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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
'Lodi is amazing': Visiting wine group connects with the community
Jun. 7—For the Lodi Winegrape Commission and Visit Lodi, one of their main priorities is to make Lodi a destination city and "put it on the map." They were able to do that this week when a group of 12 wine lovers and experts converged on Lodi to connect with the community, land, and people behind the labels, working the soil, and shaping change in the industry. The group is part of an annual Field Blends trip created by Maryam Ahmed, a professional in the food and beverage industry who wanted people to forge deeper connections with the regions they visit during wine tours, rather than just sampling wares and moving on to the next winery. "I felt with creating Field Blends, there wasn't as much connection to a place that people were experiencing on traditional wine tours or press tours, where goal is to see as many places as you can, drink as much as you can, eat as much as you can, with not as much care as to how we got here as a wine place or food place," she said. "I just wanted to take a different approach to how people immerse themselves in a region." The program, now in its fourth year, centers on the wine industry but also explores a region's land, labor force and agricultural practices. As an example, Ahmed's group visited LangeTwins in Acampo to not only taste the winery's fare, but to get a glimpse as to how the family grows its grapes and makes its varietals. In addition, the group visited the San Joaquin Historical Museum at Micke Grove Regional Park to learn about Lodi's history not only as a wine destination, but how the city was born some 150 years ago. Guests on the trip came from Jackson, Miss., Boston, New Jersey and New York, among other places, and Ahmed said each year, at least 80% of attendees have never set foot in the region they visit. "They come understanding that the education we provide is definitely going to be different than a traditional wine tour or setting," she said. "They are really open-minded people who are curious about what's going on behind the curtain, and they're excited to find new stories and understand a place better. You can go to any region with that mindset." Field Blends went to northern Michigan last year and to Finger Lakes, N.Y. in 2023. The first trip was to Walla Walla, Wash. in 2022, and Ahmed said she wanted to make Lodi the first destination the program visited in California. "Bringing the trip to Lodi, as someone who lives in California and is embedded in the wine and food culture here, I didn't think we could tell the story of California wine through our Field Blends lens without starting first in Lodi because of the importance of its history to the California market, the broader U.S. market, and its kind of heritage orientation in California," she said. Krishna Chapatwala owns a wine shop in Atlanta, and had tasted a select few varietals from the area before coming to Lodi, and came on the trip to learn all she could about Lodi wines. "As a wine purveyor, we don't get a lot of Lodi wines in Georgia, but we do get lots of wines from other areas in California," she said. "So I found myself saying 'I want to go to this, learn about Lodi, the winemakers and owners, and then be able to bring those wines in and have the connections and that story.' Now I can affirm that Lodi is amazing." There are about 30 wineries in Georgia making Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and other "standard" wines, Chapatwala said, but they all use grapes from California, Oregon and Washington. The wineries are in the early stages of making their own products, she added, and some have begun planting Albarino or Gruner Veltliner grapes to see what will grow in Georgia's climate. Chaptawala said what she learned about Lodi this week was that there are several winemakers and owners growing everything except Old Vine Zins, which is what most Georgians see as the standard wine to make in California. "The atmosphere, soil and climate is so versatile that any and all grapes can be grown here, which is usually not the case," she said. "And that gives Lodi the upper hand in that they have the versatility to produce 100% Cabernet Sauvignon or 100% Petit Sirah or Old Vine Zin." Brooklyn native Luis Gomez works at an Italian restaurant in New York, and had never tasted a Lodi wine prior to the Fields Blend trip. He took his first steps in a vineyard at LangeTwins on Wednesday. "It was really amazing," he said. "I was drinking a wine, and I was in the very vineyard the produced the grapes in the wine I was drinking." Gomez has a friend in Sacramento who was checking up on him during the visit, asking him what he thought of Lodi. He told her he was "falling in love" with the city. "It's nice that its a nice mix of rural and city," he said. "It's not like you have to drive out to see farmland. Its right there." What he found most interesting about Lodi wineries was how they seemed to be a part of a tight-knit community. "At LangeTwins, they're all working together," he said. "To see Aaron (Lange, co-owner) out in the fields and Marissa (Lange) in the tasting room, it was a totally different dynamic. One's rustic, one's polished, and it made me wonder what the dynamic was in my own town." Ahmed was able to bring the Field Blends trip to Lodi with the help of Lodi Winegrape Commission Executive Director Stuart Spencer and Lodi Crush co-owner Gerardo Espinosa, both of whom she met about a year ago. Espinosa was tapped as the Field Blends community partner for the trip, helping Ahmed connect with a variety of Lodi officials. "I thought it was a great opportunity for Lodi to showcase what we have here," he said. "The culture, the heritage, the people, the community. I think it's something that scholars from all over the country can take with them and share with friends and families, clients and connections, and make Lodi a destination for them to come back and visit, or suggest to others." Stewart said meeting the Field Blends group was a great experience, and he's optimistic the attendees will help put Lodi wines on shelves across the country. "They are a diverse group of individuals working in wine, education, as sommeliers and retailers," he said. "When we bring people here, we win. And they go out and become ambassadors for wine in whatever role they may have moving forward. It definitely helps pave the way for Lodi wine to be sold across the country." Visit Lodi Executive Director Wes Rhea said the agency loved that Fields Blend was comprised of members of the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color — or BIPOC — community, and believed the group would be able to tell Lodi's story to friends and families in their home states. "I personally love to watch people experience Lodi through their own eyes," he said. "It really helps us through a Visit Lodi perspective, because sometimes we uncover some rocks because some people may see something we might take for granted." To learn more about Field Blends, visit
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
The joy of Sussex: how English wine came of age
The best time to visit an English vineyard as a punter is right now (in my opinion, of course, but surely a personal column doesn't need that caveat every week). Hear me out: in winter, a vineyard is all gnarled wood and hard soil, which is an aesthetic I can get behind (no surprise there), but it's perhaps not the most evocative for drinkers who want a sense of place. Winter is a good time to visit as trade, mind, because the winemaker actually has time to think about their answers to your questions, rather than panicking about whether they should have waited to bring in the ortega. The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. Then there's summer: the grapes are hanging pregnant on the vine, it's sunny, it's sublime, but there's simply too much work to do. As a visitor, you always feel as if you're standing in the wrong place and you feel a bit guilty asking for a tour. But in late spring and early summer, there's a gentle hum of anticipation. Things are about to get started. Most British wineries are concentrated down south (sorry, fellow northerners), and one region in particular really pulls in the wine tourists: Sussex. It is, like most regions in the south of England, known for producing sparkling wine, and received a PDO (protected designation of origin) in 2022. To get the PDO, Sussex sparkling must be made in the traditional, champagne-style method, and it must also be approved by an accredited organisation that's part of the Food Standards Agency. OK, that's all good to know and everything, but where can I go to drink the stuff? England's largest single-estate organic wine producer, Oxney, is one of my favourites to visit, and it's the . It's all charred timber buildings and feels a lot more intimate than other, bigger operations nearby, and its sparkling non-vintage rosé is a perennial crowdpleaser (as, for that matter, are any of its vintage stuff, if you can get hold of it). There are vineyard cottages for larger group visits and a couple of shepherd's huts for couples. Rathfinny is another vineyard with charming rooms, and several places to eat/drink extremely well (it tends to be a bit windy, though, so pack a sensible windbreaker), while Stopham recently reopened its Saturday tasting tours with the winemaker. And though I haven't yet been myself, I've been told that Artelium is a real treat, and I really like their wines. Much the same goes for Wiston's lavish sparkling wines, and I definitely need to put faces to the names. Today's pick features a few Sussex wines to get you in the mood for a late-spring excursion. Yes, they're a fair bit spennier than my usual recommendations, but I've already explained the reasons behind the relative expense of English wine in an earlier column. Besides, things are often cheaper at the cellar door, which gives you one more reason to visit and support these English wineries directly. Nutbourne Vineyards Sussex Reserve 2022 £15.49 Grape Britannia, 12%. A peachy, fliny blend of Germanic varieties and pinot noir. Artelium Pinot Noir 2023 £28 Artelium, 12%. England produces some actually good red wines! And this one is bright and aromatic. Oxney Organic Estate NV Brut Rosé £28 Waitrose, 11.5%. Orchard fruit, strawberry patisserie – and a snip compared with champagne Wiston Estate Rosé £38 Wiston Estate, 12%. Generous pink sparkling with seasonal English fruit and great acidity
