Fire Pit Friday at Abundance Vineyards

I was invited to attend the last Fire Pit Friday of the season at Abundance Vineyards in Lodi, CA back in March. My girlfriend Wendy introduced my girlfriend Kristen to Fire Pit Fridays and she was hooked. I tagged along with their crew and will definitely be attending next season. With the higher temps, they have live music – sans fire pits, known as their Summer Music Series (1-2 Saturdays a month) with added food trucks. I’m looking forward to going to a few of those as well. The next one is this Saturday and features a local band, The Earth Tones, a blend of soul, pop, blues, R&B and reggae. The Street Eats food truck will be on-site and just like with Fire Pit Fridays, Abundance Vineyards wine is available for purchase by the glass or bottle. Wine club members are free, general admission is $10. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with no reserved seating.

Abundance Vineyards

According to their website, Abundance Vineyards is a family winery with deep roots in the Lodi region that can be traced back to the planting of Carginane and Old Vine Zinfandel grapevines by two brothers in the 1960s. Check out their story here.

Abundance Vineyards

Google maps sent me on a bit of an adventure because of an accident on 99. I really was blown away as I drove by winery after winery with fields of grapes as far as my eyes could see. I always think of Napa when I want to go wine tasting, that is changing after Wendy has shown me the light. 

Abundance Vineyards

The girls had already laid claim to this awesome fire pit. It’s bring your own eats and non-club members pay a $5 entry fee with wine available to purchase by the glass or bottle. Club members attend for free. 

Abundance Vineyards

I really love Moscato and wanted to give the 2014 Moscato, Lake County a try. I liked the orange blossom, pear and citrus fruity flavors and felt it was very reasonable at $15/bottle. 

Abundance Vineyards Fire Pit Fridays

Wendy and fam enjoyed the 2014 Old Vine Zinfandel – $25/bottle. Kristen went with sparkling wine, trying several different flavors.

Abundance Vineyards Fire Pit

Live music was provided by The Box, a local Lodi band. Lead singer David Atencio was great with the crowd. He made his way over to us and played a little “Name That Tune” – It took us a while, but we did guess right with Otis Redding’s – “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay”.

Abundance Vineyards - Little Square Box

They played a little bit of everything from Jack Johnson to the Dukes of Hazard theme song. One thing they shared with the crowd – David’s god-daughter convinced him to write a song (“Good Day,” a song about Lodi ) – so he did and sent it into Good Day Sacramento and they used it as their theme song. It was fun to sing along to all of their songs and others got up and danced. We were too busy enjoying our wine, conversation and snacks.

I went with my “go to” antipasto kabobs. This time around it was cheese tortellini, black and green olives, spinach, salami and pepperoni. We had all kinds of good eats – jalapeño poppers, 7-layer dip, chips, cheese and crackers, parmesan crisps and lemon bars. We know how to roll. 

It was a fun evening with great friends. So relaxing and I was able to bring the fire pit home with me via a smokey purse and clothes. Ha-ha. Already looking forward to my next adventure in Lodi, Woodbridge and surrounding areas. 

Thanks Wendy and Kristen for including me!

 

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