Lodi wine pairs with Amgen Tour of California
You can take the Tour of California out of Lodi, but getting Lodi out of the Tour of California is a different story.
On Friday the Lodi Winegrape Commission announced it has been named the exclusive wine sponsor for the 2018 Tour of California, a cycling race that takes place from May 13 to 19 across the state.
“I think it’s a fantastic opportunity,” said Stuart Spencer, the executive director of the Lodi Winegrape Commission. “We have a history of working with AEG on the Tour of California when we were a host finish city in 2015, start city in 2016. It’s been a strong partnership.”
The sponsorship will involve local wine producers Michael David Winery, LangeTwins Family Winery and Vineyards, Klinker Brick Winery and Estate Crush.
Estate Crush’s Bob Colarossi, who has been involved in the Tour of California in the past and was part of the team that brought a stage finish to Lodi in 2015 and a stage start to town in 2016, is excited both for the local wine community as well as the local cycling community.
“Lodi has been really a hotbed of cycling for a long time, and as a community we have been able to use the race as a way to activate and accentuate the Lodi cycling community,” Colarossi said.
NEWS-SENTINEL FILE PHOTOGRAPH Left: Racers for the 2015 Amgen Tour of California make their way into Lodi as they race down Lower Sacramento Road on May 11, 2015. The Lodi Winegrape Commission has been named the official wine sponsor of the Tour of California this year.
“I would say that the demographics of cycling are almost a perfect overlay for the demographics of wine consumers, and Lodi being kind of the heartbeat of the national wine industry, having a relationship with the race is a natural extension of what we’ve been trying to do,” he said.
The sponsorship will involve several facets — first, Lodi wines will be provided at hospitality events surrounding the race, according to Spencer, such as hospitality tents at race starts and finishes, rider presentations and the various other pageantry that goes with large cycling stage races. Second, Lodi Wine-banded materials will be handed out at the same events. And third, the race TV coverage will feature a commercial for Lodi wines.
“I don’t have the metrics to quantify the advertising value we will get out of it, but I can tell you based on past experiences with the race, it has a lot of eyes on it,” Spencer said. “It continues to build on our efforts to promote Lodi wines, both in the marketplace as well as a destination to visit.”
While this year’s route will miss Lodi, it will come close, and it will cover significant ground within the Lodi Viticultural Area. Men’s Stage 5 on May 17 will begin in Stockton, head through the vineyards east of Lodi to Clements, then jog around Camanche Reservoir and head north to Rancho Murieta before heading back south to go through Herald and across the north side of Galt on Twin Cities Road. The 109mile stage will end in Elk Grove.
The same day, the women’s first stage will begin and end in Elk Grove, with the route pacing Interstate 5 south through Mokelumne City and Thornton before turning west on Peltier Road, north on Blossom Road and west again on Walnut Grove Road to meet up with the Sacramento River in Walnut Grove.
There will be plenty of spots for Lodi cycling enthusiasts to take in sections of both the men’s and women’s stages.
“I know that the Lodi Winegrape District is actually staging something on the route to celebrate the race coming by. It’s just huge,” Colarossi said. “To take our brand message of Lodi and generational families farming and making wine to a mass market, it’s a really incredible opportunity.”
The four wineries selected are a telling cross-section of the types of wineries, new and old, that have made Lodi a powerful name in the California industry. Michael David Winery’s Phillips family, the Lange family of LangeTwins, and the Felten family of Klinker Brick have been farming in the area since the mid-1800s, and Estate Crush was founded in 2009.
“This will be our 10th harvest this year, and to be part of the winery community and participate in the growth has been an amazing experience for us,” Colarossi said. “We’re excited to see Lodi positioned, as it should be, as one of the top wine-making regions in the world.”