![(Shutterstock) (Shutterstock)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/chocolate.ss_.jpg?1577874530)
Truffle Troubles
A looming global chocolate shortage threatens to damper the holiday season, but local businesses have yet to feel effects
A global cocoa shortage threatens to put a damper on the good tidings and cheer, as worldwide demand for chocolate outstrips the waning production in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, which produce more than 70 percent of the world’s mass-market cocoa.
![](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/1214_dept_acuity_jc_1.jpg?1577874530)
Food for Thought
Acuity with Chris Jarosz
Chris Jarosz is the founder of Broderick Restaurant & Bar and co-owner of the Wicked ‘Wich food truck. This year, he also took on the overhaul of midtown’s Capital Dime restaurant and its sister eatery, Trick Pony, which have been folded into the Broderick Roadhouse family of restaurants. It’s not all glamorous, but it is pretty tasty.
![(Shutterstock) (Shutterstock)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/1214_blog_urban_ag_lead_ss.png?1577874530)
The Battle for Urban Ag
Community organizers fight for rights to sell the food you grow
In a county where 218,510 residents are food insecure (meaning they don’t know where their next meal will come from), and where a local food bank will distribute groceries to 40,000 individuals each month, food activists are continually innovating ways to break the cycle of poverty—for good. The solution is actually under our feet: the soil.
![Stuart Spencer is the owner of St. Amant Winery in Lodi. He and eleven other local winemakers have joined together to launch the Lodi Native Project, an effort to produce all-natural Zinfandels that highlight the truest flavors of Lodi’s oldest vineyards.
Stuart Spencer is the owner of St. Amant Winery in Lodi. He and eleven other local winemakers have joined together to launch the Lodi Native Project, an effort to produce all-natural Zinfandels that highlight the truest flavors of Lodi’s oldest vineyards.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/1214_ft_wine_lead_kj_0.jpg?1577874530)
Going Native
A breakdown of the Lodi wine scene
Zinfandel from Lodi’s Mokelumne River American Viticultural Area comes in two main styles: west side and east side. West-side vineyards, with their shallower soil, have lusher growth and tend to be earthier or loamier, sometimes pungently compost-like. East-side vineyards have a lower water table, producing smaller clusters and smaller fruit, which generally have more color, tannin and acidity.
![(Shutterstock) (Shutterstock)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/1214_ft_wine_sb_lead_ss.jpg?1577874530)
Taste the Vineyard
Lodi vintners are taking a minimalist approach to create all-natural Zinfandels from heritage vines
You might say the old grapevines look otherworldly. With their contorted limbs and thick trunks, these Zinfandel vines look more like squat alien-trees, twisting up out of a sandy 3-acre spit of land in southwest Lodi. “Look how this vine is growing here,” says Stuart Spencer, owner of St. Amant Winery. He’s standing in the dirt at nearby Marian’s Vineyard, pointing to a vine with a hole as big as a fist. “The vine just splits over time.”
![(shutterstock) (shutterstock)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/1214_blog_wine_lead_ss_0.png?1577874530)
Wine Tunes
Family-owned and operated Harmony Wynelands in Lodi is musically motivated
The wine tasting room at Harmony Wynelands in Lodi was built with a far different purpose. Bob Hartzell, an aficionado of old-fashioned theater pipe organs and former president of the California Winegrape Growers Association, built the hall to house his pride and joy – a 1921 organ that was once installed in the Castro Theatre in San Francisco. The room’s acoustics are specially designed to show off the organ’s commanding sound.
![](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/1214_dept_sb_taste_jc.jpg?1577874530)
Shaken or Stirred?
Cocktails with local flair
Bartenders around the region have provided us with their best bets for holiday cocktails featuring gin, rye and bourbon — spirits that are now being produced locally by craft distillers.
![(Shutterstock) (Shutterstock)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/1214_dept_taste_ss.jpg?1577874530)
Drop by Drop
After 81 years, microdistillers are gaining ground against Prohibition-era laws
In a makeshift distillery tucked into a Rancho Cordova business park, Greg Baughman mashes and ferments batches of his Wheel House American Dry Gin using a still he designed and built himself, a gleaming vision of stainless steel and copper. But actually sell you a bottle? For that he needs to hire a middleman due to regulatory hurdles dating back to Prohibition.
![Designed by John Vierra, m2 Vintner’s new indoor/outdoor structure offers patrons the chance to relish the flavors of wine and views of the vineyard simultaneously. Designed by John Vierra, m2 Vintner’s new indoor/outdoor structure offers patrons the chance to relish the flavors of wine and views of the vineyard simultaneously.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/1114_dept_taste_lead_jc.jpg?1577874530)
A Mature Palate
m2 Vintners has a laid-back vibe and high-end digs, reflecting the new image of Lodi wines
At the crush pad of a custom-built winery, the 6-foot-4 winemaker in tie-dye socks shuts off the forklift, realizing he missed a call.
“I didn’t hear my phone ring,” says Layne Montgomery, 55, general manager and founding partner of m2 Vintners Inc. in Acampo.
“It’s harvest,” jests one of his volunteers. “Who has time for a phone?”
![(shutterstock) (shutterstock)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/slowfood_0.jpg?1577874531)
Speed Isn’t Everything
Snail of Approval Awards celebrate local business and the slow food movement
Sacramento is America’s Farm-to Fork capital for many reasons: fresh, seasonal food available year-round, almost 8,000 acres of boutique farms, and the largest Certified Farmers’ Market in California. Last month, Slow Food Sacramento recognized seven local businesses for their commitment to providing products and services that use regionally grown seasonal produce, honoring them with the Snail of Approval award and decal.