In a distant land overlooking the Pacific Ocean a long, long time ago, Stu and I met as roommates in Anacapa Hall on the UCSB campus. Over the years on campus and off in Isla Vista, Stuart brought Port from St Amant – the winery his parent's had started and he now runs as his second job out in Lodi, CA. Jill and I had not been here before and I had not seen Stu since the college days, so we choose to take a trip out to Lodi.
Let me tell you that the Lodi appellation is large and the vines go for miles. There are vines from over 100 years ago and there are many small family wineries trying to make a business now. Some of them also source grapes from the Sierra foothills.
We met up with Stuart and got re-acquainted and then he graciously showed us around for a day. The places we were shown gave us a good sampling of the diversity of families making a business creating wine.
We started at St Amant where we tasted everything in the bottle right now along with several barrel samples. And this was before we got to the St Amant specialty – port! One of my favorite things from back in the college days.
The day prior to our arrival some Canadians came through Lodi and tasted the individual Portuguese grape components that go into port before they are blended. So there was plenty still available for us to do the same – the different 2007 grapes aging right now. It was an interesting blessing to see the components and what each contributes to a finished port.
This is when we learned about bastardo the grape. For his tawny port, this ages for years basically untouched and spending time "cooking" outdoors in the sun. Eventually it gets blended from a few vintages into the tawny port. It was amazing to see how different the 2007 was from the finished tawny right now that contains 2002, 2003, and 2004 bastardo grapes. Wow.
We went to one of the better known area producers, Michael David, first for lunch and then we tasted their offerings. We were going to go to Alebrijes but it is closed on Mondays. Never fear, we went the following day on our own and it was great Mexican food.
After this, we went over to Harney Lane Winery where Kyle opened up on a Monday just for us. To be more accurate, just for Stu. We learned from spending the entire day with Stu that he is well respected for his knowledge, experience, or something intangible. The wines were solid and Kyle showed us the remarkable machine that can harvest efficiently right in the vineyard with a sorting belt included. It was impressive and was partially dismantled for storage.
From here, we went to M2 where we met the mad scientist also known as Layne. We tasted a lot of stuff and got some great stories about the local parachuters among other things.
Finally we landed at Macchia where madness and stories continued. An entire family of characters with stories of Newport Beach (just got back that day), Italy, and more. The wines all end in "ous" and some of them were marvelous although I don't think they use that adjective. They turned their living room into the tasting room, so their main living space is the water tower on their property.
This was a long day so Stu obviously could not join us for dinner. I had booked a newer place – Crush Kitchen – that Stu had not been too just in case he could join us. From our 3 evening meals in Lodi, this place was definitely the best. The food was tasty, innovative, and fresh. And Michael Warren, the owner, is a character.The following day we got recommendations from Stu on places to visit. We started at Van Ruiten which was a forgettable experience with forgettable wines. It is conceivable the pourer was the difference – he had little knowledge or enthusiasm and someone else may have totally changed the experience. Not a problem, there are plenty of other places in this area.
We went over to Harmony Wynelands. The family was welcoming. Bob had built the building that became the tasting room for a huge movie studio organ. By the time we left, Bob was playing tunes for Jill including "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" which was awesome. Once in a lifetime experience. Shaun is a gaucho so I made sure he knew that Stu is too – they (the family) didn't seem to know this. And they definitely questioned if he ever graduated!
We heard from a few people to check out Jessie's Grove. We enjoyed it and the person working with us has a son at UC Davis who is a top swimmer. So we had a lot to connect on there. She had not met Stu, but now she knows he swam at UCSB!
We ended on a place that makes our favorite style – Rhone blends at Borra Winery. We had bought a Fusion our first night in town with dinner, so this was mostly something we wanted to go see before we left. The wines there are definitely good.
It was a long time in the making, but we learned a lot from Stu and the people of the area. The families were nice and I learned how much winemaking knowledge that Stu has accumulated. We both enjoyed and appreciated the experience of these 3 days immensely.