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| Twisted Oak Tasting Room |
Saturday morning, in Lodi, started with breakfast at the
Wine and Roses Hotel. Our wine group consisted of 22 people. The planning began
six months prior. While Lodi is a large wine region, with a lot of wineries
(
see last weeks blog), the services to cater to wine lovers is still building.
I hired
Neumann Limo services, out of Sacramento, to take our large group to
the wineries I had selected in the Sierra Foothills. Today we traveled to
Calaveras County and the Sierra Foothill communities of Angels Camp, Vallecito
and Murphy’s.
Since the gold rush days, Calaveras County has been a wine
growing region.
Probably best recognized
as the location for Mark Twain’s famous frog jumping contest, Calaveras County
is part of the five sub-districts within the Sierra Foothills AVA (El Dorado,
Shenadoah Valley, Fairplay, Fiddletown, and North Yuba). The AVA was
established in 1987, and was recognized for it’s rolling hills, moderate
climate and elevation (averaging about 3,000 feet above sea level).
We left Lodi and drove through miles of rolling hillsides,
covered with grape vines and oak trees. Along the 90 minute drive, we passed
small rural towns that looked like they were straight out of the gold rush days
in the mid to late 1800’s. Our first stop was at
Twisted Oak Winery. They are a
small, family owned, boutique winery in Vallecito. When I arranged the tasting,
I had talked with the owner, Jeff Stai. He had warned me that there were two
entrances to the property: one along a dirt road; the other paved. Our limo bus
driver was familiar with the property, and chose to drive the dirt road. Now
they’ll tell you that the name of the winery came from the twisted oak at the
end of their parking lot, but I think it also reflects their twisted sense of
humor. As we drove up the road, we passed through the “Rubber Chicken National
Forest”
and saw numerous signs posted
along the road preparing us for the journey ahead..
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| Entrance to Cave at Twisted Oak |
Twisted Oak has a small tasting room, packed with humorous
gift items. At 22 people, our group was too large to handle all at one time in
the tasting room, so half the group tasted while the other half toured the
gravity fed production area, and ultimately the man-made caves. The large
wooden doors to the cave hid how large and deep they actually were. Once back
at the tasting room we were presented with a large array of Spanish and Rhone Varietal
wines. They have a nice mix of whites and reds, from Verdejo and Viognier to
Grenache and Touriga Naçional.
This is a
fun location, and one you’ll want to visit.
Our next stop was up the road, about 15 minutes away. From
small boutique winery, our next stop was the large
Ironstone Winery. As we
drove to the front gate, there was a welcome sign for our group. The property
is immense. But, we had no idea how immense until we took the one hour tour of
the property. The creeks, wedding grounds and amphitheater were impressive. The
large caves built into the mountain side offered a cool respite from the
growing heat of the day. They also have a Gold Rush Heritage Museum on the
property, that includes a 44-pound gold nugget. The tasting room is huge too.
The tasting bar is comes from an old saloon, and was originally built in 1907.
Our group of 22 people easily fit at the bar.
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| The tasting bar at Ironstone |
After our tour, we had lunch from their deli. All meals were
pre-ordered. The sandwiches and salads were handmade on the property. As each
of us finished lunch, we headed inside for wine tasting. Many bottles that were
not on the wine tasting list were made available to us. One of the more unusual
wines was made from the Symphony grape (a cross between Grenache Gris and
Muscat of Alexandria). As we were tasting, the owner of Ironstone, John Kautz, happened
to come in for lunch, and we spent some time talking about how he got in the
business, and developed this huge operation.
The next stop on our tour brought us back into the town of
Murphy’s. The town grew out of the gold rush in 1848, when brothers, John and
Daniel Murphy established a trading post and gold mining operation. Now the
town has numerous small shops, 20 wine tasting rooms and craft brewing houses.
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| At Newsome-Harlow |
We traveled just out of town to a newer subdivision, and found
Newsome-Harlow.
Instead of going to a tasting room, we did our tasting at their wine production
facility. The winemaker, Scott Klann, met us along with Shelly, who conducted
the tasting. Grapes were soaking in plastic bins, as we entered a backroom on
the property. The tasting went through each of the varieties, an Scott shared
some information on each wine. We all noticed a spiciness that ran through each
of the wines.
Newsome-Harlow has a unique flavor profile that is different from
the previous wineries we had visited in the area. After some discussion with
Scott, we determined that the difference might be due to his use of natural,
local yeasts. This gives the wines a more “terroir” driven profile. This is Zinfandel country, and Newsome-Harlow
makes some good ones. Add Syrah, Petit Sirah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chenin Blanc,
Sauvignon Blanc, and you have an idea of the tasting. These are serious wines,
for people who like wines that are small production, and not manipulated. If it
is any indication, the most wine purchased by our group was at Newsome-Harlow.
A great find, and really nice people.
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| Chatom Winery |
Our last stop of the day was at
Chatom Winery. The small winery
was recently purchased by Hatcher Winery, and now includes Chatom, Hatcher and
School Street. Our group took over most of the small tasting room. They offered
either a tasting of the Chatom wines or School Street. My wife did one, I did
the other, and we shared the tasting of all the wines. This is Zinfandel,
Barbera,
Syrah and Tempranillo country,
and that is what we found here. This day, the winery was preparing for a club
member gathering, so I didn’t get as much information about their winery as I would
have liked. I can tell you they have a nice grassy picnic area in front, and
very nice wines.
It was now about 4:30 and we headed back to Lodi, arriving
at 6:00pm. After unloading the limo bus, and separating out all the purchases
everyone made, we headed back to our rooms for a short break before going out
to dinner. Our dinner this evening was at
Fenix, in Old Town Lodi. The original
downtown area of Lodi has been completely redone. The store fronts and
sidewalks make you feel like you are back in an Andy Griffith show, walking
through downtown Mayberry. The Fenix restaurant, on the other hand, is like
being at a trendy place in downtown San Francisco. This is contemporary
American Cuisine, served in an eclectic atmosphere. The menu is creative and beautifully
presented. Chef Richard Hyman walked through the restaurant and spent time at
each table.
Our entire group kept on saying, “this is Lodi?” We had not
expected to find this type of restaurant/downtown/wine tasting experience in
Lodi. If I haven’t convinced you to visit Lodi or the Sierra Foothills yet, I
have one more blog to write about our visit to Amador County. Check back next
week.
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