Gnekow Family Winery
At Gnekow Family Winery, the recipe for great wine is a blend of hard work, outstanding vineyards, and savvy winemaking. The strategy has yielded more than 100 kudos for Gnekow’s Campus Oaks wines. Brothers Rudy and Sean Gnekow founded this artisan winery in Collegeville, near Lodi, in 1996. Rudy has now retired, and Sean continues to oversee operations ably assisted by Winemaker/General Manager David Brown.
“We are a small winery with a total staff of five,” says David. “It is extremely rewarding working at a smaller winery because the job you do, whether it is mopping the tasting room or pressing grapes, actually matters. We feel that is what makes us special, because you can taste the hard work that goes into our wine.”
David, a magna cum laude graduate from U.C. Davis’ enology program, took up the cellar reins in 2014 with a focus on crafting consistently good wine and improving it whenever possible. “We do not have a recipe, unlike a lot of other wineries,” he explains. “Mother Nature gives us different tasting grapes every year, so we can’t possibly try to make the same wine every year. If you try to fit grapes into a mold rather than allowing them to become their own mold, the true potential of the wine can never be realized.”
David works with many great vineyards to secure their fruit. “I believe that wine is born in the vineyard and it is our job as winemakers to raise it and nurture it toward its final form. I work closely with our growers to get the highest quality fruit. Then, I try not to screw up what the vineyard gave us!”
Campus Oaks old vine Zinfandel has been a favorite of our members for years. Why are old vine wines special? “Old vines, planted long before irrigation practices were implemented, have roots that run very deep,” explains David. “Because their root system is massive, right where the water is, and they have fewer grapes to keep hydrated, the grapes are less prone to the drying out or ‘raisining’ that can give a ‘young vine’ Zinfandel more jammy-ness and cooked-fruit character. Fewer grapes also mean more concentration of flavor. Our mantra with our Campus Oaks Old Vine Zinfandel has been to use just enough oak to give it that nice baking spice and just enough sweetness to boost the perception of being super fruity, but not so much that you lose the pepper, bramble-berry and anise notes that are indicative of old vine Zinfandel.
For our featured Winemaker’s Reserve old vine Zinfandel, David selected the best tasting, most flavorful barrels of the vintage and gave the wine extra ageing time in both new French and American oak.
Our featured Cuvee is primarily Viognier from the High Valley appellation in Lake County, which is known its high elevations, volcanic soils, and cleanest air in the country. David fermented the wine in stainless steel at a cool temperature to maintain the delicate aromatics and flavors.
The fabulous wines we featured:
2016 Winemaker's Reserve, Lodi Old-Vine Zinfandel
- Pair With: Lasagna Bolognese, grilled meats, or stuffed mushrooms.
- Enjoy now or hold up to 3 years.
Tasting Notes: Deep garnet in color. This wine is exceptionally fruit-forward, with bold vanilla and baking spice notes on the nose. The palate boasts cherry, plum, and vanilla, with a long vanilla-and-baking-spice finish.
2020 Lake County Cuvée Blanc
- Pair with: Pasta Alfredo, grilled fish, pan seared scallops, or vegetable risotto.
- Only 400 cases produced.
- Enjoy now or hold up to 2 years.
Tasting Notes: The intensity of flavor and aroma is very apparent in this wine. Pale straw in color, with honeysuckle and orange marmalade on the palate. The finish is long and fruity.
Winemaker's Notes
2016 Winemaker's Reserve, Lodi Old-Vine Zinfandel: Fruit for this wine came from four vineyards in the Lodi appellation: two in the Jahant sub-appellation and two in the Mokelumne River sub-appellation. It was an interesting growing season. Two of the vineyards had larger crops, which were picked at lower brix than in prior years. The other two vineyards had much smaller crops than usual, with more concentrated flavors.
2020 Lake County Cuvée Blanc: Grapes for this wine were sourced from the High Valley appellation in Lake County. A warmer, dryer summer led to not only sugar-ripe grapes at an earlier date, but also intensely flavor-ripe grapes. The flavor was at its peak when these grapes were harvested, while the sugar was a little higher than expected.
Collegeville
The Gnekow Family
David Brown