Old vine plantings going into Lodi's best known vineyard-designate wines

Own-rooted Bishofberger Vineyard Carignan planted in 1936, in November 2020

Why older is better in Lodi

What are the Lodi AVA's old vine plantings identified as vineyard-designate wines on highly regarded Lodi-grown bottlings, and why do they matter?

They matter because of the precedent set in European wine countries a long, long time ago: the simple fact that the finest wine regions have always been associated with vineyards known to produce great wines.

In Lodi, the top vineyard-designate wines are primarily associated with “old vine” plantings—a distinction organizations such as the Historic Vineyard Society identify as "historic vineyards" dominated by plants that are at least 50 years old. 

Old vines, in fact are almost a peculiarity of Lodi—there are more plantings over 50 years old in this AVA than in any other region in the U.S. The reason for this is that Lodi’s most distinctive wines have long been produced from grape varieties conducive to the region’s particular variation of Mediterranean climate. These particular grapes—especially Zinfandel and Carignan—also happen to be varieties known to benefit from vine age. The older the better!

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Talkin' turkey in 2020

November 2020 leaves and moss in one of Lodi's ancient vine (over 100 years old) vineyards

Let's talk turkey.

For most of us, if we're doing our due diligence, next week Thursday's Thanksgiving celebration will be a smaller occasion than what we usually prefer. Just the immediate family, spouse or significant other — no crazy aunts or uncles, no cranky grandparents or self-centered brothers and sisters, and no screaming, or bored, nephews and nieces. When you think of it, it will be a lot more peaceful around the table. There are some benefits to our current global crisis.

But it's Thanksgiving, and still all about the meal. For most of us, stuffed turkey will still be the entrée of choice. No sides of rib roast, whole ham or Dungeness crabs. Or else, it will be either a rib roast, crabs or ham, and no turkey, which always meant seven more days of turkey meals anyway. Judiciousness is next to godliness. And instead of a pumpkin as well as apple and pecan pie, it will just be one pie. Or fresh fruit Jell-O (when you think of it, a refreshing idea)...

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What to expect when tasting old vine wines

2020 harvest of Spenker Ranch Carignan, originally planted in 1900

When you taste a wine sourced from a single vineyard notated on a label, and you know that the vineyard is an "old vine" growth — which, for a region like Lodi, means that most of the vines from that vineyard are at least 50 years old (planted in the 1960s or earlier), and in some cases, over 75 or even 100 years old — it is easy to make the assumption that the wine will be an extremely intense, rich, concentrated, powerful, phenomenal experience. 

Many vineyard-designate old vine bottlings are, in fact, phenomenal, but not in ways you might expect. In fact, they are often the opposite of "rich," "powerful" or "concentrated." Instead, they are often delicate, restrained, sometimes even lean or shy in their aroma, flavor and mouth-feel. What you are more likely to find in many wines made from very old vines are delineated aromas and flavors that are, if anything, very unique to that one vineyard, whether these aromas and flavors are big and intense or light and restrained...

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Saving Lodi's Historic Vineyard Society-registered vineyards

Historic Vineyard Society-recognized Zinfandel in Viola's Vineyard, planted 72 years ago on its own roots in Lodi's Clements Hills AVA

There are 16 Lodi AVA vineyards currently registered by California's Historic Vineyard Society (HVS). There are actually dozens more Lodi vineyards in the Lodi wine region that meet HVS's requirements to be called a "historic vineyard," but this is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization, and enrollment of vineyards is strictly voluntary. 

If a grower or vintner wishes to have a vineyard included on Historic Vineyard Society rolls, they must put in an application. They must also submit some kind of documented evidence that at least one-third of the vines in their vineyard was planted at least 50 years ago. In doing so, they are also helping to support Historic Vineyard Society's core mission: simply, the preservation of California's oldest vine plantings...

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The significance of own-rooted old vines in Lodi

Classic own-rooted Mokelumne River-Lodi Zinfandel in Soucie Vineyard

They are called "own-rooted." Growers in Lodi have also used terms like "natural roots" and "wild-rooted." Whatever it's called, the vast majority of old vines planted before the mid-1960s in Lodi were planted on their own, natural rootstocks, rather than grafted on to other rootstocks. 

On the other hand, the planting of vines on grafted rootstocks has been more of the rule than exception in the rest of the state of California ever since the latter half of the 1800s, when the microscopic root louse known as phylloxera killed off vineyards almost everywhere else in California and most major wine regions around the world. This catastrophic event necessitated the usage of phylloxera-resistant rootstocks, primarily derived from native American species (Vitis labrusca)... 

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