Slash Price $27 vs Winery reference $40 and market reference around $41.
1938 Church Block • Mokelumne River • Lodi
Ancient-vine Lodi with a velvet hammer finish.
Four reasons collectors move on this allocation.
This is not generic “old vine” copy pasted onto a label. The Church points to a specific place: a tiny, late-1930s Church Block in Mokelumne River, farmed in the Lodi tradition of deep roots, sandy soils, and patient hands.
1. The site has a memory.
Church Block is a small heritage planting rooted in the sandy soils south of Lodi — the kind of site that gives fruit density without stripping away freshness.
2. The vintage lands with power.
The 2022 carries dark fruit and savory depth, but the lift is what makes it work: tart fruit, orange zest, and enough grip to keep the bottle dinner-ready.
3. Niggli is a blender with restraint.
Markus Niggli’s strength is letting old blocks speak while shaping the wine with European balance — concentration, spice, and texture without simple sweetness.
4. The cellar path is real.
Open now with a decant for grilled meats and mushroom dishes, or let the savory side deepen over the next several years.
At $27, this is a serious old-vine Lodi acquisition: specific site, real critic support, and enough structure to make six bottles feel practical instead of excessive.
The allocation opportunity
- Old-vine Church Block identity gives this bottle a story collectors can actually explain at the table.
- $27 creates a clean value spread against the $40 winery price and roughly $41 market reference.
- The style is generous enough for tonight, but savory and structured enough to reward patience.
One verified score. One major report signal.
The Wine Enthusiast score gives the bottle a clean critical anchor. James Suckling’s Lodi coverage adds context: this was not a sleepy regional mention — The Church stood out in a report focused on the new energy in Lodi reds.
The value spread is simple.
Slash Price $27 vs Wine-Searcher / market reference ≈ $41 vs winery reference $40. That puts the six-bottle allocation at $162, with enough savings to make this feel like the right moment to stock the cellar door, not just try one bottle.
About 32% below the $40 winery reference.
About 34% below the roughly $41 market reference.
Dark fruit, savory grip, and enough lift to stay alive at the table.
Black cherry, red plum, blackberry, and a darker mulberry note that feels old-vine rather than jammy.
Medium-full to full in feel, with grippy tannins and bright tart-fruit energy keeping the wine focused.
Supportive rather than flashy; the wine’s point is fruit, spice, earth, and block character.
Savory herbs, mushroom, orange zest, and dark fruit carry into a firm, food-loving close.
Best from now through 2031. Open early for fruit; hold for more earth and spice.
60–64°F. Decant 30–45 minutes if opening now, especially with richer braised dishes.
Cellar Horizon
Fruit is vivid and generous. Decant for grilled lamb, mushroom ragù, and herb-driven dishes.
The savory side should stretch: dried herbs, earth, darker spice, and softer tannin edges.
For collectors who enjoy tertiary tones. Expect more leather, dried fruit, and vineyard earth than primary plushness.
Old blocks first. Cellar choices second.
The core story is the Church Block itself: head-trained old vines associated with Carignane, Petite Sirah, and Alicante Bouschet in deep sandy Mokelumne River soil. That combination matters because it gives the wine color, savory muscle, and a kind of bright-tannin snap that makes it more useful with food than a simple, sweet-fruited red.
Markus Niggli’s style is not to sand the place down into a generic luxury red. The better read is balance: old-vine concentration, native-block character, and enough restraint to let dark fruit, herb, mushroom, and orange-zest lift show through.
The Church is a Lodi memory, not just a label.
Lodi has plenty of old vines. The difference here is specificity. The Church Block is tied to the Borra family’s vineyard history and to a style of farming where every vine feels watched, known, and adjusted by hand over decades.
Markus Niggli, Swiss-born and deeply rooted in Lodi now, has made a reputation by treating these old family blocks as living material. The wines are not trying to imitate Napa weight or Rhône formality. They are trying to show why Mokelumne River’s old vines deserve a place in serious cellars.
That is the quiet luxury of this bottle: not polish for polish’s sake, but the feeling that a nearly century-old block still has something specific to say.
Pair it where savory richness meets bright fruit.
The Church wants food with browned edges, herbs, mushrooms, and slow-cooked depth. The wine’s dark fruit and grippy tannin can handle richness, while the tart-fruit lift keeps the meal from feeling heavy.
Serve at 60–64°F. Give it 30–45 minutes in a decanter for rosemary lamb chops or mushroom ragù. The pairings lean into the wine’s dark-fruited core, savory herb notes, and firm old-vine grip.
Secure the six-pack for the nights that deserve a bottle with a story.
Decant for rosemary lamb chops, mushroom ragù, and anything with browned edges, herbs, and savory depth.
Hold a few bottles and let the savory, earthy side take the lead over the next several years.
A bottle for someone who appreciates old vines, small producers, and wines with a real sense of place.
