Lodi, California, United States

🇺🇸 Lodi is a city located in San Joaquin County, California, in the centre portion of California's Central Valley. Lodi is the 132nd largest city in California. Lodi is best known for wine grape production although its vintages have traditionally been less prestigious than those of Sonoma and Napa counties. However, in recent years, the Lodi Appellation has become increasingly respected for its Zinfandel and other eclectic wine varietals, along with its focus on sustainability under the Lodi Rules program. National recognition came from the "2015 Wine Region of the Year" award given to Lodi by Wine Enthusiast Magazine.

Economy Early industries in Lodi included a sawmill, flour mill, vineyards, orchards, and cattle ranching. The Lodi Land and Lumber Company sawmill was built on the south bank of the Mokelumne River in 1877, and relied on logs floated down from the Sierras during the rainy season. The mill was powered by a steam engine.

The "Flame Tokay" grape was introduced from Algeria in 1857, and was a central feature of the vineyards that gradually rose to prominence because of the sandy loam soil and the location directly east of the Suisun Pass. Local Marvin Nies used old flame Tokay vines located on property farmed by Malcolm Lea to create, in conjunction with U.C. Davis plant breeding specialists, the seedless Tokay. Malcolm Lea, a cofounder of Guild Winery and East-Side Winery, sold substantial quantities of crushed grapes to Inglenook and other older Napa wineries as well as selling truckloads of crushed grapes to San Francisco restaurants who made their own "house" wines.

The early 20th century saw the establishment of several large manufacturers and general service providers with national distribution capabilities, such as Supermold, the Pinkerton Foundry, Lodi Truck Service, the Lodi Iron Works, Pacific Coast Producers, Holz Rubber Company, Valley Industries, General Mills and Goehring Meat Company.

Today the Lodi area is home to several large manufacturing, general services, and agricultural companies, including Archer Daniels Midland, Blue Shield of California, Dart Container, Holz Rubber Company, Kubota Tractors, Lodi Iron Works, Miller Packing Company, Pacific Coast Producers, Tiger Lines, Ag Industrial Manufacturing, Inc. (AIM), and Woodbridge-Robert Mondavi.

Lodi is the birthplace of A&W Root Beer and A&W Restaurants established in 1919, which subsequently became one of the first franchised fast food restaurants.

Top employers According to the city's Short Range Transit Plan, the top employers in the city were: 1 Lodi Unified School District; 2 Pacific Coast Producers; 3 Lodi Health Hospital; 4 Blue Shield of California; 5 Walmart; 6 TreeHouse; 7 City of Lodi; 8 Farmers & Merchants Bank of Central California; 9 Costco; 10 Target.