Lodi

The wine region of Lodi is located in Northern California just east of the Bay Area and south of Sacramento. It boasts around 100,000 acres of vineyards including plantings of over 120 different grape varietals. Although Lodi has historically been known to produce unexciting bulk wine there have more recently been producers taking strides towards high quality wine production. In fact, Lodi was coined "Wine Region of the Year" in 2015 by Wine Enthusiast largely because of this newfound pursuit of quality. Old vine Zinfandel is a specialty of here and was essentially responsible for putting Lodi on the map. Pre-prohibition Zinfandel vineyards are not uncommon making Lodi one of the premier regions for old-vine Zin in the state of California. Warm days and cool nights help to ripen grapes while maintaining acidity, and sandy loam soils help control vigor to create powerful, concentrated wine. For those seeking high-quality wine without the premium price tag Lodi is a region to keep an eye on.