Lodi's Grapes: Zinfandel
Zinfandel
Zinfandel has all the potential to be a high-quality grape but it�s also California�s most common variety and ends up being used to produce a wide range of different wine styles � everything from red, white and rose to fortfied port-style wines, sweet wines and even sparklers. It yields lots of grapes with reliably high sugar and performs best in warm rather than hot areas on well-drained hillsides. Its problems are that it can ripen unevenly and tends to raisin if the conditions are too hot. At its best and grown in the right places, it produces still dry red wine with relatively high alcohol, lots of extract, reasonable acid and bramley fruit flavours that can develop into rich and spicy wine with age. Of European origin, this black grape is rarely seen outside of California and Southern Italy, where it�s been proved to be the country�s Primitivo.
Lodi
Key Grape Variety: Zinfandel
Lodi is an American Viticultural Area at the northern tip of the San Joaquin Valley in California, just east of the San Francisco Bay. Here, at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Lodi has some 800 growers farming 100,000 acres of vines on fertile and diverse soils. The region has a Mediterranean-style climate of warm days and cool evenings and the temperature is moderated by a gentle maritime wind from the Sacramento River Delta. Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and Zinfandel are the big grapes grown here but others are now flourishing, such as Petit Sirah, Cabernet Franc, Viognier, Graciano, Tempranillo and Albarino. However, Zinfandel reigns supreme in Lodi – more of it is grown here than anywhere in the world and Old Vine Zin is a specialty.