Beyond Zinfandel: Six Mediterranean Varieties to Explore in Lodi

Lodi’s tasting rooms reflect a region that has grown far beyond a single defining grape. Alongside its historic Zinfandel plantings, growers have spent decades working with Mediterranean and Iberian varieties that thrive in the same warm days and cool nights. Albariño from cuttings brought directly from Spain, Cinsaut from century-old vineyards, and Tempranillo that reflects its Old World origins all have a place here.

With more than 130 grape varieties planted across the region, Zinfandel is only part of the story. These six varieties highlight the range of what Lodi is growing today.

Klinker Brick Winery Albariño

Albariño

Native to the Atlantic-facing Rías Baixas region of Spain, Albariño has quietly become one of Lodi's signature whites. Lodi’s warm days and cool nights give the vines what they need to ripen fully while holding onto their hallmark acidity, and the region's deep sandy loams let the variety run with vigor. 

Markus Bokisch planted Lodi's first Albariño in 1995, from cuttings brought directly from Spain. The grape adapted well and Lodi now grows more than a third of all the Albariño in California. The region also has more local producers of Albariño than of Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc.

Lodi Albariño tends light to medium-bodied and dry, built around bright natural acidity. Its flavors are wide ranging: citrus, stone fruit, crisp apple and pear, tropical notes, wildflower or lavender florals, and an occasional saline or mineral lift. 

Albariño in Lodi shows distinct expressions depending on site, from the sandy loams around the city of Lodi to the peat-rich soils of the Delta and the gravelly clay slopes of Clements Hills. Most producers ferment in stainless steel to preserve freshness, though some introduce partial barrel aging for added texture. 

Look for bottlings from Bokisch Vineyards, Harney Lane Vineyards, Klinker Brick Winery, Mettler Family Vineyards, Oak Farm Vineyards, Acquiesce Winery & Vineyards, and Anaya Vineyards.

Peltier Winery Vermentino

Vermentino

Vermentino loves what Lodi offers: warm dry summers, cool nights, and well-drained soils. The thick-skinned, golden-tinted grape ripens fully while holding onto its natural acidity. The result is a wine that combines ripe fruit character with a fresh, structured finish.

Borra Vineyards paved the way for Vermentino in Lodi in 2012, when the late Steve Borra first grafted cuttings onto established Viognier roots in the family's Gill Creek Ranch alongside the Mokelumne River. Markus Niggli (now of Markus Wine Co.), Borra's longtime winemaker, shaped the early bottlings. More growers and wineries followed, drawn to the variety's natural fit with Lodi's climate.

Lodi Vermentino is typically medium-bodied and dry, with bright lemon-lime fruit, a whisper of spring flowers, light herbal notes, and a crisp, minerally finish with just enough phenolic grip to make it interesting at the table.

Find Vermentino wines from producers including Peltier Winery, M2 Wines, Fields Family Wines, Markus Wine Co., Avivo, and more.

Greg Burns of Jessie's Grove Winery in the Bechthold Vineyard

Cinsaut

Lodi’s old-vine heritage extends well beyond Zinfandel, and Cinsaut is one of its most compelling examples.The Bechthold Vineyard, planted in 1886, is Lodi's oldest continuously farmed block of any variety. Cinsaut takes well to Lodi's high-vigor sandy loams, where the vines produce big, plump berries that translate into soft tannin and juicy fruit in the glass. The Mediterranean climate keeps acidity in check, and the grape's natural spice profile comes through clearly without much intervention.

The wines are light to medium-bodied with soft tannin and bright fruit: strawberry, cherry, raspberry, rhubarb, sometimes pomegranate or cranberry, almost always lifted by kitchen spice notes of clove, black pepper, cardamom, occasionally mace or cinnamon. It's the unofficial Thanksgiving wine of the region. 

Style depends on the winemaker. Some lean into carbonic maceration for a Beaujolais-Nouveau-like ease, others ferment with native yeast for a rawer, more layered expression, and a few age the wine longer in neutral oak for a smoother, leaner profile. 

Producers include Michael David Winery, Jessie’s Grove Winery, Estate Crush, Fields Family Wines, Markus Wine Co., Perlegos Family Wines, Lorenza Wine, Marchelle Wines, and Sandlands.

Bishofberger Vineyard Carignane

Carignane

Carignane has been growing in Lodi for well over a century, planted in head-trained, own-rooted blocks during the era when growers across the region were experimenting with the wide range of Mediterranean varieties their climate could support. The grape thrives in Lodi's warm days, cool nights, and sandy loam soils, the same kind of conditions found across its historic range from Spain to southern France.

What sets Lodi apart is what was kept in the ground. While most of California pulled out Carignane in favor of more fashionable varieties, Lodi growers held onto the heritage plantings, and those vines, now 100, 120, even 135 years old, are producing some of the most compelling bottlings in the country.

Expect deep color, lush black cherry and berry fruit, floral notes that lean toward violet or rose petal, balanced tannin, and zesty natural acidity. 

Vine age plays a real role here. Older vines yield smaller crops with more concentration and depth, and the difference between a 50-year-old block and a 120-year-old block can show up in the glass. 

Some of Lodi's most notable Carignane plantings include:

• Royal Tee Vineyard field mix (1889), farmed by Jessie's Grove Winery
• Spenker Ranch Block 4 Vineyard (1900), farmed by Jessie's Grove Winery
• Rauser Vineyard (1909), farmed by Klinker Brick
• Bishofberger Vineyard (1936), source for Michael David

Other producers to look for include Dent de Lion Wines, Markus Wine Co. and Perlegos Family Wines.

Prie Mourvèdre

Mourvèdre

Mourvèdre is a Mediterranean grape that wants heat, rocks, and a long growing season. Lodi's Sloughhouse AVA, the region's northernmost and warmest appellation, delivers all three. The rocky river-rock and clay hillsides stress the vines just enough, daytime sun pushes the thick-skinned grape to full ripeness, and the cool maritime air that shapes Lodi’s climate as a whole pulls nighttime temperatures down enough to lock in structure.

The result is a deeper, burlier expression of a grape that elsewhere goes by Monastrell in Spain or Mataró among California's early Portuguese growers.

Lodi’s Mourvèdre is full-bodied and densely pigmented, violet-ruby in color, with the variety's signature mix of dark berry fruit, cassis, and earthy, almost wild-mushroom notes. Tannin gives grip, but the wine doesn't drink heavy, and there's a brightness to the fruit that keeps it lively. Style depends on site and approach: rockier hillside fruit gives weight and depth, while lower-elevation plantings tend toward lighter, more herbal-floral expressions. 

Bokisch Vineyards' Sheldon Hills bottling, labeled Monastrell, is a popular pick. You’ll also find varietal bottlings from Drava Wines, Oak Farm, and Prie, and will see Mourvèdre as a key player in Lodi Rhône-style GSM red blends from producers including Mettler Family Vineyards, Mikami Vineyards, and Harmony Wynelands.

Tempranillo grapes

Tempranillo

Spain's most widely planted red has found a distinct expression in Lodi. The climate mirrors the conditions of Spain's Tempranillo heartland in Rioja and Ribera del Duero, and the variety ripens cleanly here several weeks ahead of Cabernet Sauvignon. The grape was first established here in 1996, grafted onto vines by Markus Bokisch with cuttings brought from Spain, and it took to Lodi's sandy loams and gravelly clay slopes from the start. Today Lodi grows roughly 13% of California's Tempranillo, with more than a dozen wineries producing varietal bottlings.

In the glass, Lodi Tempranillo is medium to full-bodied with soft, rounded tannin and a distinctive red-fruit profile: red and black cherry, raspberry, strawberry, pomegranate, occasionally red licorice, almost always with a gentle earthiness suggesting loam or dried leaves. 

The local style tends lighter and brighter than the Tempranillos of Rioja, where deep fruit and long oak aging shape many of the region's best-known wines. Lodi producers tend toward a supple, food-friendly approach, though some are now experimenting with longer barrel aging for added structure and complexity.

Producers include Bokisch Vineyards, Heritage Oak Winery, Fields Family Wines, Anaya Vineyards, Drava Wines, Twisted Barrel Winery, Jeremy Wine Co., and Van Ruiten Family Winery. 

Plan Your Tasting

Six varieties barely scratches the surface. Lodi's depth comes from generations of growers willing to plant something different and stick with it long enough to see what the land could do with it. The reward for visitors is a tasting room culture where the next pour might be a grape you've never heard of, made by someone whose family has farmed it for decades. Most Lodi tasting rooms welcome walk-ins, with average tasting fees around $16. 

Lodi Wine Visitor Center

Open daily 10:00am–5:00pm, the Lodi Wine Visitor Center pours wines from across the region and is one of the best places to taste a wide range of these varieties side by side.