Lodi is located in the Central Valley of California, 125km east of San Francisco. It is at the northern edge of the San Joaquin Valley east of San Francisco Bay. It is bounded on the west by Interstate Highway 5 and to the east by the political borders for the adjacent El Dorado, Amador, and Calaveras Counties.

The Lodi region has been home to grape growing since at least the 1850s when wild grapes would grow down from trees along the edge of rivers. This led some trappers to call the Calaveras River, which runs through the southern portion of the area, “Wine Creek”^.

It gained AVA (American Viticultural Area) designation in 1986 and now has 228000 ha of planted vines. The appellation includes land in southern Sacramento County and northern San Joaquin County.

It is noted for its warm  day, cool night Mediterranean climate and its distinctive sandy loam  soils , in places covered with large rocks, similar to the ‘Galets’ of Chateauneuf du Pape. These factors provide the ideal environment for growing its best known output old vine Zinfandel but also the famous Bordeaux grapes Merlot and Cabernet.