California or Bust…
Day 12 – Lodi, CA
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
We woke to a windy morning just as the weatherman predicted… seems we had driven North of the Santa Ana winds and bad weather. It was a good decision on our part to miss out on Joshua Tree National Park and continue our drive to Bakersfield. We were anxious to get on the road and drive to Lodi… our first official stop on the “2011 California Wine Tour”. But first we decided to make a crock pot meal of chicken thighs, green chilis, white kidney and navy beans, onions, garlic, cumin and other Mexican seasoning… dinner would be ready when we are!
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| Preparing Mexican Chicken Chili for the Crock Pot |
After a short drive West on Hwy. 58, we got back on I-5 going North through the great San Joaquin Valley. You ask “why so great?”… it is the most productive agricultural region in the world!!! Much of our fruit and vegetables… corn, peaches, apples, strawberries, tomatos, carrots, lettuce, etc. are grown in this region. Along the drive, we saw many signs on the farms protesting the reduction of water that they are allotted. Obviously there is not enough water to go around... we saw many orchards of trees that were completely dried up and dead. Hand painted signs saying “No Water – No Work”, “Congress Creating Dust Bowl” and many, many more with most of the signs blaming Pelosi, Boxer and Finstien. It seems that Congress is cutting off the water supply to farms to save a certain species of fish.
And then there is the cattle industry in this region... Holy COW!!!! We started smelling cows before we even saw them. We drove over one of the rolling hills only to see thousands and thousands and thousands of cattle. Doing a little research, we found that a dairy cow annually emits almost 20 pounds of smog-forming gases known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) - more than a car or light truck... this dairyland is also known for it's smog. Over the last six years the valley has violated the federal limit on smog levels more often than any other region in the country because of the cows.
As we approached Lodi, we finally got to turn the page from Southern California to Northern California in the Atlas. Our miles for the day was 262… it was a nice easy drive… especially after the one we had yesterday!
We arrived in Lodi early afternoon and went straight to the Lodi Wine and Visitors Center. Our friend Cindy had suggested that this was a good starting point for our Lodi wine tastings. We were met by some very friendly people who gave us background and history of the wine making in this area while we tasted some of the local wines. It seems Lodi has some of the oldest Zinfandel grape vines in California… some were planted 118 years ago. “Older Vines” that are at least 50 years old, tend to have fewer clusters of grapes with smaller berry size, yielding more intense sugars, color and concentration of flavors, producing wines that are generally better balanced with more body and structure.
There are almost 50 wineries in the Lodi area… we only had time for a few. Our next stop was at Jessie’s Grove which is a very historic winery founded in 1868 with way too much to write about. Please go to this link and read more… it is very interesting… and the wine was great! http://www.jessiesgrovewinery.com/history/
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| Twisted Zinfandel Vine |
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| Jessie's Grove Barn |
Next we went to the Van Ruiten Family Winery which has won many awards. It was almost closing time and there was only one other local patron in the tasting room. This was nice because we got to visit with Gary who explained each of the wines we tasted. Gary asked where we were from… and we told him from the Florida Keys. He said that’s funny, the winemaker’s Father lives in the Florida Keys, owns a restaurant and produces a wine under the “Big Pecker” label. OMG!!! Our friend Johnnie dates the winemaker's Dad!!! We called Johnnie… and said “Guess where we are?” What a small world! Great wine and lots of FUN!
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| Which way do we go???? |
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| KeyZRV lost in the vineyard |
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| Gary Villegas at Van Ruiten Family Vineyards |
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| Terrace and vines at Van Ruiten Family Vineyards |
We had plans to stay at this winery under the “Harvest Hosts” program that we previously wrote about in this blog but there was a very nice RV park only 2 miles down the road. We decided to spend the night at Flag City RV Resort to enjoy the conveniences, which included a huge dog play area the size of a football field with very nice grass. Brigit and Riley played with a few dogs and kids and also met a blonde GoldenDoodle.
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