A Toast to Lodi’s Legacy: The Delightful Flavors of Sand Point Sauvignon Blanc 2021 and Sustainable Winemaking

Okay, it's me, domaine Dave, again with another cheap winefindercom podcast. that goes with a review we wrote up on the cheap winefindercom website, which is what we did and which is what I do. Today we have a wine from Lodi. I'll explain why. that's a very good thing and it's called the Sand Point Sub-Yon Blanc 2021. And actually the grapes are somewhat from Lodi and somewhat from other places. It says California label. explain that in a bit. I found it for $9.99, i think not even on sale. It's just what it costs $10. At a wine shop, this isn't any store brand. This is straight up. And what we'll talk about Lodi is. this is from the Langtwin's Family Winery and Vineyards And they started farming their land in the 1870s. I think they're the fifth generation farmers, which is very common in Lodi. They bought their first vineyard about over 100 years ago. They didn't say when they started their winery, but they have wines, they have reserve wines, they have single vineyard wines and they have three wine brands. So they're a pretty big outfit And this is the first of their affordable wines. like I said, it was $9.99. They have vineyards all over different aviaries inside Lodi and they also have one in Clarksburg, which is just west of Lodi. So this is California. This is a wine that is sustainably farmed. It has certification from California And also Lodi Farm Association or Vineyard Association has their own sustainable standards too, and it meets those too. So this is a sustainably farmed wine which, in California, which has problems with water and all sorts of things and fires and what have you Good farming practices are very important and they're doing that. But all these older family they've been there a fifth, sixth generation. They bought this land when it was 25 cents an acre. They built their wineries in the 70s and 80s and they're long since paid for it. And while it's very expensive to run a winery, they have some advantages because they don't have to go out and buy new property. They don't have to build new things. There's a lot of newer wineries that you know, in Napa a vineyard can cost over a million dollars. And here these people, these folks and this is the Lang twins, but there's other ones, there's a bunch of them, a bunch of the wine people there have been there for over a hundred years And that's kind of the good thing about Lodi, because not only do they know their grapes, because they've been farming them for a long time. and not only do they know how to make wine from these vineyards, and that's what is called terroir in France. It's when you know it. you have season after season of the grapes and every conceivable thing Mother Nature throws at you. the wine maker knows how to do it. Lodi has terroir, even though this isn't strictly a Lodi wine. you know, you don't really get terroir that often in a $10 wine. they do have, like I said, langtwin's do have single vineyard wines which will give you that terroir, but Lodi will have because it is Lodi in its south and east of Napa. it doesn't get the wine press that a lot of places get. But the high end people, the people buying the $200 bottles of wine, aren't looking at Lodi that much. But that's not any concern of us, because they're making really good and they can make really good affordable wines And they're kind of under the radar, a little bit under the radar. they're really good wines but they're under the radar because it is a warmer area. It's in the river valleys from the San Pedro Bay but it's a little bit inward, but it's still cool down there and they can do really good things with a lot of grapes. So it's to our advantage. plus, their costs are down because they don't have to buy the vineyards. they've been there forever and they know how to make their wines, so it's like a win-win. So what about this Sandpoint Savion Block 2021? Let me take a sip. It's kind of lemony up front, there's lemon and peach and kind of creamy apple, a little bit maybe like nice ripe juicy apple, and it's got a little bit of soft spice. It's got some pineapple and it's got some stone fruit. The pineapple adds a little sweetness. on the finish, it's got good flavor, really nice flavor. Is it a wild wine? No, but it's a really good wine. I mean, at 10 bucks, this is kind of a. you know, this is a daily driver. This is one that you might buy. you know, two bottles put in the fridge and then on Thursday night you pull it out and then the following Tuesday you pull another one out. It's one of those wines that are just there when you need it to be. You know it's not going to be a. you know you go to the fanciest restaurants and bring your own, though, if you like it enough, it's very candid, but in my mind, this is just a good daily driver, a good wine at a good price that tastes great. One thing I noticed about this city is really nice. The city gives the wine a lot of the length. You know we've been doing this cheap winefightercom for 15 years and there was a time with white wines And typically they would be there'd be too much, they would bite, they'd give you indigestion after you drank it. you know it would be like, oh my God, being acid bombs or it wouldn't be enough acid and they'd be kind of these blobs of fruit. I mean not all of them, but it happened often enough in doing things where you know, i used to have to grate on the curve, but I don't have to do that anymore because these things have really nice technical standards. I mean, this city is right where you want it to be. It gives it length. you know it stays out of the way. Some wines has that. I kind of like it. when they have that lip smacking acidity, it makes you want to take another sip. you know it's like having a bowl of pretzels in a bar when you're drinking a beer. it makes you want another beer. Well, i like that. that's not really a proper thing for wine, you know, it's just something that I like, but there you go. So this is a nice wine, the Sandpoint Savio Blanc 2021. Not a wild wine but tastes really good. And there you go. I think I've got a French bubbling necks to keep it cheap. This is Domain Dave signing off and I'll be talking to him in a couple of days. Adios Sound Games.