March 10, 2021
The Lodi Wine Region, located in the heart of the vast Central Valley that produces the majority of California’s bulk wine, has slowly been differentiating itself by producing some extremely elegant high-quality wines from ancient vineyards. Indeed, Lodi has the largest number of century old vineyards of any wine region in America.
“Many wine regions pulled out their old vines years ago,” explains Randy Caparoso, with the Lodi Winegrape Commission, “because as they age, they produce less wine. On the flipside, however, they often produce more intense complex flavors with beautiful natural balance of acidity, fruit, and tannins. Fortunately, Lodi was founded by many German and Italian families returning from the Gold Rush, and they planted vineyards in the 1880’s through the early 1900’s, and decided to keep them in the family.”
Photo credit: Pexels / Tim Mossholder.
News from California throughout the 2020 harvest season was overwhelmingly focused on devastation: record heat waves, uncontrollable wildfires, burned vineyards, smoke tainted wines, and shuttered tasting rooms.
The worst fire season on record will cause most people to remember 2020 as the Golden State’s worst harvest on record.
But in reality, the percentage of grapes impacted by smoke taint across the states was lower than many vintners expected, with entire swaths of California wine country unaffected, according to early lab tests conducted by wineries. Early data released by the USDA reveals the state’s grape harvest was down by 13.9 percent in 2020, but most of that loss was due to naturally occurring lower yields, not smoke damage.
For many of us, winter means a blazing fireplace and Sunday stews. Those of us planning to be in warmer climates, it’s time for a jacket and maybe a brisk walk in the morning. No matter where you live, winter is the season to move to heartier red wines.