Randy Caporoso, who is like a wine write Nestor for Lodi and knows everybody and everyone, wrote a good article about finding the various Zinfandel styles of the region. Obviously, Lodi has a reputation for bigness, but there are a lot of subtle producers there as well. He guides us through the styles by category - big, small, oak, no oak etc. A good read and guide.
https://www.lodiwine.com/blog/How-to-delineate-the-proliferating-styles-of-today-s-Lodi-Zinfandels
It’s interesting now in the heat of harvesting, and for someone like myself that takes fruit from both Lodi and Contra Costa regularly, just how much cooler Lodi is. I think there’s this misconception that it’s a hot area that can only produce a riper style. The temps at night get much, much cooler in Lodi than in Contra Costa, which tends to translate into the characteristics liked by wine-lovers, yet I feel Lodi is generally regarded as “lesser” than CC. Example: the Contra Costa Zin I picked 2 weeks ago was ready then and almost pushing over-ripeness, whereas the Lodi Zin is barely ripening, still. Harvesting time is going to be at least a month later in Lodi compared.
For Zin lovers, maybe try some of the Zin’s that go against type from Randy’s article.
