Good wine comes from good grapes, which need good soil, which is helped by good weather. Growing wine grapes is so difficult, in fact, only a few regions in the world really nail it: Napa, Bordeaux, Chianti. It’s technically possible to grow grapes anywhere that has damp and cool weather, but the terroir of good wine—the special characteristics of a place it comes from—is what makes it stand apart from the cheaper stuff.

Meet Lodi, California, a place you’ve probably never heard of, but your taste buds have probably visited. The town is most famous for the 1969 Creedence Clearwater Revival lyric about being “Stuck in Lodi Again,” although the region’s grapes really put it on the map. Lodi is North