The Lucas Winery (www.lucaswinery.com) is now 30 years old. They are unique in that, while they do make a Chardonnay, the rest of their production is dedicated to Zinfandel. We were greeted by Denise Lange, who is also associated with Lange Twins Winery in Lodi. She was very knowledgeable and very enthusiastic about the Lucas wines, winery and Lodi wines in general.
Some of the wines we tasted:
2005 Chardonnay – this is a blend of Chardonnay from 3 different vineyards. It is barrel fermented in French Oak, one-third of which was new, and “Sur Lie” for four months. Given the amount of new oak, barrel fermentation, and Sur-lie aging, we found this surprisingly crisp, very appley, but quite nice.
2003 “Citizin” – This first of the Zins we tasted was what I would call an easy sipper, with wonderful fruit aromas, lots of black cherry predominant. At 13.5% alcohol, this would be considered a “lightweight” in California for Zinfandel. I thought it was lovely and easy to drink.
2002 “Zinstar” – This Zin was made from the grapes of 75 year old vines and bottle aged for 4 years before releasing. Awesome aromas just jumped out of the glass; black fruits of all kinds – a very complex wine.
2006 “Zin Blossoms” – this light Zin was recommended to be served “as cold as possible”. For those of you who know me, I just don’t think any wine should be served that cold. This light, slightly sweet wine was better in my opinion after it warmed just a bit in my hands. The recommendation was to have it with spicy food such as Thai or Mexican and I would agree that it would be a great accompaniment.
Next stop: Michael David Winery and Cafe
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