If great wine starts in the vineyard, then great vineyards must be cultivated by great farmers. This upcoming harvest, and specifically throughout the month of October (California Farmer and Farmworker Appreciation Month) we celebrate our old vines and the dedicated, hardworking team that farms them. We are blessed to have a full team of talented and passionate people that understand the importance, delicacy, and attention it requires to preserve old vines and the authentic story that is told through every bottle of wine it produces.
Turning 118 this year, our Lizzy James Vineyard is a genuine illustration of Lodi Zinfandel. Not only is it named after Kyle and Jorja Lerner’s two children, Kirsten Elizabeth and Ian James, but it is 19 acres of deep roots, gnarly, rustic old vines, and it is located just north of our Home Ranch.
We love to gaze at the natural beauty of Lizzy James. The old vineyard does “its own thing,” so to say. With roots that extend 20 feet down, Lizzy is drought-tolerant and self-regulating with balanced growth. However, as a head-trained vineyard, each vine is like a bush and requires attention in a different way.
Remarkably, every year we have the same crew prune and hand-pick Lizzy James. For many producers, it is a common practice to contract out a new crew to pick each harvest. Our same crew has picked Lizzy James for 22 years because our people understand how the vines function and are familiar with its quirks. The extra care and labor that goes into the old vineyard are worth the time and expense. If you’ve ever tasted our Lizzy James Zinfandel, we’d hope you agree!
With California being the country’s top agricultural producer and representing 80% of the U.S. wine production (making the state the fourth largest wine producer in the world!) we are proud to be stewards of the land and producers of high-quality fruit. We also understand the importance of having a strong labor force to make it all happen. It is fascinating to think of how many hands have worked with our Lizzy James Vineyard over the past century. We wouldn’t be able to produce such remarkable wine from this vineyard without our dedicated and hardworking farming team.
Today, and every day, we thank our farmers!
