


Klouda reiterated that the vineyard is organically farmed. He pointed out some tags that were hanging from the vines and shared that these were pheromone disruptors designed to help control a mealy bug infestation. The pheromones that are released from the tags confuse the male mealy bugs preventing them from finding mates. He said they have noticed a decline in the spread over the course of their use. Klouda also noted that rotating the cover crops on every other row provided the vineyard with a natural 15-30 lbs of slow release nitrogen throughout the growing season.
We were joined by Bob Colarossi of Estate Crush and Ryan Sherman of Field Family Wines to taste their selections that contain the Cinsault grapes from the Bechthold Vineyard alongside the offerings from Michael David.
We were joined by Bob Colarossi of Estate Crush and Ryan Sherman of Field Family Wines to taste their selections that contain the Cinsault grapes from the Bechthold Vineyard alongside the offerings from Michael David.

All of the following wines are highly recommended,
Tasting the Terroir:
Estate Crush Rosé of Cinsault Bechthold Vineyard Lodi 2017 - Dry, fresh and fruity with strawberry and watermelon notes throughout the lingering finish. "We like restraint," said Colarossi when asked to describe his wine making philosophy as he poured, "by that, I mean we like good acid and lower alcohol."

Fields Family Wines Bechthold Vineyard Cinsault 2017 - Vibrant floral notes combine with an explosion of pomegranate to create a zippy, yet juicy red with a pleasantly persistent and slightly spicy finish. Sherman said that the Fields Family had changed their style a bit over time as they became more familiar with what the vineyard offered, they now do whole cluster, semi-carbonic fermentation with native yeasts to showcase both the grape and the terroir.

Later in the week, we would also have the opportunity to taste two vintages of Bechthold Cinsault from Turley Wine Cellars along with their fantastic line up of Lodi Zinfandel with winemaker, Tegan Passalaqua. There will be more on that here later but I wanted to include those wines in this post. Passalaqua shared that he has been picking from Bechthold since 2008. He had traveled through Southern France and had fallen in love with the grape there and that was the style he was hoping to make from the grapes from Bechthold Vineyard. He selected his rows before he knew exactly what the vineyard would offer, he has stayed in the section he originally chose because, "It tastes the best," he said with a smile.
Turley Cinsault 2017 - Light, fresh, and elegant with bright floral aromas and red berry flavors with a pleasant tartness in the finish.
Turley Cinsault 2013 - Fuller bodied, lots of structure, grippy tannins and a beautiful purity of fruit. Passalaqua described 2013 as "a phenomenal year."
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