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From the iconic and historic Evangelho Vineyard owned and farmed by Bedrock Wine Co. These vines were planted in 1888. They grown on thier own roots in 30+ ft of pure sand in the town of Antioch. It is truly a special vineyard and unique terroir. Precedent was founded by winemaker Nathan Kandler in 2006. Precedent grew from a small side project into a focused exploration of California’s historic and often overlooked vineyard sites. While Kandler is also known for his work at Thomas Fogarty Winery, Precedent allows him to spotlight old-vine plantings and heritage varieties such as Chenin Blanc, Carignane, Mataro, Riesling, and Zinfandel from distinctive vineyards across California.

From the historic Kirchenmann Vineyard owned and farmed by Tegan Passalacqua of Turley / Sandlands. This vineyard was planted in 1915 and still grows to this day on its own roots. The soils here is a fine sandy loam with an unusual limestone layer some 15-20ft down. Precedent Wines was founded by winemaker Nathan Kandler in 2006. Precedent grew from a small side project into a focused exploration of California’s historic and often overlooked vineyard sites. While Kandler is also known for his work at Thomas Fogarty Winery, Precedent allows him to spotlight old-vine plantings and heritage varieties such as Chenin Blanc, Carignane, Mataro, Riesling, and Zinfandel from distinctive vineyards across California. Production is intentionally small, with an emphasis on site transparency and traditional winemaking. Kandler works with meticulously farmed vineyards, frequently choosing parcels outside California’s most famous appellations, and favors native fermentations, restrained oak use, and minimal intervention in the cellar.

There are many locations where old vine material is used in Lodi. I love that these vineyards are being honored and utilized more in selections offered to enjoy. I like to quote this classic expression of Zinfandel as having so many different “faces”. While this wine is robust, it is still fresh and bright, with aromas of Boysenberry, dark plum, Tahitian vanilla, and notes of violet on the nose. The flavors on the palate are Blackberry jam, coffee beans, molasses, and grilled citrus slices, with simmering spices and grippy tannins on the finish. Aerate and enjoy with smoked brisket. *Editors' Choice* (TP)

The 2023 Aperture Chenin Blanc hails from the Clarksburg AVA near California's Sierra Foothills. Winemaker Jesse Katz says that the 40-year-old, dry-farmed vines there benefit from cooling breezes that come in from the San Joaquin River Valley. Fermentation was done in various vessels (cement, neutral French oak, and stainless steel) to preserve the freshness and transparency of fruit from what Katz noted was an early-ripening vintage. An Incredibly bright nose of pear, white peach, white pepper, and chalky minerals with springtime flowers marks the nose. Acid-driven freshness is immediately prevalent on the palate, like a fresh squeeze of lemon intermixed with lemon zest, lime blossoms, apricots, marionberry, and white raspberry. The flavours are all fueled by a saline-mineral finish that keeps everything super bright and lifted. Easily one of the brightest, most focused expressions of this wine ever, and at 12.2% alcohol, it is eminently food-friendly and an easy quaffer.

The 2025 Chenin Blanc Heringer is the second edition of this bottling for Ridge, sourced from a vineyard in Clarksburg. It's nicely rounded, tropical and lightly grippy. Ripe golden mango, chamomile, orange peel, white flowers and fresh ginger saturate the tongue, echoing with an enticing perception of fruit sweetness and a kick of gentle tannin. Stylish. (BN)

Planted in 1886, Lodi’s historic Bechthold Vineyard is widely recognized as the world’s oldest continuously farmed Cinsault vineyard. Turley Wine Cellars, founded in 1993 and known for championing heritage California vineyards, presents this 2025 vineyard-designated expression of one of the state’s most remarkable surviving plantings.

Founded by David Stare in 1972, Dry Creek Vineyard was the first new winery established in Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley after Prohibition. This 2025 Chenin Blanc comes from Clarksburg, a Sacramento River Delta growing area with a long-standing connection to the grape.

Founded in 1978 in Napa Valley’s Stags Leap District, Pine Ridge Vineyards built its reputation around California winemaking. Its 2025 Chenin Blanc-Viognier brings together two distinct white grape varieties in a California blend, extending the producer’s range beyond its well-known Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon wines.

The 2024 Cinsault (Lodi) emerges from Bechtold, the oldest Cinsault vineyard in the world. Black cherry, gravel, incense, tobacco, licorice, lavender and espresso give the 2024 its somber, almost brooding personality. This potent, muscular Cinsault needs time to be at its finest, but it is seriously impressive, even in the early going. (AG)

The 2024 Red Table Wine (Lodi) is a blend of Cinsault, Zinfandel and Carignane. It offers very good textural depth in the understated, aromatic, silky style that is so typical of the best Lodi wines. Sweet dried cherry fruit, leather, tobacco and dried herbs all race the palate. This understated, gracious red blend is exceptionally delicious and refined. (AG)

Matchbook was founded by the Giguiere family, fifth-generation Yolo County farmers who helped establish the Dunnigan Hills AVA in 1993. The estate farms rocky, upland sites shaped by a long, dry growing season and strong diurnal swings that preserve natural acidity. Vineyard work emphasizes sustainable and regenerative practices, with California Sustainable Certification achieved in 2022. The winery began in 2005, led by winemaker Dan Cederquist, a U.C. Davis graduate whose background includes Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars and DeLoach. Production uses small-lot fermentations, detailed analytics, and a mix of French foudres, concrete eggs, and neutral barrels to maintain purity and structure. The focus remains on estate fruit and a blend of traditional and modern techniques grounded in the Dunnigan Hills’ climate and soils.

Founded in 2005, LIOCO focuses on wines that highlight distinctive California vineyard sites. This 2025 Albariño comes from Lost Slough Vineyard in Clarksburg, a historic farming community within the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, where low-lying vineyards are moderated by breezes moving inland from San Francisco Bay.

Planted in 1886, Lodi’s Bechthold Vineyard is widely recognized as one of the world’s oldest continuously farmed Cinsault vineyards. Birichino’s 2024 Old Vine bottling connects this historic Mokelumne River site with a grape whose California roots reach back more than a century, offering a direct link to the region’s viticultural heritage.

Founded by David Stare in 1972, Dry Creek Vineyard was the first new winery established in Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley after Prohibition. The family-owned winery’s 2024 Chenin Blanc draws on grapes from Clarksburg, a California growing area in the Sacramento River Delta with a longstanding connection to the variety.

The 2023 Zinfandel Steacey Ranch is packed with wild cherry, incense, tobacco, licorice, menthol, cloves and scorched earth. This is an especially virile, imposing Zinfandel. Carignane, Grenache and Mission round out the blend from this site planted on sand and gravel. (AG)

The 2023 Zinfandel del Barba is ripe, boisterous and super-expressive. Floral overtones and bright acids run through a core of red/purplish fruit. Sandy soils confer lovely aromatic presence to this pure Zinfandel. This is an especially accessible offering from Turley. (AG)

Blaufränkisch, a Central European red grape also known as Lemberger, takes a California turn in Haarmeyer’s 2024 “Blau Blau.” The fruit comes from Mokelumne River, one of Lodi’s seven nested appellations, making this chillable red an uncommon meeting of an Old World variety and a historic California winegrowing district.

They purchased this vineyard in 2014, and coming from the coolest section of Lodi, the 2024 Zinfandel Katushas’ Vineyard pours a jeweled ruby hue with youthful pepper spice, crushed berries, pressed roses, and sweet tea leaf. With a few more months in bottle this should really sing. Medium-bodied, with stony earthiness and restrained warmth, it carries a more serious tone stylistically and should easily evolve for another decade. Drink 2027-2037.

The 2023 Zinfandel Stampede Vineyard is a powerful, deep wine. Varietal notes are dialed up to the maximum in this rich, heady red. Small berries in a late-ripening vintage yielded an unusually dense Zinfandel for this vineyard on the eastern edge of Lodi. The 2023 spent 11 months in neutral 500L puncheons, with no racking until bottling. (AG)

Bid on this 3-bottle tasting lot; including 1-bottle of 2002 Turley "Dogtown" Lodi Zinfandel ((91-93RP), 91ST), 1-bottle of 2002 Turley "Hayne Vineyard" Napa Valley Zinfandel ((94-96RP), 93WS, 90VN), and 1-bottle of 2002 Turley "Pesenti" Paso Robles Zinfandel ((92-94RP), 93ST). Of the 2002 Turley "Hayne Vineyard" Napa Valley Zinfandel, Wine Advocate writes: "Year in and year out, Turley Cellars’ most concentrated, inkiest purple-colored Zinfandel emerges from St. Helena’s Hayne Vineyard. The 2002 Zinfandel Hayne Vineyard (475 cases; 16.5% alcohol) boasts superb texture, intensity, and power. Spectacular aromas of black raspberries, blackberries, and currants as well as floral notes are followed by a creamy textured, full-bodied, viscous red with remarkable delineation, acidity, and structure for its massive fruit and glycerin. This outrageous Zinfandel is as good as it gets. (RP)" (12/2003)

The 2023 Zinfandel Evangelho Vineyard is a deeper ruby and purple-toned hue and has more depth on the nose, with peppery blackberries, lavender, and layered savory tones. Full-bodied, it has iron-toned, sanguine depth, with the Mataro contributing the mouthwatering iron character. Tremendous length and mouthwatering acidity resonate with black cherries and Luxardo tones for ages. Drink over the coming 15 or more years. Drink 2026-2045.

This wine is fresh and vibrant, with aromas of dark cherry, raspberry, clove, black tea, violet and notes of toasted vanilla. The flavors on the palate are red currant, strawberry and blood orange zest, that get layered with peach, allspice and key lime vanilla cream, all leading to a supple dry jammy finish. Pair with smoked brisket, BBQ sauce, coleslaw, porterhouse rolls.

A stunning old vine Chenin from Craig Haarmeyer. Winery Notes: "The Palmero Family Vineyard was planted in 1983 by Gerald Cresci on a rocky swale in the Borden Ranch sub-AVA of Lodi. The soils are austere: pink granite and quartz. It was foot treaded for skin contact, fermented in puncheon and oval shaped cask on gross lees for 12 months. Bottled unfiltered and unfined on August 3. 110 cases produced."

Clarksburg, set within California’s Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, has a long-standing association with Chenin Blanc. Haarmeyer’s 2025 “St. Rey – SRV” places the grape and this distinctive Delta growing area at the center of a contemporary California white wine.

The 2023 Zinfandel Kirschenmann Vineyard is one of the best wines I have tasted from this site, as it has more textural depth and resonance than is typically the case. As always, the Kirschenmann Zinfandel is aromatic and lifted. In 2023, it is a bit more complex and nuanced than it often is. Bright red-toned fruit and floral overtones linger. This is such a pretty wine.

Clarksburg sits within the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, where Chenin Blanc has a long-established presence among the region’s vineyards. Haarmeyer’s 2024 “St. Rey – SRV” is a California-grown expression of the grape from this distinctive Delta winegrowing area.

Sandlands is the personal project of Tegan and Olivia Passalacqua; Tegan is also the longtime winemaker at Turley Wine Cellars. The 2025 “Kirschenbloom” brings together Zinfandel and Cinsault in a Lodi rosé, highlighting two grape varieties with long histories in this California winegrowing region.

Clements Hills, on Lodi’s eastern side, is one of seven sub-appellations established within the larger Lodi AVA in 2006. Cary Q Wines’ 2025 Sprague Vineyard Cinsault connects this California growing area with a grape traditionally associated with southern France, presenting Cinsault as the featured variety rather than a supporting player in a blend.

Xarel-lo is one of the traditional grapes used in Cava, Spain’s celebrated sparkling wine, and has deep roots in Catalonia. Cary Q Wines’ 2025 Miravete Vineyard bottling offers a California expression of the variety from Clements Hills, one of the seven sub-appellations within the Lodi AVA.

El Dorado County sits in California’s Sierra Nevada foothills, east of Sacramento. Haarmeyer’s 2024 “Gold Hill - Peeps Vineyard” Chenin Blanc offers a California expression of the grape behind France’s Vouvray and Savennières, connecting a classic Loire Valley variety with a Sierra foothill vineyard source.

Founded in Santa Cruz in 2008 by Alex Krause and John Locke, Birichino looks beyond its coastal home for this 2023 red. Little Big Block Vineyard in Contra Costa County supplies the old-vine Mourvèdre—a grape with a long California history under the name Mataro.

Founded in Santa Cruz in 2008 by Alex Krause and John Locke, Birichino has built its portfolio around distinctive California vineyard sites and heritage varieties. This 2022 red comes from Contra Costa’s Little Big Block Vineyard and highlights old-vine Mourvèdre, the Mediterranean grape also widely known as Monastrell and Mataró.

Sourced entirely from the 90+ year old Montague Vineyard in the Mokelumne River sub-region of Lodi.

The 2023 Red Table Wine (Contra Costa County) is another powerful, deep wine from Tegan Passalacqua. Dark fruit, leather, chocolate, incense and cloves infuse the 2023 with tremendous textural intensity. Potent tannins need time to soften. The Contra Costa Red Table Wine is quite the extrovert in 2023. 93+ (AG)

“Lip Zinger” playfully echoes Picpoul’s traditional French name, Piquepoul, commonly translated as “lip stinger.” Tipsy Rose’s 2024 bottling brings this historic white grape into a distinctly Californian setting, with fruit grown in Yolo County, part of the state’s broad Central Valley.