About Us

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Our family is in its third generation of growing winegrapes. We still keep four old Tokay vines for sentimental value in recognition of what started it all for the Lodi area. All four present family members are involved in grape-growing and winemaking. Our label shows an artist's rendering of our vineyards and the edge of the Glen. We began home winemaking in the mid 1970's and initiated commercial production with the 1998 harvest.

We seek to offer consumers a choice of wine varieties and styles that differ somewhat from many on the market today. With the better known varieties, we use viticultural and winemaking techniques which contribute uniqueness to the resulting wine.

Our viticultural practices include cane pruning (seldom used in the Lodi area) and expanded vertical trellis. We also use a dual irrigation system utilizing the most favorable benefits of both drip and sprinkler. Our efforts to establish a "natural balance" in our fields include biological controls, a minimum of pesticide use and ground covers.

Our winemaking practices include barrel aging techniques which keep the oak from dominating the wine while allowing it to blend with the natural fragrances and flavors, thereby producing approachable wines. Our small production allows us to give individual attention to each barrel. Our stainless steel tanks have been custom built according to our designs and specifications. They include oversized cooling jackets which give us excellent control over fermentation. Our designs also include adjustable capacity tanks which allows us to fit the tanks to the wine rather than the wine to the tanks.

German Collection Wines

German wines are often viewed here as sweet, mild and fruity. However, visits to Germany introduced us to the unique and diverse qualities of German wines. These wines cover the entire range from dry, crisp table wines of lower alcohol content to very sweet dessert wines, also with lower alcohol. The latter can age and improve for decades. This motivated us to research the many German varieties, search for sources of these varieties and establish vineyard trial blocks. We vinted them on an amateur basis prior to choosing which wines to use initially for commercial production. This has taken many years and is an ongoing process as we work with additional varieties.

We now specialize in grape varieties found in the vineyards of Germany today, but we grow them in our own Lodi vineyard. Lodi is obviously not Germany. We do not claim that our wines are exact duplicates of German wines of the same varieties. We feel that our wines benefit from the interaction between the German grape varieties and aspects of German wine styles along with Lodi's own climate and soil.

We strive to follow the German style of producing wines with lower alcohol that is often true here--especially with white wines. We produce wine with crisp acidity similar to German wines--again especially with white wines. We help achieve both of these goals by picking the grapes earlier than is frequently true here. Our whites will vary from dry to off-dry to sweet to very sweet (beerenauslese and trockenbeerenauslese sugar levels at harvest in Germany). Our whites are generally fruit-forward with a hint of mineral.

Our reds benefit from the warmer climate in Lodi. For example, sources from Germany indicate that Dornfelder is typically harvested there at 20 to 21 Brix. Here in Lodi we are able to easily reach Brix levels in the mid 20's allowing Dornfelder to achieve qualities not fully obtained in cooler areas. However, we are still able to maintain crisp, smooth qualities in these wines which allow them to complement foods rather than overpower them. This is partly achieved by using a shorter period of barrel aging, thereby preventing the barrel characteristics from overpowering the fruit of the grapes.

The specialization and uniqueness of our production is illustrated by the following:

► We believe that we are currently (Spring 2007) the only winery west of the Mississippi

River to produce Kerner wine.

► We are currently one of only two wineries west of the Mississippi River to produce

Dornfelder as a varietal wine. We expect that to change as the potential of this

variety becomes better known. However, we will always be the first to have grown

Dornfelder grapes and produced Dornfelder wine in Northern California.

► We are one of the few wineries in the U.S. to produce Lemberger wine and will always

be the first in Lodi to have produced it. Also known by its Austrian name--Blaufränkish.

► Dreirebe is our own proprietary blend of three varieties from our "German Collection".

We believe that one of these three varieties is not grown commercially by anyone else

in the U.S.

► We are also budding vines over to additional German varieties for small commercial

production in the future.

► We currently have 28 varieties in our "German Collection" trial plot and are continually

putting forth effort to increase that number.

► At present we believe that we are the only winery in the U.S. producing all of the four

"German Collection" wines that we now offer.

However, we are not "resting on our laurels." We expect to add Gewurztraminer and perhaps a small

amount of Bacchus in the 2007 harvest. We are also continuing to bud vines over to Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir), Zweigelt and a Riesling clone which we believe will allow us to produce a dry dinner wine with a lower

alcohol level, similar to the German style. Thus it should be clear that we are continually working to further develop our specialization in "German Collection" varieties.

Prost!!