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WINEMAKING TECHNICAL REVIEW Big Vineyard, Small Winery Ripken winery in Lodi experiments with 50 varieties By Andrew Adams at ripken vineyards & Winery, variety is king. the small, family-owned winery produces dozens of wines from different varieties, all sourced from the family's 675 acres of vines in the lodi ava. the ripkens employed a little self-promotion to decorate this barn on their property off of Highway 12. owners, however, Ripken has an extensive background in viticulture and owns 675 acres of vineyards spread across North- ern California's Lodi AVA. He had been planting obscure winegrape cultivars in small lots across his acreage and turn- ing the grapes into wine as research for his winemaking hobby. His experiments with winemaking kept growing until his wife finally decided it was time to turn the hobbyist winemaking operation into a full-fledged commercial winery. The winery's first vintage under bond L came in 2003, although Ripken has owned the Lodi property since 1974. A visitor to Ripken Vineyards & Winery's small tasting room a few miles east of downtown Lodi can sample through 25 different wines made from a host of varieties including Montepulciano, Carmine, Tannat, Petite Sirah, Viognier, Tempranillo, Malbec, Petit Verdot and others. The average price is $15 for a bottle of wine, although the Ripkens also make vintage Port that costs 62 Wines & Vines MAY 2012 ike many wine lovers, Rich "Rip" Ripken's winery grew from an experimental hobby operation to a family-owned winery. Unlike many small winery $40 per 500ml bottle and $60 for 750ml. Annual production is about 1,000 cases. Ripken graduated from the University of California, Davis, in 1967 with under- graduate and graduate degrees in agricul- ture science and viticulture. He said his family came to the Lodi area in the early 1930s and worked in a variety of farming endeavors such as raising horses, growing corn and other row crops. Ripken said he always found grapes more interesting, and after graduating from Davis he focused on rootstock for most of his career. The Ripken winery may be a small operation, but the vineyards are not. Ripken said he farms 50 different grapes, although there may be more. Pinot Grigio, Petite Sirah and Viognier are the main varieties, he said, noting with some pride that the 900 tons of Viognier he harvested last year tops Sonoma and Napa counties' production of the grape combined. He said that all of his vineyards are certified through the Lodi Rules sustainable grow- ing program. Most of the grapes (99.9%) are sold to clients, and the rest are turned into wine at the Ripken's winery. It's that 0.1% that set Ripken wines apart. "We make offbeat, different things," he said. "We get to make what we want." a simple family operation Susan Ripken took over as winemaker after assuming the role from her sister, Madelyn Ripken Kolber. Susan Ripken said her father makes the picking deci- sions, and on a typical day during harvest he'll call her in the morning to report that he'll be sending in a bin of Tempranillo or Tannat or whatever happens to be ripe and interesting. "Then he'll show up with six bins," she said with a laugh. Processing is fairly simple at Ripken. All of the grapes for the family winery are picked by hand, and Rich Ripken said Highlights • Ripken Vineyards & Winery is a family endeavor born out of winemaking experi- ments with offbeat grape varieties. • All of the winemaking is done in-house. • The winery will be featured on an up- coming episode of the television show "Inside Out" on the DIY network.