Sloughhouse is an AVA in the north-eastern corner of Lodi, where the broad, flat Central Valley gives way to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. It produces spicy, intense red wines from Petite Sirah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel.
Stretching from Borden Ranch and Alta Mesa in the south and west up toward Sacramento, Sloughhouse is one of the larger AVAs within the Lodi appellation. Its terrain can be described as transitional, and the flat land of western Lodi is suddenly replaced by rolling hills that form the very base of the Sierra Foothills. Amador County is directly east of Sloughhouse, and El Dorado County is in the north-east. The Cosumnes and Deer rivers run through the AVA.
Sloughhouse is less influenced by the winds from the Sacramento Delta than the rest of Lodi, meaning that the summers here are warmer. But the winters are colder and there is more rain, because of the area's proximity to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the east. This climate is more conducive to a heavy, baked style of wine, and so the heat-loving Zinfandel and Petite Sirah varieties are the top performers in the AVA.
The most defining characteristic of the terroir in Sloughhouse is the soils. The construction of levees in the Sacramento Delta to drain marshland in the 19th Century led to a lowering of the water table throughout the region. This caused many of the shallower tributaries of the Cosumnes and Deer rivers to dry up, but not before depositing smooth river stones across the land. Soils scattered with these stones are much prized by vignerons, because they restrict vine growth, leading to lower yields of grapes, and these are more concentrated in flavor.
Sloughhouse, which was demarcated as an AVA in 2006, is one of Lodi's least-known sub-zones. Like many of the others, it has no wineries within its boundaries and few wines are sold under the Sloughhouse AVA. The 7,000 acres (2,800ha) of vineyards in the AVA are owned by producers in other parts of Lodi and most of the grapes are used in regional Lodi blends.
