Harney Lane Wines Wine Region: Lodi, CA Obligatory disclaimer: All wines mentioned in this blog were free to me for review. The Winery: Harney Lane Winery and Vineyards stands on farmland owned by the Mettler family since 1900. Currently, its proprietors are Jorja and Kyle Lerner and Jorja’s mother, Kathy Mettler. The Mettler’s history with
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It’s time for a midwinter trip on the Wine Road of Northern Sonoma County! Once a year, the Wine Road puts on the Winter Wineland celebration, a delightful invitation to hit up as many of their boutique, family-owned wineries and/or major label, large-scale producers as you desire along this beautiful stretch of wine country. The
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McCay Trulux Zinfandel 2014 Lodi, CA If Anne Shirley’s cherry cordial was blackberry instead, this is exactly how I imagine it. Medium-bodied with a nose full of very dark, extra ripe berries. I want to make a syrup with it and pour it over pancakes or maybe reduce it with vinegar for a tasty drizzle.
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KickAss Britchen Red Paso Robles, CA Non-vintage $29 The KickAss label invokes the lighter side of winemaking for AronHill Vineyard’s owner, Judy Aron. The back label declares its inspirations proudly: “Life is all about ASS. You are either covering your ASS, laughing your ASS off, kicking ASS, kissing ASS, busting ASS, trying to get a
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Zinfandel is the best grape out there, as far as Duane David Dappen, owner and winemaker of D-Cubed Cellars, is concerned. As he’s been making wine since 4-H club, he’s had plenty of time to make up his mind! Duane worked at other esteemed wineries early on in his career, but making zinfandel under the
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Stellina 2012 Reserve Old Vine Zinfandel Lodi, CA Stellina 2012 Reserve Old Vine Zinfandel comes from Estate Crush, a custom crush facility producing a great many small lot wines from grapes in the Lodi area of California. They sell wine from the Stellina Estate Vineyard under their own Estate Crush label. Its nose offers a
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The Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (ZAP) association, website here, is one of the most active wine organizations I’ve come across in my decade’s worth of food and drink blogging. If you’re a zinfandel lover like myself, you’ll be interested in all the great events they put on during the year. The next one coming up
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Chateau Montelena Calistoga Zinfandel 2014 Calistoga, CA Obligatory disclaimer: I received this bottle of Chateau Montelena Calistoga Zinfandel 2014 as a free sample for review. The Wine This Napa Valley zinfandel was aged in Irish oak barrels, which is a highly unusual choice for Californian winemaking. It smells like a candy that doesn’t exist but
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The Wine Road is a professional association of over 250 wineries and lodgings based in northern Sonoma County. At 40 years and counting, it’s rather long-lived for a California wine country organization! The Wine Road is also a Taste Award-winning, biweekly podcast from hosts Marcy Gordon and Beth Costa. Beth has been the executive director
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On National Zinfandel day in November, I tasted several current old vine zinfandel releases from wineries in Lodi, both big and small. These wines were provided to me for free to review from LoCA, the Lodi Wine Grape Commission, as part of a virtual tasting event on Facebook. Kevin Phillips of Michael David Winery ,
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