By Ryan Campbell
News-Sentinel staff writer

When farmers brought their crops to Lodi’s first Grape Festival astride their sturdy work horses, their crates were filled with grapes of a different variety.

The Grape Festival of old was not a celebration of premium zinfandel or chardonnay, but of the everyday grape — the Tokay Flame.

With its gnarled branches and stout woody trunk, the vine once dominated Lodi’s agricultural economy. In the 1960s, the majority of vineyards in the area were devoted to growing the Tokay’s sweet fruit for use in brandy, sparkling wine or as table grapes.

With changing times and changing grape varieties, the valued Tokay soon fell out of favor with local growers. Today, only a few vines remain.

In the 1970s, the table grape market was booming and more than 26,000 acres of Tokay vines stretched across the Lodi area, said Mark Chandler, executive director of the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission.

With the advent of new, sweet seedless varieties, growers in Lodi were enduring greater competition in a market they once dominated.

The new grapes were able to hit the market sooner and their lack of troublesome seeds sparked the fancy of a growing number of consumers.

The new grapes were a cross-breed of Thompson seedless grapes and, ironically, Lodi Flame Tokays, Chandler said.

The grapes found Southern California climates more hospitable than those in Lodi and the Tokay’s prevalence declined rapidly through the ‘80s until today, when a mere 1,700 acres is dedicated to the fruit. The Flame Tokays, though better tasting than the new seedless variety, had lost their competitive edge.

At the same time, Local farmers began to see the area for its hospitality toward wine grapes. The climate in Lodi was perfectly suited for the zins and cabs that would replace the preeminent variety, Chandler said.

“Its warm, but not too warm,” he said.

Local grower Bruce Mettler said change is inevitable in the business of farming.

Mettler, whose family has been farming grapes in the area for generations, said he had always grown some wine grapes in addition to the Tokays, but they weren’t the major crop in the area until 20 years ago.

All of his table grape vines have since been pulled up and replaced by more lucrative wine varietals, save for a few vines he keeps for personal use.

Mettler has seen all aspects of grape growing evolve over the years from hand picking to machine labor. The wine grapes and table grapes are grown differently as well.

The Tokays are grown to have more juice with fewer tannins, a coveted component of wine grapes. Tokay growers look for plump and juicy grapes favored for their sweetness, rather than the small yields and thick skins of wine grapes.

As local farmers replaced vines, their farming systems were also updated. They replaced irrigation with new drip systems and brought in labor-saving machinery to harvest the crops, Mettler said.

Though Lodi’s reputation for fine wine improves as the years pass, there is still something to be said for Lodi’s first great grape.

Many growers are hoping the Grape Festival will give some local wine aficionados a chance to remember Tokays gone by.

Home | News | Sports | Business | Features | Opinion | Obituaries |Classifieds | Archives

SUBSCRIBE TO THE LODI NEWS-SENTINEL

Please report any errors, omissions or changes to the Webmaster.