skip to main content

Lodi Winegrape Commission

  • Home
  • Wineries
  • About
  • Visit
    • Visitor Center
  • Club
  • Events
  • Store
    • LODI RULES Sustainable Certification
    • White Wines
    • Rosé Wines
    • Red Wines
    • Sparkling/Dessert Wines
    • Old Vine Wines
    • Merchandise
  • Blog
TOP

Letters from Lodi

An insightful and objective look at viticulture and winemaking from the Lodi
Appellation and the growers and vintners behind these crafts. Told from the
perspective of multi-award winning wine journalist, Randy Caparoso.

Randy Caparoso
 
August 10, 2020 | Randy Caparoso

Strong case for Lodi terroir (part 2) — the climatic factors

The same deep (50 to 90-ft.), rich sandy loam soil hospitable to deeply rooted valley oaks endemic to the Mokelumne-Cosumnes River Watershed (depicted here in the 32-acre grove preserved by the Spenker family of Lodi's Jessie's Grove estate) constitutes the terroir that made own-rooted European grapevines so easy to grow by Lodi's pioneering farmers in the mid-1800s

Natural Environment Conducive to Grapes

Part 2 of our discourse on Lodi terroir is for the technically minded wine geeks out there, looking for the no frills answer to the question: What are the physical factors of the Lodi AVA that have a direct impact on the "sense of place" found in more and more of Lodi's handcraft style wines, strongly influencing the decisions made by growers and vintners?

The land occupied by the Lodi appellation, of course, existed long before trappers encountered the native Plains Miwok tribe in the early 1800s; and before the first enterprising farmers of European descent began putting down roots towards the end of the 1840s. 

1908 colorized postcard of "Wild Grape Vines" in Lodi, California — the reason why the Calaveras River was originally called "Wine Creek by early 1800s trappers

At the time, this unspoilt part of California's Central Valley — sandwiched between the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta directly to the west and the lower foothills of Sierra Nevada to the east — was a lush riparian environment, dominated by waterways fed by snowmelt and creeks in Sierra Nevada: the Cosumnes River and Deer Creek to the north, the Calaveras River and Bear Creek skirting the south, and the Mokelumne River and Dry Creek rolling through the middle. 

During the early 1800s this watershed area was teeming with fish, beaver and waterbirds, grasslands on flat plains studded by valley oaks and blue oaks on terraces and lower lying hills, and home to squirrels, gophers, elk, black and grizzly bears, and the proverbial deer and antelope at play. 

Low lying hilly grassland and shallower rooted blue oaks in Lodi's Clements Hills AVA — a contemporary glimpse of the landscape that Lodi's earliest settlers of European descent probably found on the eastern sides of the area during the late 1840s

According to Ralph A. Clark's Lodi, grapes were part of the original landscape; albeit native varieties, "growing wild dangling from the trees along the riverbanks." In fact, the nearby Calaveras River was originally called "Wine Creek" by early trappers, due to the abundance of wild vines — something memorialized in nineteenth century postcards, and which you can still see today, growing along the banks of the rivers in the Lodi area. 

This was the natural environment that farmers found so conducive to grapes of European or Mediterranean origin that it was a pink skinned grape called Flame Tokay that primarily accounted for the booming economy of the City of Lodi when it was incorporated in 1906. Wine grapes like Zinfandel and Alicante Bouschet enriched numerous Prohibition era grape packers such Cesare Mondavi (father of Robert and Peter Mondavi), and eventually made Lodi what it is today: easily America’s largest wine region in terms of both acreage and annual tonnage — hovering just over 100,000 acres of wine grapes, which is approximately as much as all of Napa Valley and Sonoma County combined, or all of Washington and Oregon plus another 30%. 

"Delta Breeze" Mediterranean Climate

The driving factor that makes Lodi so conducive to grapes is, as with all classic wine regions of the world, its natural terroir. In the case of Lodi, this is defined by a Mediterranean climate: ultra-bright, dry, warm growing seasons moderated by chilly spring, summer and early autumn nights dipping into the 40°s or lower 50°s — conditions naturally conducive to the over 100 varieties of commercially grown Vitis vinifera (the family of wine grapes that originated in the Mediterranean Basin) now grown in the region. 

The Lodi settlement, in fact was originally called Mokelumne, after the river (mokul is a corruption of the Miwok word for river, and umne means "people of") physically defining the watershed. The name was changed to Lodi in 1874 in order to avoid confusion with nearby communities with similar names (Mokelumne Hill and Mokelumne City).

Impact of Delta and river waters on Lodi AVA terroir (U.S. Geological Survey map showing Sierra Nevada sources of rivers and creeks)

The Lodi area rivers and creeks drain into the San Joaquin River when it dips into the lower elevation Delta area. The San Joaquin River meets with the Sacramento River just east of Suisun Bay, connecting with the Carquinez Strait draining into San Pablo Bay (the northern extension of San Francisco Bay).

The entire Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta dates back approximately 10,000 years, when seismic activity drained the inland sea that once covered the entire San Joaquin Valley into the Pacific Ocean. With most of its elevation lying at least 15-ft. below sea level, the Delta area is the only break in the entire California Coast Ranges — thus exerting a huge impact on the climate of the farmlands surrounding the City of Lodi directly to the east.

San Joaquin Valley Basin, once covered by an inland sea that drained through the gap created in the San Francisco Bay area by seismic activitity

Hence, the Lodi AVA is defined by its “Delta Breeze” climate, giving the appellation a Mediterranean climate that is very similar to much of the coastal wine regions of California (Sonoma County, Napa Valley, Livermore Valley, Paso Robles as well as much of Santa Barbara County are all classified as Mediterranean climate zones).

In the following 100-year snapshot, Lodi's average diurnal swings are compared to that of five other major California wine regions. While the highs and lows in Lodi are marginally higher than in regions closer to the coast, the appellations bearing the closest resemblance in terms of growing season temperatures are Napa Valley and Sonoma County:

Temperatures alone, of course, do not describe any wine region's climate. In the winegrowing industry, the Winkler scale of growing degree-days is probably the most constantly cited way of defining climate zones. In his April 2015 paper entitled Spatial Analysis of Climate in Winegrape Growing Regions in the Western United States, Linfield University Research Climatologist Gregory V. Jones demonstrated the minimum as well as maximum degree-day readings of West Coast wine regions. 

A snapshot of the GDD (i.e. Growing Degree Days) of some of the regions analyzed in Jones' study:

In Jones’ index, Lodi is predominantly and consistently a Region IV, while falling in the lower range of Region V just 22% of the time, despite being such a large winegrowing region.

By comparison, Napa Valley’s 43,000 or so acres of wine grapes are planted in no less than five different degree-day classifications, ranging from cool Region I to hot Region V. Napa Valley is a prime example of what Jones calls a “spatial variability.” Writes Jones, the Napa Valley AVA "reveals that it is predominantly Region III (56%) and Region IV (30%).” Jones’ research also finds that Paso Robles (about 40,000 planted acres) “spans three Winkler regions... Region II, III and IV (14%, 49% and 37% respectively).” In comparison, the much warmer Madera AVA (about 38,000 acres of wine grapes) “is largely a hot climate type... a Region V in GDD (100%).”

Hence, in the original Federal Register document submitted for the Lodi AVA in 1982, a summary of the region's major climatic influence is borrowed from a 1937 USDA Soil Survey of the Lodi Area, saying: "Owing to its location opposite the wind gap leading inland from the Golden Gate, the range in temperature is narrower than in more northerly and southerly parts of the great valley (i.e. Central Valley)."

To be continued: Strong case for Lodi terroir (part 3) - soil and topography

Colorized early 1900s photo of harvesting of Lodi's Flame Tokay grape, the economic backbone of the region during the turn of the last century

 

Tweet
Pin It

Comments

Commenting has been turned off.
Blog Search
Recent Posts
  • January 19, 2021
    French students break down Lodi winegrowing, marketing, and its Alta Mesa appellation
  • January 13, 2021
    Alternative style Lodi wines reflecting the wave of the future — part 2, new interpretations of heritage grapes
  • January 11, 2021
    Alternative style Lodi wines reflecting the wave of the future — part 1, an unfamiliar white and red
  • January 5, 2021
    Discerning wines of the immediate future through what we know about the past and what's going in Lodi
  • December 29, 2020
    Lodi 2020: The year in pictures
  • December 27, 2020
    The small steps of Lodi growers led to giant leaps for Lodi wine country
  • December 22, 2020
    Looking on the bright side of fading old vine plantings in Lodi
  • December 17, 2020
    Our list of nice Lodi reds, rosés and fortified dessert wines for Christmas gifting and sipping
  • December 15, 2020
    A Lodi white makes the world's Top 100 list, and other Lodi whites for Christmas shopping and sipping
  • December 9, 2020
    The 1980s and 1990s — start of Lodi wine country's modern era
Our Writers
  • Randy Caparoso (804)
Blog Archives
2021
  • January 2021 (4)
2020
  • December 2020 (7)
  • November 2020 (7)
  • October 2020 (6)
  • September 2020 (7)
  • August 2020 (7)
  • July 2020 (7)
  • June 2020 (8)
  • May 2020 (8)
  • April 2020 (8)
  • March 2020 (8)
  • February 2020 (6)
  • January 2020 (6)
2019
  • December 2019 (7)
  • November 2019 (6)
  • October 2019 (6)
  • September 2019 (5)
  • August 2019 (5)
  • July 2019 (7)
  • June 2019 (6)
  • May 2019 (6)
  • April 2019 (6)
  • March 2019 (6)
  • February 2019 (5)
  • January 2019 (7)
2018
  • December 2018 (7)
  • November 2018 (7)
  • October 2018 (9)
  • September 2018 (6)
  • August 2018 (7)
  • July 2018 (8)
  • June 2018 (7)
  • May 2018 (9)
  • April 2018 (8)
  • March 2018 (9)
  • February 2018 (8)
  • January 2018 (8)
2017
  • December 2017 (6)
  • November 2017 (8)
  • October 2017 (10)
  • September 2017 (5)
  • August 2017 (6)
  • July 2017 (7)
  • June 2017 (6)
  • May 2017 (5)
  • April 2017 (7)
  • March 2017 (6)
  • February 2017 (5)
  • January 2017 (7)
2016
  • December 2016 (7)
  • November 2016 (8)
  • October 2016 (7)
  • September 2016 (7)
  • August 2016 (5)
  • July 2016 (7)
  • June 2016 (7)
  • May 2016 (6)
  • April 2016 (6)
  • March 2016 (7)
  • February 2016 (6)
  • January 2016 (5)
2015
  • December 2015 (8)
  • November 2015 (6)
  • October 2015 (7)
  • September 2015 (5)
  • August 2015 (6)
  • July 2015 (7)
  • June 2015 (6)
  • May 2015 (5)
  • April 2015 (6)
  • March 2015 (6)
  • February 2015 (7)
  • January 2015 (5)
2014
  • December 2014 (8)
  • November 2014 (5)
  • October 2014 (7)
  • September 2014 (5)
  • August 2014 (3)
  • July 2014 (5)
  • June 2014 (6)
  • May 2014 (7)
  • April 2014 (7)
  • March 2014 (5)
  • February 2014 (4)
  • January 2014 (7)
2013
  • December 2013 (8)
  • November 2013 (6)
  • October 2013 (7)
  • September 2013 (5)
  • August 2013 (6)
  • July 2013 (4)
  • June 2013 (4)
  • May 2013 (4)
  • April 2013 (5)
  • March 2013 (2)
  • February 2013 (2)
  • January 2013 (4)
2012
  • December 2012 (7)
  • November 2012 (9)
  • October 2012 (9)
  • September 2012 (7)
  • August 2012 (9)
  • July 2012 (8)
  • June 2012 (8)
  • May 2012 (9)
  • April 2012 (8)
  • March 2012 (9)
  • February 2012 (7)
  • January 2012 (9)
2011
  • December 2011 (7)
  • November 2011 (8)
  • October 2011 (7)
  • September 2011 (7)
  • August 2011 (8)
  • July 2011 (8)
  • June 2011 (9)
  • May 2011 (7)
  • April 2011 (9)
  • March 2011 (8)
  • February 2011 (8)
  • January 2011 (7)
2010
  • December 2010 (8)
  • November 2010 (6)
  • October 2010 (2)
  • September 2010 (6)
  • August 2010 (5)
Additional Resources
  • Media & Trade
  • Lodi Winegrape Commission
  • Donation Requests
  • Returns & Cancellations
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
Contact

Lodi Wine Visitor Center
2545 West Turner Road Lodi, CA 95242
209.365.0621
Open: Thursday - Sunday 12:00pm-5:00pm

Lodi Winegrape Commission
2545 West Turner Road, Lodi, CA 95242
209.367.4727
Open: Monday-Friday 8:00am-5:00pm

Have a question? Complete our contact form.

  • © Copyright 2021 Lodi Winegrape Commission
  • Winery Ecommerce by WineDirect