'Mr. Red Shorts' continues legacy of Peirano family in Lodi

Lance Randolph shows some of the 106-year-old vines his great-grandfather, Giacamo Peirano, brought back from Italy at Peirano Estate Vineyards in Acampo. (Marc Lutz/News-Sentinel)

'Mr. Red Shorts' continues legacy of Peirano family in Lodi

By Marc Lutz
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Saturday, June 28, 2008 6:13 AM PDT

Comments (1 comment(s))

In 1895, Giacamo Peirano came from Italy to the United States at the age of 19 with his cousins. They were going to strike it rich in gold mining. When that didn't work out, Peirano started a mercantile business. He returned to Italy and married his love, Maria. When they came back to America, Peirano brought cuttings back from the family vineyard.

Over a century — and four generations later — those vines are still producing grapes on the family land in Acampo. They are tended to by Peirano's great-grandson, Lance Randolph.

Randolph grew up on the property, learning how to grow from the early age of four. His grandfather taught him the art of winemaking. Though he never wanted to leave the vineyards, Randolph's father insisted he become a doctor. Hating pre-med school, Randolph became a pharmacist instead. The chemistry he learned in the business still benefits him in his winemaking to this day.

More than 20 years after he started growing his own grapes and making his own wine, beginning with Zinfandel. During harvest, he dons a pair of red shorts (for which a vintage is named) and has become well-known in Lodi's vintner circles for them.

The infamous red shorts: I didn't like farming in Lodi in the summer. It's too hot. I went out and bought myself four pairs of these red shorts.

Ultimately, we had a big grower meeting, and one of the growers ... looked down at my red shorts and said, "I don't know about the rest of you growers, but I'm really tired of seeing Lance's little skinny legs and those red shorts."

So I had to create a story to go with that. I said, "I tell you what ... April 1, April 15 is when we have the potential for frost, and that can wipe us all out." I said, "I don't take these off until everybody's got their grape harvest in the fall. It protects us from the rains." Everybody thought that was funny.

Peirano at a glance

Wines produced
Autumn Splash: White Cabernet
Viognier
Chardonnay
The Other: white blend
Muscat Canelli
Cabernet
Merlot
Old Vine Zin
Petite Sirah
Barbera
Malbec
Temperanillo
Shiraz
The Other: red blend
Red Shorts Red: red blend

Tasting room
Where: 21831 N. Highway 99, Acampo
Information: (209) 367-1305
Hours: Thursday through Monday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Peirano trivia
Giacamo Peirano was a horse enthusiast as well as grape grower. According to Peirano's great-grandson, Lance Randolph, it is believed that Peirano owned a horse named "Lodi." Many have stated it was that horse the city of Lodi is named after.

Source: Lance Randolph

I continued wearing my shorts for another three or four years. In '97 it was one of the longest harvests we've ever had. When we're normally done by the end of October, we still had Cabernet grapes left.

So, this drought year, '97 had no rain called for until after Jan. 1. On the day that I decided to start picking Cabernet, I looked out and it was beautiful, but it was cold. There were little clouds sitting out over Mt. Diablo. I didn't think anything about them, so I decided to put my jeans on.

We went out and started harvesting. In about three or four hours, it got really dark and these big black clouds came over Lodi and dumped two inches of rain.

I came back to my office and I looked at my cell phone. I had 136 calls. So I started listening to my missed calls, and they all said the same thing: "Lance, do you have your red shorts on?" "Lance, do you have your red shorts on?"

I put them on immediately. It took about two weeks for (the Cabernet) to dry out and to start harvesting again, which we did. I put my jeans back on the middle of December, and the next day it started raining until February. So now they call me "Mr. Red Shorts."

On the Lodi appellation: We had our appellation granted in 1986. The original guys — Dave Lucas and, I believe, Mike Phillips — were putting Lodi on their labels after we got our appellation. That was important to me. I won't do "California" appellation or other areas. My whole focus as a winery and as a grower is to promote this area and this appellation. It's gotten me in trouble and given me a bad-boy image, but I'm very open and strong about what's going on in the industry.

The learning process: It starts in the vineyard. As a winemaker, you can only do so much with what you get.

As a grower, I have Mother Nature, who every year changes things on me. I can manipulate certain things, and I do. But I can only do so much.

At harvest time, I don't do things by the numbers. A lot of winemakers have a recipe. That goes out the door as soon as Mother Nature decides she's going to change something in the vineyard. I have to adapt to what I get.

His fascination with wine: Every vintage is different. Every palate is different. It's a never-ending exploration into an amazing product. It changes daily.

Wine's spirituality: We're dealing with nature. My philosophy as a grower is that I'm a steward of the land. It's not mine. I'm using it for a period of time, my time on this earth. Somebody has entrusted me with that. So the winemaker is an extension of that. He's given the reaping of the goodness of someone else, that's in his care, to make it to a finished product to the enjoyment of other people.

Growing mistakes: We started deficit irrigation programs way back when to improve the quality of the fruit. I was an advocate of it, so I tried it on my Merlot. What I found is that Merlot is kind of a different animal. Physiologically, it will continue grow with the deficit irrigation ... and it looks very healthy on a reduced amount of water. But the clusters aren't as easy to maintain. The very first time I did this, I deficit-irrigated about 60 percent. The grapes started getting softer and softer and softer. I couldn't figure out why.

Turned out that basically the vine was rotting. Once you poured water back into them, it didn't rehydrate the grapes. The vine shut down. In this one particular year I lost about 70 percent of my crop. So now I tell everybody that I know, "don't do that."

Drinking beer: That's all I drink during harvest season and crush. Starting with harvest season, I immediately go to beer. I used to drink hard liquor, and then I started with the wine, and now all I drink is wine. But as soon as that six weeks comes around, it's beer, and it's the only time I drink beer.

The number of new Lodi wineries: It's great. I do think that they face challenges that I didn't face. When I first started the winery and went out and sold my own wine, in Lodi and Stockton, I could sell everything I produced. The small wineries today are facing a bigger challenge because there are 80 wineries in Lodi. Of course, everybody is making Zinfandel. It's much harder to find 80 Zinfandels at the retail stores. They just won't do it. They've got to diversify, and they are.

How to be a successful winemaker: Keep it clean, keep it clean, keep it clean. Sanitation is the biggest thing (winemakers) can do.

Future of wine in Lodi: I think if the excitement and challenge for the new wineries continues, and Lodi continues to keep focus on its quality and price, and not want to be a Napa or Sonoma, something that people seek out, I think there's great potential.

The fact that I don't like the pretentious — in fact, I'm the anti-pretentious — consumers out there are excited by new appellation, and we still are. We have the potential to be discovered. As long as we have a reason for someone to discover us, whether it be a writer or consumer, and we have what turns them on, I think Lodi has great potential.

I like the undiscovered image, the Red Shorts image.

Reader Feedback

dogbark wrote on Jun 29, 2008 12:19 PM:

" All well and good, but does he support the Grape sox?
One can only hope he does in his heart
but PLEASE not on his ankles; red and purple, good Lord, Howser would come back for another interview. "

Report Abuse

Comments on this story are now closed.

Archives

Story Tools

Indexes