RJC LODI WINE TOUR AND TASTING

August 27 - 28, 2005

For all of you who didn't or couldn't go on the Lodi Wine Run August 27 - 28 really missed out on an incredible time.  It was hot but we cooled off inside the wine cellars.

Here is a recap of the trip:
We met at the Hilton's East Parking lot at 8:00 AM on the nose on August 27th.  The members going on this trip were:

• Sam & Mina Dibitonto
• Pat & Harry Keast
• Gerard Garra
• Rich & Patti Wilder
• Dave & Sunny Minedew - they were on a previous trip so met the group at the 1st stop in Lodi

We had two rest-stop and one gas stop on the way to Lodi.
Our 1st stop in Lodi was "Michael David" for wine tasting and lunch.  We had a private room reserved just for us.  The wine was great and the food very good.  After lunch the next stop was the winery right next door, "Van Ruiten Family Winery".  Patti and Mina stayed behind at Michael David because Sam and Mina's daughter, Denise, and her husband, Mike, were going to join us and were late.  They showed up exactly at the same time the others came back for the ladies.

Now it is off to the Holiday Inn Express for some of us to check in for the night.  This went very smoothly and we ended up with some free time so we decided to visit two more winery's before our scheduled appointment with a local vineyard owner.  We stopped at "Wine & Roses" for a quick tasting and then onto "Lucas Vineyard".  This is kind of a cute story.  Sunny walks in first and the management tells her that the tastings here are $10.00 but you can keep the glass.  Sunny explains that we had a limited amount of time so probably wouldn't participate in the wine tasting.  Then Patti walks in not hearing this and announces that we are the "Reno Jaguar Club". The man behind the counter says he owns a XKE and asked if any of us had that model.  We said that we didn't, but some other member in the RJC did have one.  He then said to forget the fee and he would show us around and give us some tastings of 'special' wines himself. He then proceeded to take our group out the back door into the vineyard.  Here he explained the different fields and different wines produced by this winery.  As he was explaining all this he poured wine for us all to taste.  Now he was going to take us into the nice cool cellar.  As we were walking to the cellar, Patti goes up to the man and asks his name.  He said "my name is David Lucas".  She about fainted.  He was the owner himself!  He guided us into the cellar and once again shared a couple of limited quantity wines with us.  This was a memory we will all long remember.

Our next stop was a scheduled visit at Roland & Linda Hatterle's home and vineyard.  They produce grapes for "Ravenswood" Winery.  Roland took us into the field for an in depth lesson on how grapes are grown and harvested.  He showed us the different ways he grows the grapes. Some are grown to be machine picked, others are grown to be hand picked, (old vines).  He explained that he grows the grapes on the directions of the winery.  He showed us how to test to see the brick, sugar content, of the grapes which is critical for harvesting at just the exact time. He was due to have his harvest picked on Wednesday, only 4 days from our visit.

While we were in the fields his wife, Linda, was busy setting up for a wine tasting in their back room.  She opened many bottles of red and white wines for us all to sample with a history on each of them.  She also had us participate in an experiment that she calls the "Tequila Test". Roland and Linda are EXCELLENT Lodi Wine Country Ambassadors!  
Gerard had to leave us at this time to head back home to Reno.

We moved our cars from the Hatterle's to Ginnie Wilder's, Rich's mom, driveway, (just in front of the Hatterle's home). We parked our cars there for protection from all the other cars going to "Groovin' in the Grove  Concert"  at Jesse's Grove Winery. At Ginnie's we were greeted with ice cold waters.   Some of us walked and some rode in Ginnie's and Mike's cars to the event which was just across the street.

What can we say?  The evening was magical.  It was a pleasant warm night, food was very good, especially the homemade salsa and chips that Ginnie brought.  Just ask Harry and Sam about that.  There was music in the air that just made everyone want to get up and dance.  You should have seen us all "Groovin" with the music!"  The evening ended around 8:00 PM which seemed too soon.  Pat & Harry and Sunny & Dave headed back to the hotel, Mina & Sam headed back home with Mike and Diane to Walnut Creek and Rich & Patti spent the night at Ginnie's.

On Sunday morning Rich & Patti went to the hotel to pick up the others to go to a champagne brunch at "Woodbridge Feed & Fuel".  When they got to the hotel the Keast & Minedews were already in the front lobby waiting.  They had quite a story about their trip back to the hotel.  I will leave this story for another time. . . .

After our delicious brunch were headed off for another private tour at "Woodbridge Winery" which is the former "Modavi Winery".  Our tour guide's name was, Stu, and he sure showed his vast knowledge of the wine industry.  He made our group feel really special, as if we were some very high ranked officials.  We got to see a lot more then the "average" person.  Thanks Stu!

This is where we said good-bye to Sunny & Dave as they headed back to Reno.  The Keast and the Wilder's then headed off to the "Lodi Beer Company" where they had a light lunch before taking back country roads home. We made one stop in Forrest Hill for pie!  We arrived back in Reno around 7:00 PM.

Oh what a fun trip we all had!  Want to do this again next year?

Memories written by Patti Wilder.