Lodi is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) located in the Central Valley of California, at the northern edge of the San Joaquin Valley, within portions of Sacramento and San Joaquin Counties, east of San Francisco Bay. It was established as a designated wine growing appellation on February 13, 1986 by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Treasury after reviewing the petition submitted by the Lodi District Vintners Association to establish a viticultural area named "Lodi." [5] The viticultural area originally was 458,000 acres (716 sq mi) of which 39,000 acres (16,000 ha) were cultivated with wine grapes. [1] In 2002, the area was expanded by 27,500 acres (43.0 sq mi), with 5,240 acres (2,120 ha) cultivated, in the western area and in the southern portion by 66,000 acres (27,000 ha), 5,600 acres (2,300 ha) cultivation, of the original AVA boundaries in San Joaquin County. [2] The appellation lies in southern Sacramento County and northern San Joaquin County. Its western border is outlined by Interstate Highway 5 and the eastern border is adjacent to El Dorado, Amador and Calaveras counties. [6]
On July 16, 2006, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), Treasury established seven new viticultural areas within the boundary of Lodi viticultural area. The seven new AVAs are Alta Mesa, Borden Ranch, Clements Hills, Cosumnes River, Jahant, Mokelumne River and Sloughhouse. TTB designates viticultural areas to allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines and to allow consumers to better identify wines they may purchase. [7]
