A New Area to Explore, Wine Tasting in Lodi

The rain finally left us for now so it was time to get out in the sunshine.  Saturday was a beautiful day so we started with breakfast at Bills and then it was off to Lodi for a day of wine tasting.  Now that I know I can get there in the same amount of time it takes to get to Napa we will go often.  I wasn't sure what to expect, didn't know anything about this area and flooded roads was not on my radar even though CA is drowning.  Once we made it off of the freeway and through some flooded roads we hit our first winery, Durst.  There was an event going on this weekend but we decided to just do some tasting on our own.  Lodi is what Napa use to be, more like Livermore.  The tasting we did were $5 each and free with a purchase.  The service was personable and laid back, not touristy.  This is what all wineries should be.  I understand the days of free tastings are over but when a bottle is purchased your fee should be waived and when wineries charge you over $25 what is the point of a tasting if the bottle is $50.  The wines were also reasonable, about $25 per bottle.  We ended up with 6 bottles from 3 wineries.  We only went to one winery we didn't buy a bottle.  They were OK but more pricy and not as good as the other three we went to so we didn't do a guilt purchase.

So this is the start of our review of ALL Lodi wineries.  I can't wait to continue this adventure.

• Durst:  R4.5.  We were greeted by the wine maker who was chock full of stories, very passionate about wine making and extremely attentive.  She even said if it wasn't the event she would sit with us outside and talk to us for several hours.  We started with the whites which are normally not my favorite but the nose was scrumptious, the flavors light and crisp, not too sweet so that was purchase number one and for that we chose Sauvignon Blanc 2016 which wasn't even on the list and then we tried the reds and found another purchase, Amada Mia Red 2014 (pix from here). 
• Bokisch:  R5:  Loved ALL the reds, purchased Gracianio and Tempranillo), the view, the server, the chairs around an unlit fire pit (only because it was so nice heat wasn't needed) and the beautiful views of the oat trees and vines.  These were Spanish grapes which I don't know a lot about but I am willing to learn.
• Harney Lane:  R3:  We didn't purchase wines here because we didn't find a stand out when comparing them to the previously two wineries and we were now in the thick of the event so the place was very crowded so they couldn't be as personable.  Because of this we will return another day to make sure we made the right call.
• D'Art Wines:  R4:  This was our final stop and two more bottles were purchased (Dog Day Red and Zinfandal 2012). 

UPDATE:  Visited 4 more wineries and not a looser in the bunch, some better than others, loving Lodi Wine Country.  Macchia: R4, Klinker Brick: R4, Woodbridge: R3.5, Heritage Oak: R3.5  We purchased 1-2 bottles per winery at $20-25 each.  Another successful winery trip.  The final nail will be once we try what we brought home.  Once drank the rating may go up or down.