Second “winery” of the day…

The Lodi Wine and Visitor Center is not actually a winery. They showcase a majority of the local wines, offering them for tasting and purchase. Their tasting menu changes every 2 weeks, giving you the chance to try wines from different wineries every time you go in–unless you go in more than once every two weeks, which is very easy to do if you live within walking distance 😉.

We became members of their wine club when we moved here 6 years ago. Just like the tastings, they have wines from different local wineries with each pick-up. You never know what new wines you might get to try.

Wednesday’s tasting flight included 2 whites, a rose’ , and 4 reds. The reds always include at least one Zinfandel. This tasting included a Teroldego, which, until last week at Ripken Winery, we had never heard of. And now, twice in one week! Same thing happened the first time we heard of the spice cardamom. We got a sangria recipe that included cardamom, which we had never heard of. Over the next few days, we heard it twice on FoodNetwork cooking shows and now hear it all the time. But I digress…

Kristine was our Tasting Room Associate. We have known Kristine for some time and is a lot of fun to hang out with while we taste. She always has a story to share. She also gave us the rundown on the new wines on the list. Jeremy, the Manager and Wine Club Director came out to say “Hi”. We chatted a bit and told him about our blog and he says “It would have been just my luck, to not come out of my office today to say hi”. We wouldn’t have held it against him!

They have a great tasting room. You can check out the wines for sales on shelves around the room. There are outdoor sitting areas both in front and in back of the tasting room. These are great to hang out in when the whether is nice.

The tasting fee is $8 for 4 tastes–$4 for seniors 65 and older. If you are a member, you can taste as many as you want, and they often offer visitors an additional taste if they show an interest in another wine on the list–hope I didn’t just get anybody in trouble. This is the only place that requires a 6 bottle purchase to waive the tasting fee. I asked Kristine the reason and she explained they have to purchase the wine from each of the wineries, so they can’t afford to waive the fee and offer the wines for the same price as the winery–makes sense to us.

Details:

• West side of Lodi
• 2545 W Turner Road
• www.lodiwine.com
• Open 10am – 6pm — Monday – Friday
• Open 10am – 5pm — Saturday and Sunday

One more winery on the list for today…