About this episode

This episode explores the historic wine region of Lodi, California, covering its history, grape varieties, and current challenges and opportunities.

This week I cover Lodi, California, an historic wine region in the Central Valley of California that has been growing grapes since the 1850s. Located 40 miles /64 km south of Sacramento and 90 miles/ 145 km east of San Francisco, Lodi is an often overlooked wine region, despite the fact that it has been recognized as an American Viticultural Area (AVA) since 1986. Lodi AVAs. Source: Lodi Winegrape Commission Lodi doesn't lack for vineyard land --today the region has 100,000 acres/ 40,500 ha planted to wine grapes, with 750 growers, 80 wineries, and about 65 tasting rooms. 20% of California's total wine is made from Lodi grapes. The AVA also has the highest concentration of old vines in California. Photo: Bechthold Vineyard planted 1886. Credit: Randy Caparoso, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons Although Lodi is known for big, juicy, high alcohol Zinfandel Petite Sirah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and red blends, the real secret is that with a library of 125+ different grapes, Lodi is doing a lot of experimentation with alternative varietals and some of it is pretty cool: it has a few tricks up its sleeve. In this show, I cover all of the details of Lodi - from the history, to the…

People in this episode

Host: Elizabeth Schneider

Topics covered

• Lodi wine region
• grape growing history
• American Viticultural Area
• wine styles
• challenges and opportunities

Keywords

• Lodi
• wine region
• grapes
• Zinfandel
• California wine
• vineyards
• old vines
• wine styles
• AVAs

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Lodi Winegrape Commission

Products: Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Cabernet Sauvignon, red blends

Places: Lodi, California, Central Valley of California, Sacramento, San Francisco, California, Bechthold Vineyard

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