Lodi wineries Archives - Wine Country Getaways

Lodi Wine Country – Tasting Rooms to Visit

This is our third adventure to Lodi wine country in recent times. We will be adding, very soon, a Lodi Wine Trail to WineCountryGetaways.com. Our goal is to visit as many wineries as possible over the course of several trips. After that we can decide which wineries will make our list of Top Wineries for the Lodi Wine Trail on WineCountryGetaways.com.

Lodi is a very flat region; of course it is, it is located in the Great Central Valley. We have the Lodi Wine Alliance wine map but on each of our trips we have managed to get ourselves lost and turned around on several occasions. Maybe that is because there are no major landmarks or mountain ranges to get your bearings. Most of the wineries are small family-owned wineries. Many have been grape growers for years and recently have started making wines as Lodi has shifted from a bulk wine producer to producing more quality wines. Zinfandel is king in Lodi, especially old-vine Zinfandel. The weather is very hot during the summer months. There is some cooling at night from breezes from the Delta, but by and large the climate in Lodi yields big, fruity wines and some that are very high in alcohol.

Lodi Wineries Do They Measure Up?

We spent a day visiting tasting rooms and wineries in the Lodi Area. We need to spend more time in Lodi to get the full picture but we have a good idea of how this wine country measures up to Napa, Sonoma, Paso Robles and others.

Our first impression is that there are several wineries making very good wines at reasonable prices and by that I mean well under $20. Surprisingly, most of the tasting rooms I visited charge a fee for tasting but most apply it to the purchase of wines. I would think until Lodi gets really popular among the wine tourists that they should do everything possible to minimize the cost of a wine trip. The biggest obstacle I see for Lodi is its ambience. There are no beautiful hills and winding backroads lined with vineyards. It is very flat and it’s also very warm during the day. Lodi also lacks a significant number of gourmet restaurants and the only terrific lodging spot in town is the Wine and Roses Hotel.