Lodi’s Old Vines Have Survived for Generations. What Happens Next Is Up to Us.

The oldest vines in Lodi were planted in 1886. They have outlived the man who planted them, two world wars, Prohibition, and every shift in American drinking habits since. They are still in the ground, still farmed by hand each winter, still making wine that tastes like nowhere else.

None of that was inevitable. Every old vineyard in Lodi is here because people decided, year after year, to keep it.

That decision is harder now than it has been in a long time. Save the Old exists to make it easier, and this fall it comes down to something simple. Every glass of old vine wine you pour is a vote to keep these vineyards in the ground, and over the next two months we’re going to show you exactly where to find them.

Why Lodi’s old vines need you

Lodi has thousands of acres of vines that are 50, 75, even 100 years old or more. Every one of them is there because someone decided, year after year, to keep farming it.

Old vines ask more of the people who farm them. Many are pruned and picked by hand, and they produce less fruit than younger vineyards. When grape prices fall or costs rise, the economics get difficult, and every old block eventually reaches the same question: keep farming it, or replant with something that produces more.

Right now that question is coming up more often. California is in a period of oversupply, and vineyards are being removed across the state. The vineyards that took a century to become what they are can come out in an afternoon.

That is the whole reason Save the Old exists. When people seek out these wines, growers have a reason to keep the vines. Every bottle you buy, and every time you ask for one by vineyard name, tells a grower these vines are worth keeping.

So what exactly are we trying to save?

What is an old vine?

“Old vine” has no legal definition on a wine label, so the term depends on who is using it. The most widely used benchmark in California comes from the Historic Vineyard Society, a nonprofit that registers vineyards where at least one-third of the existing vines trace back to a planting 50 years or older. In Lodi, most old vines were planted before the mid-1960s, when growers put in the region’s last free-standing, own-rooted vines. Many are much older. Lodi’s oldest vineyard, the Bechthold Vineyard, was planted to Cinsaut in 1886. Some of the region’s Zinfandel still producing today was planted in 1889.

You can spot an old vine from the road. Each vine stands on its own, without trellis wires, often in the traditional “head-trained” style: a thick trunk crowned with long, twisting arms. After a century of pruning, some look more like small trees than grapevines. Each one has its own shape and its own story.

What makes old vines special

Decades in the ground give an old vine a deep, established root system. That makes it steadier through heat and dry spells. Old vines also naturally produce fewer, smaller clusters, so each vine puts its energy into fewer grapes.

In the glass, that often means wines with depth, balance and a strong sense of the vineyard they came from. Two old vine Zinfandels grown a few miles apart can taste remarkably different. Vineyards on the sandier east side of Lodi’s Mokelumne River appellation tend toward floral aromas and bright red cherry. On the west side, closer to the Delta, the wines are often rounder, with darker fruit and a gentle earthiness.

Winemakers who pick old and young vines separately from the same block say they can taste the difference. The best way to find out is to taste for yourself.

Zinfandel and beyond

Zinfandel has been planted in Lodi since the late 1850s, and today Lodi grows nearly 40 percent of California’s premium Zinfandel. But the region’s old vines tell a broader story. 

You’ll also find century-old Cinsaut, Carignan planted in 1900, and old plantings of Alicante Bouschet, Flame Tokay, Mission, and more. Many of these grapes sustained Lodi growers through Prohibition, when they were shipped by the railcar to home winemakers across the country. Today they’re part of what makes Lodi the most diverse winegrowing region in the United States.

Why Lodi has so many

Lodi is home to more old vine plantings than any other wine region in America, and the highest concentration of own-rooted old vines in California. Three things made that possible.

The first is soil. Lodi’s fine sandy loam runs 50 to 100 feet deep and drains well. It also discourages phylloxera, the root pest that forced most wine regions to rely on phylloxera-resistant rootstocks. That is why so many Lodi vines still grow on their own original roots.

The second is climate. Lodi’s Mediterranean climate brings cool, wet winters, warm, dry summers and cooling Delta breezes. Grapes with Mediterranean roots, like Zinfandel, Carignan and Cinsaut, thrive here.

Third, and arguably most important, is people. Many Lodi families have farmed the region for as long as the oldest vineyards have existed, and they kept their vines through decades of changing markets. Soil and climate let these vines survive. Growers are the reason they’re still here. They replanted around old blocks rather than through them, and kept farming vines their grandparents planted on ground that could have grown something easier.

The Bechthold Vineyard is the clearest example. For most of its life, its Cinsaut went to home winemakers because wineries weren’t interested in the grapes. The Spenker family kept the vineyard anyway, because it was part of who they were. Today more than a dozen wineries line up for that fruit each year, and the vineyard was named California Vineyard of the Year by the State Fair in 2014. The vines are only still there because someone refused to give up on them.

What and where to taste

Sentiment alone can’t keep these vines in the ground forever. That part is up to the people who drink the wine.

Start at the Lodi Wine Visitor Center. Some of the most compelling old vine wines made from Lodi fruit come from producers who have no tasting room, including winemakers based outside the region who seek out these vineyards. The Visitor Center is where you can taste and buy them in one stop, alongside hundreds of other Lodi-grown wines on a list that changes weekly. A seated flight of four wines is $12, and the doors are open daily, 10:00AM – 5:00PM, at 2545 W. Turner Rd.

Here’s what to look for:

And where to taste at the source

When you visit, ask the person pouring about the vineyard: how old it is, where it sits and who farms it. When you shop, look past the words “old vine” for a vineyard name and a planting year. Producers who work with these vineyards tend to say so specifically, on the label or the back. 

And savetheold.com lists Lodi’s historic vineyards and the producers who work with them, so you know whose names to look for.

Join us and save the old

Throughout October and November, we’re spotlighting Lodi’s old vines, the growers who farm them and the wines they make. We’ll also focus on Lodi’s signature grape, leading into National Zinfandel Day on November 18. 

Follow along on Instagram at @lodi_wine and on Facebook at facebook.com/LodiWine, and sign up at savetheold.com for news on Lodi’s old vines.

Once they’re gone, they’re gone. This fall, come taste them while you can.

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