I stayed the weekend in the Sacramento area during the first and second week of my OIV Wine Marketing Course at UC Davis. J* came up to visit me, and W* was a mere 10 miles away in downtown Sacramento working on a consulting gig, so the three of us spent the weekend together. It was a lot of fun- the three of us first met as young, naive teenagers at the dorms in UC Berkeley. 14 years later, and here we were in Sacramento reminiscing about old times, rafting down the American River, eating great food and pondering our respective futures.
W* asked me if I had finally gained clarity after my first week in the course. “Clarity on what?”, I said. I was clearer about a few things. One, this was one of the first times I’d been able to pay attention in a classroom lecture in years, maybe ever. Two, I loved the people I had met so far. My class cohorts were certainly 100X more fun than the majority of the people I had met in my dark years in the tech industry. That, and the industry folks were fairly well traveled and did a lot of “research” holidays in wine regions around the world, which sounded immensely appealing to me. The wheels had definitely started turning regarding a potential career change.
We decided to head to Lodi, to try some wineries that had been recommended to me by my Davis professors.
The morning had already started to heat up, and by the time we got to Lodi- I checked my phone. The weather tracker said it was already 90 degrees at 11 am. We first made a breakfast stop at the Dancing Fox, and had a delicious all you can eat brunch, paired with a glass of champagne for a mere $20. We then moved onto the tasting room for the first winery, St. Amant. It was located in a nondescript warehouse lot- we walked in and met Stuart Spencer, the owner of St Amant, and his mother, Barbara. He regaled us with tales of his family’s history with the winery and the struggles that they had faced over the years to get their winery, and Lodi on the map.
We tried a full array of his wines and were most impressed with the Souzao (only available for wine club members), and the Tempranillo. I asked Stuart why so many Portuguese wines grew in Lodi, and he mentioned that the hot, dry climate in Lodi was very similar to Portugal. St. Amant is actually quite well known locally for their ports. I tried several of them and thought they were quite good- but unfortunately I do not like sweet wines so I did not buy any.
We stopped next at Harney Lane– which boasted a modern, well designed tasting room. I purchased a crisp, slightly acidic 2011 Albarino which I hoped would beat the 100 degree summer heat later that night. We spent a while chatting with Kathy, the matriarch of the family about their venture into the wine business, which occurred after a legacy of farming grapes. This is what I enjoyed the most about Lodi- the level of service and attention we received. People actually spoke to us in the tasting rooms and told us the unique stories behind their wines. Was the wine necessarily better quality than some of the same places in Napa? That I’m not sure of, but it was at least on par- particularly the zinfandels and Portuguese style wines.
Our final stop was at D’Art Wines, where we tried a standout tempranillo. The winery was located on the proprietors property, with the vines directly at the entrance. There was a small section of tables towards the front, which would have been perfect for a picnic, barring the 100+ degree weather. W* and I bought a couple of bottles of tempranillo and got back on the road back to Sacramento. It was so hot that I put my purchases in the fridge as soon as I got back into the apartment. I then jumped in the pool and finally cooled off somewhat.
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