What's the San Francisco Bay Delta like

The Delta is a great alluvial plain which has some of the richest farmland in the country. Interesting history - look it up. I certainly don't remember any grapes being grown there. Pears, walnuts, safflower, asparagas, lots of your common beans and veggies, maybe some rice occasionally, and lots of tomatos, but grapes?

That's interesting.... does that mean Lodi moved out of the Delta?

Gene

I always thought that the delta was a triangle that was approximately Sacramento-Stockton-Benecia. Most of this area is actually islands that are just above or below sea-level, protected by dikes (like holland). They are very impressively fertile.

And thus I never thought of Lodi as the Delta - it would be just to the east of it, actually on real dry land. And most of the Contra Costa vineyards are just to the south of it, again on dry land, near Byron and Antioch.

The winds blow there a lot, especially in the evenings through the summer. These areas are cooler than the rest of the Sacramento/San Joaquin valley because of this, but they're still going to be a lot warmer than the Carneros district (the part of Napa/Sonoma that is right against the north edge of the SF bay). And with the high fertility and water table, these vines are probably never stressed.

Don't know what that means for quality winegrape growing, but I can tell you that I used to drive through the area a lot and never saw a grapevine.

Rob

The Delts is called that because it's a triangle formed by Stockton, Sacramento, and (roughly) Oakland. Lodi is on the line between Sacramento and Stockton. You can look it up.

I guess that living to the east of the islands, I was not exactly IN the DELTA as you call it. But when the Mokolumne, Calaveras and San Joaquin rivers overflowed their banks, we in Stockton and Lodi felt like we were IN the DELTA.

I was born and raised in Stockton; got dusted with lots of DELTA peat when they harvested the asparagus and in the late summer breezes; went to San Joaquin DELTA Junior College.

Gene