More than 2,000 people already have their Saturday plans in place. They'll all be heading to the Lodi Wine Festival in the California city known as the Zinfandel capital of the world.
Lodi takes pride in this grape variety, as many of these vines have stood for generations.
According to the latest California Grape Crush Report, zinfandel and other grapes in the Lodi wine region are on the decline.
"For the most part, the grapes we've been growing for 50 plus years are all declining," said Jacylyn Stokes-Iniguez, chair of the Lodi Winegrape Commission. "There were only two varietals that we saw a positive in overall, and that was sauvignon blanc and pinot grigio, or pinot gris. Our biggest movers in the past — which have always been zinfandel, cabernet and chardonnay — were all down. Zinfandel saw probably the biggest decline."
As a fourth-generation farmer, Stokes-Iniguez says this was hard to grasp.
"We as growers all figured it would be around 2.2 to 2.3 million tons, but it actually ended up being 2.6. There were more grapes crushed than we had been forecasting or anticipating so we can see that as a positive," she explained.
There is still a lot of uncertainty, like whether or not to prune this season or decide to take out more vines.
This makes events like the Lodi Wine Festival all the more important.
"The wine festival is to bring people into town and expose them to what Lodi has as a wine industry," Lodi Grape Festival CEO Mark Armstrong said. "A lot of times, we see people coming from all over that don't know about our area. The goal is to get people to go from here and go to a tasting room tomorrow or down the road."
The event typically draws in thousands of people. This means more local exposure and helps vines that have been in the ground for decades continue to grow for generations.
"You can get glass, come out here and sit," Armstrong continued. "We love this event. All of our people say we wish we were going to it instead of working it. It's really fun."
"It'll bring a lot of people from outside of Lodi to try Lodi for the first time and get to decide for themselves, 'I like what I'm tasting. I like what I'm seeing,' " Stokes-Iniguez said. "All of that helps us in the long run and that outreach is super important."
The theory is that by 2027, winegrape production will be stable based on what is still in the ground and what has been taken out.
In terms of the festival, over 45 wineries will be attending. Participants get to try countless varieties of wine and get the chance to meet the growers themselves.
The event will be held at the Lodi Grape Festival Grounds and opens to the public for the Grand Tasting from 2-5 p.m.
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