Test Driving the Lodi Wine App

Randomly driving around the wine area.

There’s an App for nearly everything – including some for wines. So naturally when I came across the one for the Lodi Wine Area, I not only had to download it, but I had to take it out for a test drive.

Here’s why -- usually when I visit a wine area, I either do a bunch of research online beforehand or I drive aimlessly through the area hoping to come across something that could be good.

I bet you can guess which one I do most often. Yup…that’s right. Random driving. I know. Not exactly the most efficient way of spending a Sunday afternoon, but when on a quest for seeking out potential new wines, I’m willing to try anything.

Let me say, having an iPhone App to help guide my way was fantastic. It was almost like having a wine treasure map at my finger tips.

The friendly dog at Spenker Winery

Once I got to Lodi, I pulled over and powered it on. Instantly it showed me all the wineries that were within 1 mile, 5 miles and even farther. Then if I wanted to be fancy, I could search for a specific Lodi winery, view tasting room hours, get driving directions, view upcoming events and wine specials as well as restaurants and hotels. Bonus.

According to the App’s GPS, Spenker Winery was less than a mile away down one of the side roads. I hadn’t heard of it, but the App told me they were dog friendly and had tours -- not that I had a dog with me, but I liked the concept.

I was sold. It was time to check them out.

It turns out there’s a reason I hadn’t heard of Spenker. They sell most of their grapes to other wineries so you won’t find them in any store. The wine they do make, they sell only at the vineyard.

“We have a Muscat and Zinfandels,” said Kate Spenker, who was pouring that day.

Kate Spenker

Tastings are free at the Spenker Winery and the first vintage Kate poured was a 2008 Zinfandel. It wasn’t bad. Milder in taste than other Zinfandels I’ve had. It wouldn’t be great with a steak, but would be a nice easy-drinking wine to serve at holiday parties.

She then poured their 2002 Zinfandel. They only have a few cases left of this one so if you drop by for a taste, you may want to pick some up now. This Zinfandel is more full-bodied compared to the 2008 vintage. The flavors are more pronounced, but it’s still fairly balanced.

While sipping my wine, Kate filled me in on the history of the winery. She said her great-great grandfather bought the land from the family who owns Jessie’s Grove in 1902, who was also a Spenker. But get this…they only became a winery in 2004. So what were they doing all that time?

“We used to do watermelon,” Kate said. “In the 1900s, Lodi was the watermelon capital of the world.”

I did not know that. Good wine and good trivia. My day was off to a good start.
So where was I going next? Hmm…now that I had my Zins, it was time to savor some other reds. All I had to do was pull out my new snazzy app and search by varietal and voila! More new wineries to choose from!
By the way, the Android version isn’t ready yet, but they tell me it’s coming soon.