vineyards, celebrated for its frank and alluring wines based on grape varieties traditionally associated with Spain, has turned to a
grape more closely associated with the South of France for its newest wine, the Tizona by Bokisch 2022 Lodi Bechthold Vineyard Cinsaut ($36). Cinsaut – also often spelled Cinsault – is a black grape whose cultivation, while modest, is widespread, extending from France through Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia to South Africa and on to Australia and the United States; and, yes, it is grown in Spain, though it often goes by the name Samso or Sinso. Lodi’s Bechthold spread dates from 1886, making it possibly the oldest such stand of the variety on the planet. Cinsault/Cinsaut customarily yields a lightly hued red wine that playfully delivers on the palate fresh and buoyant suggestions of cranberries, strawberries and cherries, with modest tannins, peppery spice and a tart finish. The Bokisch interpretation holds true to Cinsault/Cinsaut’s light color, floral perfume, lean build, restrained alcohol (13.5 percent here) and red-peppercorn spiciness, but also delivers more than usual richness, threads of herbs and nuts, and an uncommon but not unwelcome earthy grip in its finish. Overall, it’s a vigorous take on the variety, providing tireless bounce on the palate despite its light color and slim structure. But why have the Bokisch’s extended their grasp of Lodi grapes to include this outrider? “We had the opportunity to get our hands on some fruit in 2022 and couldn’t resist making some! At this point we don’t know if we will have the opportunity again,” says Liz Bokisch. Just 120 cases were made. It is being released now because the family, as recognized for its culinary smarts as its winemaking acumen, feels it has the freshness and versatility to complement the diverse foods of the traditional Thanksgiving table. Tizona, incidentally, the name of the sword favored by the medieval warrior El Cid, is used by Bokisch for their reserve wines. The Cinsaut is available at the winery and online.
Fifth-generation Lodi grape grower Jerry Fry of Mohr-Fry Ranches tools around the family’s vineyards in a Model A duster. (Photo by Mitch Tobias, courtesy Lodi Winegrape Commission)
And speaking of Lodi: If you want to sell wine, marketing gurus repeatedly tell vintners these days, “tell a story.” The Lodi Winegrape Commission has heeded that advice with a series of eight brief videos that seize the farming side of winegrowing with warmth, humor and personality. You can binge on the entire series for about an hour, coming away with a fresh perspective on the inventiveness, resourcefulness and adaptability required of farming, whether it be dairy cows or grape vines. The series focuses on eight families that generally don’t draw much media attention, from growers to winemakers, such as vineyard managers Ben and Madelyn Kolber, veteran winemaker/pianist Tom Hoffman of Heritage Oak Winery, and comparatively new winemakers like the Perlegos brothers (Perlegos Family Wine Co.) and Jeremy Trettevik (Jeremy Wine Co.). Grouped under the title “A Rising Tide,” the videos are polished, upbeat and brisk, grounded in showing the humility, history and humor of its subjects. While tightly structured in format, the videos are loose in attitude. The only shortcoming was in the segment in which participants chide each other about whether the west side or the east side of Lodi yields better wines; it never got around to addressing the root of the differing opinions. But that could have been part of the strategy by the Lodi Winegrape Commission: Leave viewers with enough mystery to get them to visit Lodi to find the answer for themselves by visiting tasting rooms. As for telling a story to sell wine, “A Rising Tide” amounts to a pretty soft sell, concentrating more on personal and inviting family yarns than the wines they are producing. Check it out: “A Rising Tide.”
Nine judges partitioned into three panels of three each passed judgment on Rodeo Uncorked!’s top value, Texas and Chilean wines as the competition wrapped up Sunday. My fellow panelists included Dr. Justin Scheiner, assistant professor and extension viticulture specialist of Texas A&M University, College Station, left, and Effie Stees, who owns five wine bars, three in Houston, two in Belize.
At each year’s Rodeo Uncorked!, the international wine competition of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the 2024 edition of which was held this past weekend, wines of a particular region are grouped for special consideration. This year’s featured region was Chile. Not many Chilean wines make their way to Sacramento, but before heading to Houston to help judge the field I rounded up a few to help remind me how Chilean wines differ stylistically from the California wines with which I am more familiar. The favorite wine in that exercise was the Emiliana 2020 Chile “Natura” Cabernet Sauvignon (ordinarily $17 but on sale lately at BevMo! For $10). I visited Emiliana several years ago, finding the winery classy and progressive, and its wines steady through its many brands and varieties. This “Natura” reinforces Emilia’s standing for solid, abidingly expressive high-value wines. It is fresh and vital, its flavor suggestive of plums, cherries and strawberries, threaded thinly with mint, all resting on a foundation brushy and earthy. Alas, though Cabernet Sauvignon is Chile’s most extensively cultivated wine grape, not a single Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon made it to a panel on which I sat, assembled to select this year’s top regional wine. The identity of that wine will be revealed soon.
Footnote: From noon to 3 p.m. this Saturday, Mara Feeney and I are to be at the winery Terre Rouge/Easton Wines in Amador County’s Shenandoah Valley to sign, sell and chat about our books, Mara’s “Estate Grown: Planting Roots in Fiddletown,” and my “The Signature Wines of Superior California: 50 Wines that Define the Sierra Foothills, the Delta, Yolo and Lodi.”
