Appellation: Lodi, California
ALC: Unknown
You can buy this wine at: lodivineyards.com/incognito.htm
Retail price: $19.95
Haydn gives it: 90pts

This has to be one of the cooler labels for a wine. There is something anti-establishment about this. No gold foil. No embossing. Yet it is enticing and a bit mysterious.

This wine proved to be a bit of a mystery. My good friend, and wine expert, Beth and I, spent a good deal of time on this bottle. The reason being was that it had no indication of the exact blend of the wine. Beth and I deliberated for a while with this bottle. The only thing we knew was that the wine was sourced from Lodi. As you can see from the label, nothing else is really known. We assume that it was some sort of blend, and thus the wager began to figure out what was in the bottle.

(If you don’t want to know the makeup and blend, I’d advise you to stop reading here)

With our friend, Berley looking at us like we were a bit obsessed (ok, so I think we are), we really got in to the wine and started picking it apart. Lodi only grows certain wines so we could narrow it down a bit when it came to specific grapes. It turns around that we were both right, as this wine is “a tango of” Mourvedre, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Cinsault, Carignane, Tannat, Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Grenache. I don’t know if that is in the order of percentages or not.

What you can pick out of this wine is a bit of pepper and smoke, making it indicative of the Rhone varietal, thus the blending grapes (Grenache, Syrah Mourvédre) were there. Yet with the smoky characteristics there were also fruits that emerged. It was as if someone smoke-dried the fruits, so they gained a different taste than from your local farmers market.

The real winner is in the price—$19.95 retail. It was a well-structured wine that probably could have been priced much higher, yet came in at an affordable price. Try this wine if you’re new to the Rhone world, as it’s made to suit normal, everyday palates yet add a bit of complexity for a twist.

Decant and enjoy!

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Haydn Adams is the author of the book, Wineries Beyond Napa Valley: Dry Creek and Alexander Valley, an insider’s tasting guide to the hidden gems region. He also contributes to the Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog, writes for vinvillage.com, and can be found roaming the hills of Sonoma County looking for the next hidden gems. You can contact him at haydn@beyondnapavalley.com

2003 Thomas Coyne Zinfandel (Late Harvest)
Appellation: Lodi
Alc: 16.9%
Haydn gives it: 93pts
Not available (as far as I can tell)
Winery: Thomas Coyne Winery in Livermore

As mentioned in my previous post, I greatly enjoyed the m2 wines. However, one wine stood out amongst the rest as my personal favorite at the wine makers dinner. The crown jewel of the night was the Thomas Coyne 2003 Zinfandel, Late Harvest. In going with the overall theme of the night, it was also grown in Lodi. While I did enjoy the m2 the best out of the wines provided for us, it was winemaker himself, Thomas Coyne that pulled this bottle (what seemed like out of a hat) out for us to try during dessert.

There are two things I greatly enjoy in life— chocolate and wine (there are plenty of others, but I’m on a theme here, so go with me here). I’ve also maintained that one of Zinfandel’s secret is it’s ability to pair well with chocolate. While most people would run towards the Petite Sirah, I default to a Zin. Apparently Mr. Coyne agreed with me (or it could have been that it was a Zin fest after all, though I’d like to think he was unconsciously proving my hypothesis).

The late harvest Zin mirrored perfectly with the chocolate chip cookies. I was sure it would have paired better with the chocolate covered strawberries but the cookies won the pairing battle. The key to this wine was that it was blended partially with Petite Sirah (as mentioned before, a great chocolate-pairing varietal) and that is what gave it the right kick.

I was overwhelmed with joy. After drinking a bit of the late harvest Zin, a conversation was struck up with Mr. Coyne and extended until the wee hours of the event.

I don’t know how much this bottle is, or if it is even available for purchase. But I can tell you that I will be buying wine from him in the future along with visiting his winery in Livermore. His knowledge of wine is very deep and I look forward to showcasing more of his wines on this site.

Stay tuned for part 3 of the Lodi Zinfest

by Haydn S. Adams | Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog
May 17th, 2009

The winemakers dinner at the Lodi Zinfest, was held on May 15th in Lodi, California. According to the advertising, we were to experience the top 12 Zins of Lodi. In addition, I was told that the food at the dinner was “barbecued wine country cuisine”. Thankfully the wines held up because the “barbecue” did not.

It turned out that the second wine that I had at the dinner (out of about 10 or so, a few non-Zins) was to be one of my favorites. The m2 Zinfandel was a true gem with a bit of strawberries and deep blackberries and a touch of black pepper. According to the winemaker it’s a “velvet elvis”. The m2 “artist series” Zin was also featured but it lacked in structure. A tan thinner than I would have come to expect. I was happy they didn’t use “reserve” on the bottle. I rated the m2 ‘artist series’ an 88 and gave the other Zin 90pts.

There were a few other shining gems, including a wine that was dry farmed, and appeared to mimic the look of Petite Sirah (it was literally staining my glass), one that topped the alcohol charts at 15.9% and others that were just textbook Zinfandel. Overall, I was happy with what was coming out of Lodi. While they did lack the overall complexity as you would find in a few Dry Creek Zins (Zinfandel capital of the world), they were overall very satisfying.

It was also a pleasure to talk with the wine makers who were literally at arms distance as I was critiquing the wines. After the initial wine tasting round, we found our seats (thanks in part to vinvillage.com), and continued to pour a few more glasses and awaited the “barbecued” food.

Unfortunately the “barbecued” food was nothing more than over-grilled chicken and steak on skewers. No finger-lickin good sauce dripping from the meat. No, “pass me some more napkins”. Just plain ‘ole chicken. It was a bit of a disappointment because the peppery, fruit forward and strong Zins would have been awesome with some KC masterpiece sauce, and maybe a few ribs.

While, the food was average, the impromptu balloons were anything but. I’m not sure who had the smarts to pull this off, but my hat goes off to whomever who did. Imagine a room with a few hundred guests, some of them wine makers and vintners, and then introduce a few big purple balloons into the mix. Complete that with white shirts and filled wine glasses of red wine, and you’ve got a party.

Overall a very fun experience. I met a few wonderful vintners (coming up in my next article) and learned a great deal about Lodi wine.