Striking the mother lode in Lodi, Calif.
LODI, Calif. — The afternoon sun is golden and warm, belying a morning that started off with touches of fog and low clouds sweeping in from the Pacific.
The fall weather is near-perfect with little humidity and brilliant blue skies. It seems that I’ve found the ideal time to visit Lodi. In other words, when it comes to travel, I’ve struck the Mother Lodi.
Lodi is one of those off-themap destinations that’s not on everyone’s radar. It’s in California’s Central Valley and ringed on the north by Sacramento, on the south by Stockton, on the west by Oakland and San Francisco, and then on the east by Stanislaus National Forest and just beyond that Yosemite.
Lodi is definitely California wine country, just on a different level from Napa and Sonoma that lie a couple of hours’ drive to the northwest.
One of the hallmarks of the Central Valley is its low, flat and ridiculously fertile soil that’s ideal for growing grapes. And Lodi, on the northern loop of San Joaquin County — the locals just call it Sanwa, as if it’s one word — is drenched in sunlight. Lodi’s 110,000 acres of wine grapes love the sun.
To complement those vineyards flowing with wine grapes, vast orchards of fruit and nut trees — the rich-tasting ones such as cherries, almonds, walnuts, peaches, apples and olives — are honeycombed throughout the Lodi countryside. During harvest season, think of it as sort of a still life painting come to life.
The Lodi Appellation was recognized in 1986, although winemaking goes back to way before that. Today more than 80 wineries dot the region, producing such divine treasures of zinfandel, crisp whites and bold reds including cabernet sauvignon, merlot and even pinotage, South Africa’s signature grape that managed to find its way to California. With about 70 tasting rooms scattered around Lodi, in the small downtown proper and also at most of the vineyards, a glass of wine is never far away.
The Lucas Winery is one of the very first of the small wineries in Lodi. The Michael David Winery, the brainchild behind Seven Deadly Zins, the No. 1 selling zinfandel in the U.S. since 2015, originated in 1974 as a produce market although the family has been farming Lodi land for generations. Klinker Brick Winery also features old vine zins, and its unusual name originates for the “clink!” sound when bricks are, well, clinked together.
I also stopped in at Mettler Family Vineyard, where I found the pinotage. Long my favorite wine after tasting and falling in vino love with it in South Africa, I had no idea it was grown in the U.S. until I came to Lodi.
For the next day or so, I visited several more wineries, among them Harney Lane Winery that includes in its diverse portfolio petite syrah, tempranillo and albarino. I also sampled the grape at Bokisch Vineyards, best known for Spanish varietal wines, and then again at the newer, snazzy m2 Wines, where the focus is on artisanal wines.
To round out the wineries, I also went to Acquiesce Winery and Vineyards for a taste of their ambrosial Rhone-inspired wines, followed by St. Jorge Winery, a gorgeous Mediterranean-style estate. My final wine stop was
Oak Farm Vineyards, framed in a lovely setting by century-old oaks and highlighted by an 1876 Colonial Revival-style home and historic barn.
The wine road less traveled begins in Lodi, and if you’re undeterred by the fact that it’s off the beaten path and may take a little longer to get there, it can certainly end with lots of swirling, sniffing and sipping of some really great grape.