(Wines&Vines) - After wine writer and sommelier Randy Caparoso came to Lodi in 2010 to help promote the region’s wines to consumers, he devised a novel way to bring attention to a few of the area’s best vineyards.

His plan was to convince a group of winemakers to do almost nothing in the cellar. Caparoso had been hired by Mark Chandler, the Lodi Winegrape Commission’s executive director at the time, as part of the group’s shift to garner more attention from consumers.

By 2010, the commission’s goal had changed from getting better prices per ton for its grower members to better bottle sales and recognition for Lodi AVA wines. “I perceived the primary obstacle to Lodi achieving a more positive image as a premium-quality wine region as being the lack of identification with special vineyards,” Caparoso said via email. 

He said all the world’s great wine regions such as Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rheingau and Napa Valley are associated with special vineyards. Because of Lodi’s long history of grapegrowing, it is home to several vineyards of mostly Zinfandel that are more than 100 years old. Caparoso said wines made with grapes from these vineyards are not “big, jammy and generous in tannin” but “softer, more gentle, floral” and had earthy tertiary qualities.

Focus on the vineyard

Highlighting such wines could show a different side of Lodi Zinfandel, spotlight the region’s historic vineyards and likely mesh with the growing zeitgeist fostered by a few wine writers and many in the sommelier community favoring “balanced” and “restrained” wines that purportedly convey a sense of place. “Yet the standard procedure of Zinfandel production in Lodi-based wineries was to steer away from these inherent qualities in order to attain more of the big, jammy, sweetly oaked varietal character more natural to North Coast—particularly Napa and Sonoma, regions and associated with the varietal category in general.” 

In early 2012, Caparoso proposed a group of vintners abandon varietal expectations, house style and craft wines “to highlight the region’s special vineyards as well as the ‘true’ qualities of Lodi Zinfandel.”

That meant a lot of “no’s”—as in:

• No inoculated yeast

• No oak alternatives

• No new oak barrels or staves

• No acid adjustments

• No water or alcohol adjustments

• No concentrate

• No filtering or fining

A collaborative wine project is not a totally unique idea. Wineries in Mendocino County have been producing red blends of primarily Zinfandel with stringent production, aging and labeling requirements since 2001.

The 2013 vintage of the Coro wines should be released in June. The Lodi Native wines, however, not only highlight a specific region, they also address a particular style of winemaking.