, The new, lighter, sharply terroir-driven styles of Lodi reds ideal for September sipping

Toasting with a lighter style red wine—zestier in natural acidity, lower than 12% alcohol—crafted by Lorenza from classic Lodi grapes.

Thank you for your wine, California
Thank you for your sweet and bitter fruits

—Keith Richards/Mick Jagger (The Rolling Stones)

Strange and numerous fruits have been a thing in Lodi for longer than most people can remember. The region’s most widely planted grape over most of the past century, for instance, was a variety called Flame Tokay. There isn’t even a Wikipedia page for Flame Tokay, despite the fact that it was Flame Tokay that originally brought wealth to the City of Lodi during the turn of the last century.

In its wisdom, UC Davis’ Foundation Plant Services does have a page on Flame Tokay, identifying its original moniker as a Vitis vinifera (i.e., belonging to the classic European family of wine grapes) as Ahmeur bou Ahmeur. That should tell you Lodi growers aren’t crazy. Flame Tokay exists, even if you don’t know it. 

So do over 130 other grape varieties commercially grown and sold in Lodi, as we speak.

Mokelumne Glen Vineyards harvesting of Blaufränkisch, a grape of Eastern European origin conducive to lean, zesty, lighter styles of red.

Therefore, you can say, diversity is nothing new to this AVA. What is new is how many of those grapes are now being processed. Let’s cut to the chase: More and more of these grapes—especially the black skinned varieties going into red wines—are now being turned into wines that are a

This Article was originally published on Lodi Wine

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