Lodi is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in the Central Valley of California and is known for big Zins. Zinfandel grapes generally like cool temperatures but most of the Central Valley is warm with consistent sun throughout the growing season. However, Lodi is special due to its location directly east of the San Francisco Bay because of the fact that the bay breaks up the coastal range and allows cool breezes to penetrate the region and produce more moderate temperatures. We received a mixed case of various “Old Vines” Zinfandel from wineries throughout Lodi from the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission and hosted a BBQ to enjoy these wines.
Right off the bat I noticed that most of these wines had very high alcohol levels (8 of the 12 were over 15% ABV) and most possessed a spicy character, as opposed the more jammy, fruit-forward Zins I recently tried from Sonoma. One bottle was actually from an Oregon winery (Eola Hills) who had sourced their Zinfandel fruit from the Lodi region. There were some cool labels like the old-timey scene on the 2007 Bargetto as well as the aptly named 2006 Gluttony that hit the ceiling at 16.5% alcohol. Since there is an allowance of +/- 1% on stated alcohol levels, it’s quite possible this was actually 17+%!
To go along with our plethora ‘o Zin, we chose to burn some animal flesh in the form of smoked boston Butt (pork), grilled leg of lamb as well as some Indian lamb kabobs and ancho chile flank steak created by foodie blogger Jimmy (@jwsobeck) of Eat It, Atlanta. It was quite a smorgasbord with way too much food… but, hey, it was a party! We were joined by other bloggers including David Aferiat (@atl10trader), Broderick (@savoryexposure) and Joe (@suburbanwino). Additionally, our new friend Ross Halleck of Halleck Vineyardsstopped by before he headed to the airport after a long week of wine business in Atlanta. Getting back to the food… BBQ is a great match for Zinfandel and the peppery notes of many of these wines paired well with the dry rub of the pork and the spices of the Indian kabobs. The leg of lamb was marinated in a Zin sauce overnight and included the following ingredients:
1 bottle of Zinfandel, 1/4 c. red wine wine vinegar, 1/4 c. rice vinegar, 1/4 c. olive oil, 2 tbl sesame oil, fresh rosemary, ground pepper
Thanks also to the wine twitterati for some great recommendations for cheese that would pair well with Zin including roqueforte, cheddar, point reyes, smoked gouda, piave and asiago. We chose gouda, point reyes and drunken goat cheese as appetizers.
Wines that really stood out as having less overbearing heat, good spice, smooth and balanced palate and some fruit-forwardness included the 2007 Macchia “Oblivious”, 2006 Mettler “Epicenter”, and the 2007 Van Ruiten which were the wines folks really enjoyed the most.
I hope you get a chance to try some fantastic Zinfandel wines from this unique region and let us know what you think!
Thank you for posting this! I have been meaning to try out Lod area wines (maybe make a trip there, it’s not far from SF). I agree that Zins & BBQ go together amazingly well. Your marinade recipe sounds delish!
Thanks for the post, Zinfangirl
Oh yeah… lots of great Zins in that region. I haven’t actually been there yet, so tell me how your trip goes! The Lamb with the Zin sauce was fabulous! Cheers!
Wow. That shirt I wore is NOT slimming. Well, I guess my belly isn’t too slimming either. Why do I love food and wine so much?! Anyway, great post. I think you hit it square the chops about the peppery, spicy character of these zins as opposed to more fruit-forward ones. If they could get the alcohol down a bit, that pepper and herb would make these VERY good food wines.
You know, Joe, I could’ve re-sized the picture a bit to make us all look a little slimmer ; )
Thanks for the comments… look forward to doing that again soon!
Sad to have missed this- A gathering of some of my fav folks in the ATL.
Dang! Jimmy’s “K”-bobs looked like the shizz!!!!!
Dude… those kabobs were phenominal… winemaker Ross Halleck was at the party as well, who also says he cooks a lot of Indian food and he commented very favorably on Jimmy’s creation
I second the recommendation for Macchia’s Oblivious. It is an outstanding Zinfandel.