INDEX OF STORIES

» Welcome to Lodi
» City offers a world of charms, attractions
» When you think Lodi, think of wine
» For wine lovers, Lodi’s charms are many
» Wine tasting: Basic rules every beginner must know
» Lodi-area wineries
» Lodi’s gateways to adventure await
» Love to tour and eat? In Lodi, you can do both
» What to see, fly, do
» Lodi — a nice, clean place to stay
» A tourist’s eye view of Lodi
» Festivals, music events fill Lodi’s calendar
» Local museums offer something for everyone
» For the Lodi-bound tourist, there are some must-sees
» Lodi can satisfy everyone’s appetite
» Lodi: The place to breakout — outdoors that is
» Grab your clubs and come out swinging
» Looking high, low for that something very old

By Brian Ross
News-Sentinel staff writer

Wine grapes began to be cultivated as an important crop in the Lodi area in the 1850s, predominating the early days were rich, sweet Muscat dessert wines and hearty full-bodied zinfandels popular among the many wine-drinking immigrants of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

And while Lodi may long have been known as the birthplace of many an outstanding zinfandel, recent years have seen Lodi wineries turning out a great and diverse array of varietals of exceptional quality.

Wine remains Lodi’s principal agricultural-based industry which, during the last decade, has seen its products win countless medals at wine shows and the praise of wine authorities around the world. (Jerry R. Tyson/News-Sentinel)

Such names as syrah, mouvedre, Roussanne and viognier — once all but unheard of in these parts — have been winning recognition, along with a surprising number of medals, at some of the most prestigious wine competitions held in the state.

The real push into the production of premium varietal wines came in the 1970s, when Lodi master vineyardist Jim Kissler convinced major growers like John Kautz, Jerry Fry and John Ledbetter that Lodi was a suitable location for growing premium varietals — a notion which defied the conventional wisdom of the day, said Mark Chandler, executive director of the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission.

A host of important technical advancements also helped speed Lodi along the road to quality, said Chandler, who explained that the area was among the first to employ a mechanical grape harvester.

“There have been great wines in Lodi for a long time, but it has only been relatively recently that we have been in the spotlight for our quality,” Chandler said.

There are about 125 labels now proudly proclaim to have been made using Lodi fruit — and at least 25 additional bottlings use Lodi grapes without advertising the fact, he said.

Early Lodi varietal winemaking pioneers include David Lucas, of Lucas Winery fame, and the Cotta brothers — Joe and Steve — who followed soon after Lucas with quality offerings from Las Vinas Winery.

A series of small, high-quality wineries were to follow in the 1980s and 1990s, producing wines of surprisingly high quality at budget prices.

One prime example of this relatively new phenomenon is Michael-David Vineyards.

A small but prodigious family-owned operation, Michael-David produces more than a dozen different varietals, which collectively hauled in an astounding 19 medals in 2002 at the vaunted San Francisco Chronicle Wine Show.

The growing Lodi winery’s ‘99 syrah also garnered 94 points and a gold medal — along with the “Best of Class” designation at the 2001 California State Fair wine competition.

This is somewhat emblematic of the emerging but largely undiscovered new Lodi, where vision, creativity and a dogged obsession with quality are regarded as the rule rather than the exception among the area’s mushrooming number of small wineries.

Many of Lodi’s legion of highly skilled winemakers are being drawn to the area from Napa and Sonoma by the area’s relatively low land costs and abundance of high quality grapes, like the expansion of the upscale Cosentino Winery into the Lodi Appellation.

Others, however, have been doing their own unique thing here for quite some time.

St. Amant Winery owner/winemaker Tim Spencer was among the first to find a niche in the trend-sensitive wine market — making port and a variety of Rhone and Mediterranean varietals — which he says found the climate and soil at his vineyards in Lodi and the foothills to be very agreeable.

“It’s important that you have a niche that separates you from everyone else,” Spencer said.

“And I think it’s even more important to grow something that does well where you are than try to compete with people who make what everyone else is making,” he added.

Others, like Lodi vineyardist and renowned winemaker Richard Ripken, have been experimenting with different grape trials here for three decades.

In addition to maintaining one of the largest rootstock nurseries in the area, Ripken, a dedicated grape farmer and wine hobbyist raises a multitude of varietals on about 350 acres along Highway 12.

Chandler said there are any number of varietals which are capable of thriving in Lodi, which, owing to the San Joaquin Delta, enjoys many of the same maritime climatic influences as areas like Napa.

All of this may at times be obscured by the fact that Lodi’s vineyards are also the backbone of California’s prized wine industry, producing enormous quantities of popular wine grapes like chardonnay, cabernet, white and red zinfandel and merlot.

Chandler says that the future likely holds bigger harvests of the Rhone varietals like syrah, viognier and Roussanne, as they continue their upward trend in popularity.

One of the biggest signs that the area is now arriving as a destination for those seeking unique new wine bottlings has been the rapid growth in the number of guests at the Lodi Wine and Visitor Center, Chandler said.

“Right now, we have about 2,500 visitors a month. In the next 18 months, we’re predicting that number will double,” he said.