Ahhh…..Spring!  Most think of New Year’s as the time of fresh starts and new beginnings.  However, watching the vineyards year after year you can’t help but think that Spring is actually that time.  Freshly pruned vines give way to bud break which quickly become bright green newly formed shoots and the tiny starts of grapes.  The start of a new season and a new vintage…..full of possibilities yet to be discovered.

The start of a new season has begun for us as well…..one without our Patriarch and my Dad, George Mettler.  Everything feels a little different and we find ourselves still expecting to see him driving his truck with Ranger riding along or walking the vineyards or sitting by the fireplace with a glass of wine.  Things definitely feel a little strange and out of sorts for us as we move forward but it has also been a time of reflection.  We find ourselves so grateful for the firm foundation that he laid for us as a family.  He taught us the importance of family, working hard, playing hard, integrity and uncompromising standards.  Everything he did, he did with full effort and passion, giving his best and expecting the best from others.  This has been the foundation of our farming operation and winery.   We have worked hard with integrity tending our vineyards to bring you the best wines we can.  Although, admittedly, we probably all need to learn to play a bit more!!  One wine, more than any other is a special tribute to my dad…Patriarch’s Promise.  It was his project, his push and his delight when it turned out to be something wonderful.  We are thrilled to be able to share it with you.

We are also so grateful for the outpouring of support and understanding from so many people including our amazing club members over the last couple of months!  And we humbly and graciously thank you all!!  We raise a toast in honor of you…..and I will do so with Patriarch’s Promise in my glass!!  CHEERS!

Enjoy a sweet note from Kathy, our wonderful matriarch!

“Fall is one of my favorite times of year.  It means so many different things to me.  In our family we have many birthdays to celebrate during the season.  We also look forward to harvest that fall brings.  Our men work crazy hours and lack sleep but it’s year of work brought to rest.  I love the color changes, the different smells and  the cozy feeling fall brings.

November is always a good reminder of all the things I am thankful for.  I am thankful for this:  This November George is not in the hospital and is feeling much better.  That’s a big thank you.  We have had a good harvest and wonderful wines from this vintage are on the way.  Our wine club is growing like crazy and we are so thankful.  We have family and friends along with our amazing staff that is here helping us whenever needed.  You see…I could go on and on about being thankful because we are so blessed.

So as this holiday season approaches, take a minute or two and count your blessings!  May your holidays be filled with love, laughter, family and wine!!

Thank you, Kathy”

Continuing the thankful mood, we put up our very own “Harney Lane Thankful Tree” in the winery last week and it’s already covered!  Visitors have been filling out little cards with their own thankful wishes. What a great way to start the holiday season!

We’ve had a busy summer here at Harney Lane. We’d like to catch you up on all the good times we’ve been having at the winery! In May, we celebrated Lodi’s ZinFest weekend, where we welcomed hundreds of wine lovers to Harney Lane.  We hosted our Wine:30 Club Pick Up Party over Memorial Day Weekend, serving up delicious picnicking treats alongside our chilled 2011 Albarino and the very popular 2009 Petite Sirah. In early June, it was Ladies Night Out, where hundreds of ladies came out for an evening of tasting and shopping in our beautiful wine country gift shop. Early August was once again time for a great Wine:30 party- this time we treated folks to a Gourmet Popcorn Bar! Guests loved creating their own concoctions, including popcorn tossed with bacon, blue cheese, parsley and Fiori’s seasoning! With the popcorn, members were enjoyed our 2009 Lodi Zinfandel and the exclusive-to-members, Primitivo! The very next weekend, we hosted our annual Crush Pad Jam. This year, we featured Miss Lonely Hearts Band, which the crowd absolutely loved! Guests enjoyed wine-by-the-glass, wood fired pizzas by Guantonio’s and live music all night.
Please enjoy these photographic memories of our fantastic summer. Want to join the fun? Become a Wine:30’er today! You’re clearly missing out if you haven’t joined us yet!!
 

Join us for our upcoming activities this fall, including our Tasting Room’s 3rd anniversary September 14-16 as well as our 2nd annual STOMP out Cancer grape stomp on Sunday, September 23. In the meantime, LIKE us on Facebook for all the latest and greatest events, photos, specials and more!

Thank you Mike Dunne and the Sacramento Bee for a great write up on our Petite Sirah! It’s quickly become a tasting room favorite!

Dunne on Wine: Young vines produce well at Harney Lane
By Mike Dunne

“Oddly, no vintner to my knowledge has put “Young Vines” on the label of a bottle of wine. You see “Old Vines” all the time, even though no fixed definition of the term exists and even though the scientific evidence to support the suggestion that older vines yield superior wines is shaky.
Vintners likely avoid boasting of young vines because the vines are untested and because they lack the thick and weathered builds that speak to maturity, experience, survival and photo ops, all valued characteristics in the marketing of wine. And at some unspecified point, young vines no longer could be marketed as young, unless some viticulturist comes up with a way to provide them with the vineyard equivalent of a face-lift.
At any rate, younger vines have shown that they are quite capable of producing remarkably notable wines.”

Continue reading…

A lot can happen in just one weeks time…George checked up on Lizzy last week and documented lots of changes. What a beautiful vineyard this is! Enjoy the pictures.

Lizzy James Vineyard

New life emerges on 4.16.12.

Bright, lively foliage begins to evelop the gnarly vines. 4.23.12.

The gnarly silhouettes are taken over.

 

New life on the vines means a future of new wines!

Lizzy James- a sea of gnarly beauties!

We took a little walk around our 108 year old Lizzy James vineyard earlier this week… Buds have broken, clusters are forming and before we know it we’ll be sending the harvesting crew around to pull in the 2012 crop!

This vineyard is full of character! When it was new to the family, some twelve years ago, the vineyard was “a restoration project… a lot of dead spots, a lot of vines that needed resuscitating.” It became a project, according to Kyle, “we nursed it back to health and, since then, it’s produced our most award winning wines.” 

Take a peak at our beloved Lizzy James Vineyard right now….and come by the tasting room for the awarding winning 2009 Harney Lane Old Vine Zinfandel OR our Lizzy James Old Vine Zinfandel ‘Port Style Wine’ that is created with her fruit!

Wine & Cheese… really is there anything better? I think not!

Enjoying a good wine and a good cheese can enhance the flavors and complexities of both, however, not all wines and cheeses go together…have no fear… we’ve done the dirty work for you and tasted through all the players, ultimately coming up with an outstanding selection of both wines and cheeses for you to try! Join us on Sunday, March 25 for a fun, informative exploration of the harmony between the right cheese and wine combos.

Cindy Della Monica of Lodi’s Cheese Central will join us at the winery to taste through six handpicked, distinct cheeses that pair beautifully with six of our Harney Lane wines. Winemakers Chad Joseph and Kyle Lerner will share their award winning wines and explore the characteristics that contrast and compliment the cheeses.

Think jammy, velvety, well-balanced 2009 Petite Sirah with a full bodied, semi-soft blue cheese marked with blue-green veins. Or the 2010 traditional Chardonnay paired with a semi-firm, silky textured cheddar-style cheese that has a light caramel flavor and a refreshing tang.

Are you drooling?

I am.

Class is limited. So, if you’re interested, let us know- email info@harneylane.com or call us at 209.365.1900 to reserve your spot.

If that isn’t enough- make a date out of it and pre-order boxed lunches to enjoy on the patio with a bottle of wine once the class has wrapped up. We’re offering a Classic Muffaletta Sandwich ($15)- Italian deli meats, provolone and olive salad on Italian loaf, served in wedges with garden salad, fruit and dessert- OR- a Ravioli Salad ($10) dressed with fresh herb vinaigrette, served with a baguette, fruit and dessert.

Who’s in?

It’s February 29- this day only comes around once every four years- that calls for celebration! Sit back with a glass of vino and enjoy reading about what we’ve been up to.

We’ve had a few very busy weekends! The winery was buzzing during Lodi Wine Country’s 15^th annual Wine & Chocolate Weekend. A couple thousand people came through the tasting room, each receiving something to remember us by- a Harney Lane boa for their wine glass. George was back in action behind the bar after a much too long hiatus. We were all very happy to have him back! Kathy and Jorja tended to customers and Kyle helped keep things running smoothly in the parking lot think limo after bus after bus after limo!

We served up warm Chocolate Chili, made by Mike at Avenue Grille. People loved it! Tom tended to the BBQ and served up pipping hot Lakewood Brats with Chocolate BBQ Sauce. Our bakers had been busy all week making Zin infused brownies about 20 batches worth!

Two weeks later we were entertaining our fabulous Wine:30 crowd! Club members were treated to the release of our 2009 Petite Sirah, which, by the way, is receiving rave reviews. We’re hearing people say that it’s drinking perfectly now who knows what will happen a couple months down the road. With less than 200 cases produced, my prediction is that it won’t be around for too long end of summer, maybe?

At the Pick Up Party, members enjoyed our awesome lineup of wines with Pulled Pork Sliders smothered in homemade Zinfandel BBQ Sauce. As usual, the family was in action. Including, Ian James who served up bbq on Saturday and helped park cars on Sunday. He’s been bragging about the $8 in tips he made ever since! Ranger kept folks entertained…err…patiently waited for them to drop crumbs…

The weather was beautiful all weekend. Guests filled the patio and enjoyed tapping their toes to the bluegrassy sounds of the Campbell Creek Gang. This quarter’s pick up included our 2009 Lodi Zinfandel and our 2009 Lizzy James Old Vine Zinfandel.

In addition to these fun weekend parties, the Wine:30 Club receives quarterly shipments of two or four bottles as well as 20% off all wine and merchandise in the tasting room (some exclusions apply). It’s a pretty sweet deal, so sign up already!

For more… “like” Harney Lane Winery on Facebook and follow @harneylanewine on Twitter!

Check out this recent blog posted on lodiwine.com all about our beloved Lizzy James!

Photo courtesy lodiwine.com

Since its inception in 2008, Harney Lane Winery has shot up the proverbial charts of Lodi wine lovers with hit after hit of outstanding Lodi grown wines.

A flowery fresh Albariño, a first class barrel fermented style of Chardonnay, a velvet lined leather glove-y Tempranillo, and a cigar blast of a Petite Sirah have all found favor among Harney Lane aficionados; but it is Zinfandel – Lodi’s heritage grape – that still anchors the brand.

Which makes sense because the Harney Lane heritage actually dates back to over a century of grape growing by the same family who first planted on the present day winery property just east of the town of Lodi.  A terroir that falls well within the parameters of Lodi’s Mokelumne River AVA, with its ideally deep, porous yet fertile Tokay sandy loam soil and a Delta cooled climate similar in temperatures and seasonal patterns to other proven wine regions such as Napa Valley and Sonoma County.

Harney Lane’s flagship wine is called Lizzy James Zinfandel; named after Lizzy and James, the elementary school age children of proprietors Jorja and Kyle Lerner.  Lizzy and James enjoy the typical lives of kids growing up on a Lodi farm – pruning canes, pulling leaves, driving tractors, loading up grape gondolas, running through the fields kicking up the summer dust with the dogs who are frantically digging for gophers or chasing down those wascally wabbits.  This was Jorja’s early life when her dad, George Mettler, was actively running the ranch, and probably not much different from the life of Henry Schnaidt, George’s grandfather and mentor, who planted the property’s first vines back in 1907.

Today, Kyle is in charge of farming the 60 acres around the winery, plus another 750 acres within the vicinity either owned by the family or leased from other longtime Lodi residents; including what is now known as Lizzy James Vineyard, a venerated 20 acre plot of gnarly, wizened Zinfandel vines, first planted on nearby Alpine Rd. in 1904.

When the Mettler family purchased Lizzy James twelve years ago, according to Lerner, “it was a restoration project… a lot of dead spots, a lot of vines that needed resuscitating, but we nursed it back to health and, since then, it’s produced our most award winning wines.”  Sitting on super sandy, beach-like soil, the Lizzy James vines give miniscule proportions of Zinfandels that are known not so much for sheer intensity or big, rotund proportions often associated with contemporary style Zinfandels, but rather for a svelte, focused, almost pure black cherry/raspberry varietal character that sticks to the palate like burs on summer pants.

“It’s a goofy little vineyard,” adds Lerner, “probably made up of as many as 10 different clones of Zinfandel, largely because of the continuous replanting in the various dead spots over the years” (typical of Lodi’s pre-Prohibition vineyards, not all the vines in Lizzy James are of the same age).Only 365 cases of the 2009 Harney Lane Lizzy James Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel ($33) were produced, and it was given the royal treatment of 100% French oak aging to highlight its flowery raspberry tea infused nose and dense yet fine, zesty, supple length of flavor, weighted evenly from front to back.

There is a segment of wine geeks and sommeliers these days who like to talk about “the question of balance” in a wine, and how many California wines are farmed (or made) incorrectly and thus are not truly expressive of their terroir.  It’s a shame most of them probably haven’t yet discovered Lizzy James, because this is as true an expression of a place (as opposed to a “varietal” profile) as it comes.  It just happens to be made from good ol’ Zinfandel; not Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Syrah, or other such things.

photo courtesy lodiwine.com

But wait, as they say, there’s more… now Lizzy James has a sister wine, also 100% from the Lizzy James Vineyard:  the nonvintaged Lizzy James Old Vine Zinfandel “Port Style Wine” ($35/500 ml.) – so-called because, legally, new American made fortified sweet reds are not allowed to be bottled as “Port.”  There is a reason why Portuguese grapes like Touriga and Tinta Cão are favored over grapes like Zinfandel for the making of fortified reds:  their skins are considerably thicker and more deeply pigmented, allowing for easier late season ripening, whereas the thinner skinned, tightly bunched Zinfandel is prone to bunch rot when fall weather turns inclement.

Yet Lerner, and his highly respected consulting winemaker Chad Joseph, have managed to produce a pure and bright sweet fortified red purely out of the Zinfandel grape.  This Lizzy James may not be quite as weighty as traditional Port, but is nevertheless as juicy rich and well balanced in its zesty, silken sweetness as any good “Port style wine.”  Think chocolate coated raspberries fed to you while reclined on satin pillows… any questions?  Just enjoy the taste of Lodi’s heritage!

Thank you Randy, for your great words. We love our Lizzy and sure are glad you do too!

 Read the original blog here

There is always something going on in Lodi Wine Country these days! We are a part of some incredible events that take place throughout the region and we host a handful of our own events here at the winery. Why not throw a wine party every now and again? February has some great stuff in store…

First up on the calendar is Lodi Wine Country’s Wine & Chocolate Weekend- February 11-12. This is an incredibly busy weekend for us – we love seeing all the new faces in the tasting room. What could be better than the combination of wine and chocolate…right around Valentine’s Day? Not much according to the nearly 5,000 people that attend each year! We try to do something a little different with the chocolate that we serve to guests… this year we will feature a Chocolate Chili that pairs beautifully with our reds. Also, we will feature Zin infused brownies that are decadent! The guys will most likely be donning pink boas- reason enough to come check it out.

A couple weekends after Wine & Chocolate, we will catch our breath and host our Wine:30 Club Pick Up Party- February 25-26- for all of our wine club members! This release features our two Zins! Our 2009 Lodi Zinfandel and the coveted 2009 Lizzy James Old Vine Zin (Gold Medals keep coming for this one!). We’re all about a good time with friends, family and wine…and that’s what we’ll have plenty of! Our loyal members will get to sample the new wines paired with some awesome bbq sliders. Yum! Juicy meat marinated and slow roasted to perfection, slathered in a zinfandel bbq sauce. Mouth watering? Pair that with Harney Lane Zinfandel… The Campbell Creek Gang will be meandering around the winery property giving folks something to tap their toes to! Our firepit will be roaring and cross our fingers the rain won’t be pouring …just before and after would be fine!

If you’re not a member, what are you waiting for? We’ve got a lot of fun activities in store for the coming year, not to mention the excellent wine! See you soon.