Where Pigs Fly

By Melissa Hutsell

Ripken Vineyards and Winery takes the road less traveled to offer adventurous blends and flavor unlike any other. What started as a family hobby has been passed down throughout generations to become a proud family business, and Lodi’s 60th winery.

Though the Ripkens officially opened their doors as a winery in February 2006, the family has deep roots in the wine industry. “Our family has been wine grape growers in Lodi for over 50 years,” says Susan Ripken, a third generation owner and wine-maker. The winery’s motto, “No Boring Wines” sparked from her father’s interest in unusual varietals. And now, they’ve made a business out of it, as a bonded, licensed winery, says Susan, “I stepped in as winemaker around 2008 and have worked on successfully continuing the passion of winemaking with my dad.” Together, the Ripkens produce less than 1,000 cases per year. “We like to focus on the lesser known varietals like Alicante Bouschet, Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne, Montepulciano, Lodi grown Pinot Noir, Tannat, Tempranillo, Graciano…There’s so many great varieties out there that people aren’t aware of and we’d like to share our passion for them.”

A visit to Ripken’s tasting room finds that the winery surely delivers on their promise of providing extraordinary blends to San Joaquin. “When you come to the tasting room you’ll see that we have lots of flying pigs around,” both figuratively and literally, describes Susan. “I even own a pot belly pig named Maxine, who is the winery pig and comes to work with me. Being mainly grape growers, we’ve sold our grapes to many of the more recognized Napa wineries. When moving into the direction of opening a winery, one of our buyers laughed at us and said, ‘Great wines from Lodi? When pigs fly!’ Well then, pigs fly at Ripken Winery because, as a region, we are making some of the best wines in the industry!”

The boutique-type winery produces only small amounts of wines each year while sustaining their business as grape growers. “We grow over 50 different varieties which gives us lots of unique things to play around with,” adds Susan, “We don’t necessarily make the same varieties every year. Some years we make 10, some years we’ll only make four or five.” Currently, the winery has released their Pinot Noir, Grenache, Graciano, Tinta de Toro (Tempranillo), Tannat, Primitivo, Malbec, Carmine, Old Vine Zin, Petite Sirah, Port, and many more distinctive blends. “Our style is full body, fruit forward, with subtle oak and tannins.”

Whatever your preference, one thing reigns true – you’ll never be bored by a Ripken blend. In fact, that’s their motto, “We are different, quirky, unique, but never boring,” adds Susan, “Lodi is known as Zin Country. You can come to Lodi and try 20 different Zins but when you come to Ripken you’ll try so many other wines that are just as great. Lodi is such a great region as we are similar to a mix of so many other regions around the world. We can pretty much grow any variety here just as good if not better than the majority of other regions.”

This is proven once again by Ripken’s award-winning Lodi Appellation varietals which include; Platinum 2008 Vintage Port from the 2015 Consumer Wine Awards, Silver for both the 2013 Petite Sirah and 2013 Carmine from the San Francisco Chronical, Double Gold Best of Class of Region for the 2012 Old Vine Zin and Silver, and Best of Class of Region for their 2012 Wine Barn Red from the California State Fair (2014). In addition, their 2010 Pinot Noir won Best of Class of Region at the 2013 CA State Fair.

For More Information:
Ripken Vineyards & Winery
2472 W. Sargent Rd., Lodi
(209) 367-WINE (9463)