What better way to find out how the 2025 winegrape harvest went in Lodi then ask some of the winegrowers and winemakers themselves.
Admittedly, this is a small sample size given there are 85 commercial wineries and some 750 growers tending 135 winegrape varieties in the Lodi American Viticultural, the most diverse winegrowing region in the nation. With that said, observations are relatively consistent, in that, the markets for grapes and wine are historically challenging right now. But on the bright side, Lodi’s growers and winemakers are meeting the challenges and producing delicious wines. For consumers, the relatively mild growing season points to an epic vintage.
Here is what some of Lodi’s best had to say:
Markus Niggli, owner and Winemaker, Markus Wine Co.
Founded in 2014, Markus Wine Co. was launched from Lodi’s first boutique winery, Borra Vineyards. Swiss-born winemaker and owner Markus Niggli selects from wisely planted ancient vines and newly planted unusual offerings throughout the Lodi region to craft small-production bottlings in his warehouse winery located in Victor, three miles east of Lodi.
Q: How did it go this year?
A: Harvest was very quick. Grape orders were reduced compared to past years. Not good for growers but good for customers. It did allow us to pick and choose the best picking days possible. We were done picking before the second round of rain hit Lodi.
Q: What were some of the characteristics of the growing season?
A: We saw lower brix (sugar) levels overall, which equates to lower alcohol in the wines. Good fresh acidity in white grapes. Higher acidity levels also in the red grapes – we love fresher tasting red wines, so we did appreciate the change for once. Brix suddenly wouldn’t move anymore, so we decided to pick the grapes to preserve the freshness.
Q: Are there any varieties you’re excited about?
A: I think the kerner quality was fantastic this year, followed by the ancient vine carignan from the Nicolini block and the ancient vine block – “The Church” – both show promising flavor profiles. Merlot, petite sirah, zinfandel and syrah from Berghold Vineyards also had a very high quality level this year.
Q: How many acres do you farm or how much do you source?
A: I source the kerner from Mokelumne Glen Vineyard; gruner veltliner from the Lange Twins’ ranch; merlot, cabernet sauvignon, syrah, and zinfandel from Berghold Vineyards. I manage the Church block and the Nicolini carignan.
Q: Anything else about this harvest?
A: It is difficult to drive through Lodi and see so many fields unpicked. Especially the old vine zinfandels and ancient vine carignan. You never know if they will be around next year. These vineyards tell the story of Lodi. I hope their last chapter hasn’t been written. From these fields, the best wines from Lodi have been produced. Support the old vine story – almost every winery has an old vine bottle for sale or visit the Lodi Wine & Visitor Center, they have an entire line up.
Todd Maley, owner and grower, Maley Vineyards
Todd Maley is a fifth-generation Lodi winegrower and a founding member of the Lodi Native project, who farms sustainably under the LODI RULES program. Be sure to check out his Maley Brothers Vineyards Lodi Native Wegat Vineyard Zinfandel.
Q: How did it go this year?
A: This year was a pleasant surprise from the grower’s perspective as the weather was perfect, resulting in excellent wines. The cool month of July (a lot of 85-degree days) resulted in higher acidity and balanced wines. This was especially so with zinfandel.
Typically zin can be a challenging to farm with redberry (diluting your wine) and rot.
This year both were non- existent.
Q: How are the market conditions currently for winegrapes?
A: Unfortunately, the underlying market was very difficult for a third consecutive year.
The lack of buyers caused us to leave almost half of our crop unpicked, resulting in significant losses. Red grape varieties were difficult to sell. White varieties also had a softening of prices.
Q: How many acres do you farm or how much do you source?
A: We farm 200 acres of winegrapes and are transitioning more towards almonds to try to reach a break-even position financially. It is very difficult for all involved.
Ben Kolber, owner and grower, KG Vineyard Management
Since 2003 KG Vineyard Management has served Lodi and surrounding areas as a full-service agricultural management company offering a range of services. With more than 20 years of experience, KG Vineyard Management strives to maintain a stellar reputation for quality service and client satisfaction.
Q: How did it go this year?
A: This year was truly a cycle of emotions. We had fantastic ripening weather throughout the season, which should lead to some exceptional wines — slow, even ripening allowed the grapes to mature beautifully while retaining their natural acids and flavors.
Q: What were some of the characteristics of the growing season?
A: Harvest began smoothly, with good fruit quality, and the favorable weather held through most of the season. Unfortunately, things changed abruptly toward the end, cutting harvest short and leaving many tons still on the vine.
Q: How many acres do you farm or how much do you source?
A: Of the roughly 3,500 acres we farm in the Lodi area, yields varied — younger vineyards produced average to above-average crops, while older blocks came in below expectations. Although chardonnay will shine this year in terms of quality, demand for it was essentially non-existent, which really came as a shock to me.
Q: Anything else about this harvest?
A: As we move into uncharted territory with vineyard removals and declining wine consumption, we continue to look for ways to stay engaged and optimistic about the industry’s future. Many of our clients fulfilled their contracts, though some were unable to sell fruit this year due to soft market demand.
Susan Tipton, owner and founding winemaker, Acquiesce Winery & Vineyards
Acquiesce’s vines are sourced from the famed Château de Beaucastel of Châteauneuf du Pape, France, and they show a timeless elegance fused with great fruit expression courtesy of Lodi’s sandy soils and Mediterranean climate. Acquiesce follows the LODI RULES for Sustainable Winegrowing which is California’s original sustainable viticulture program and has begun a regenerative cover crop program to focus on soil health.
Q: How did it go this year?
A: 2025 was a comparatively easy year without any significant heat spikes during harvest. This cooler weather resulted in some long fermentations as the wines have taken their time to achieve dryness – longer than I can remember in the past 15 years. Our regenerative farming is paying off, with the addition of cover crops, sheep in the vineyard early in the year and compost in the fall, we’ve achieved a most desirable vineyard crop.
Q: Any there any varieties you’re excited about?
A: We are excited about our new grenache gris! We’ll be bottling this single varietal and are creating a new “3 Grenache” blend called Sirens: a blend of grenache blanc, grenache gris, and grenache noir.
Q: Anything else about this harvest?
A: We’ve harvested the first grapes from our newly planted cinsaut vines, which will be used for our cinsaut rosé.
Q: How many acres do you farm or how much do you source?
A: All our wines come from our estate grapes. We have 16 acres of estate Rhone style grapes with nine different varieties.
Joan Kautz, Global Sales and Marketing, Kautz Family Vineyards
Joan’s father, John Kautz, established his first winery in 1988. Over the last 30-plus years, the family’s landholdings expanded to 7,000 acres throughout Lodi and the Sierra Foothills. The Kautz Family has practiced sustainable viticulture for more than 35 years, and the vineyards have been certified since 2018 with the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance. John Kautz has been recognized by the Ford Foundation for his work in sustainable farming.
Joan provided this quote from Han Han, Director of Winemaking: “The combination of a warm spring and mild summer has made the 2025 vintage notable for white varietals. Grapes are well-balanced in acidity and ripeness with minimal acid adjustments needing to be made at the winery. Varietals we’re most excited this year are albariño, chenin blanc, viognier, sauvignon blanc and pinot grigio.”
Kautz Family Vineyards farms more than 7,000 acres of premium wine grapes in Lodi and Murphys (Calaveras County, Sierra Foothills) for their winery, Ironstone Vineyards.
Ali and Bob Colarossi, owners, Estate Crush
Founded in spring 2009, Estate Crush is downtown Lodi’s first dedicated custom crush facility for premium wine production. Estate Crush’s state-of-the-art, 6,000-square-foot, temperature-controlled facility is specially designed for small to medium lots and can create the finest, handcrafted luxury wines.
Q: How did it go this year?
A: It was a good year but a challenging one in that there was a lot more overlap of harvest timing than usual of red and white grapes. By way of example, at one point we had already pressed out cabernet and were still taking in chardonnay fruit.
Q: What were some of the characteristics of the growing season?
A: The season started early, and, in general, the fruit quality was very good. Older vineyards had a lower yield, while some younger vineyards struggled to make sugar. In general, the milder weather led to higher acidity and lower pH.
Q: Are there any varieties you’re excited about?
A: Estate Crush processed more than 25 different varietals this harvest. It was our first year making picpoul blanc and graciano and a sparkling GSM (grenache, syrah, mourvedre).
Jaclyn Stokes, grower, Stokes Vineyards
Jaclyn and her family farm more than 1,500 acres in San Joaquin and Sacramento counties. She is the driving force behind La Belle Nue rosè, a blend of Rhone varieties. There isn’t a variety her family hasn’t tried to grow. Her father, Bill Stokes, believes it is important to learn by doing, so, “We farm to learn, innovate, be unique, and – of course – have more wine to drink,” she said.
Q: How did it go this year?
A: This was a challenging year for us growers. We had rejected loads, few or no grape contracts, and a continued market decline. The mid-October rain added even more uncertainty, especially with ripening. Some growers, including us, picked after the rain, while others left fruit hanging. One grower described the season as being in a state of purgatory, unsure if harvest was truly over.
As of late October, many were still waiting to see if a buyer would come forward before deciding to pick. Another grower said it went smoothly for all the wrong reasons, meaning there was no pressure to harvest fruit in a timely fashion because wineries simply did not want the fruit.
Q: What were some of the characteristics of the growing season?
A: Fruit quality was good, but the mid-October rain slowed things for us. For those vineyards left unharvested, demand was so low that fruit often went unsold. For the growers who did sell, prices barely covered costs, if at all. Yields reported were lower this year than last year.
Q: Are there any varieties you’re excited about?
A: Pinot gris, which has increased by about 140 percent, along with other interesting whites such as vermentino, grenache blanc, chenin blanc, and albariño. These varieties are different, and people are starting to expand their horizons and try something new. Unfortunately, major varieties like chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon continue to face pressure from competitively priced imported bulk wine, which has reduced demand for local fruit.
Q: How many acres do you farm?
A: I think the more important question is, of the total acreage farmed, how much was picked. Only about 60 percent of our grapes were harvested this year, with the rest left on the vine due to limited demand. I only know of one grower who harvested all their acres, and it seems that growers overall picked 70-75 percent of their fruit.
Q: Anything else of note this harvest?
A: This harvest leaves us feeling even more uncertain about the future. Don’t assume your favorite wines are made entirely from American or California fruit. Up to 25 percent of American wine can be imported and often, it is. If you want to support local growers and the California wine industry, read the label, front and back. Now is the best time to help our industry.
John Gash, owner and winemaker, PRIE Winery
PRIE is a small family owned and operated winery in Lodi. Owners John and Lisa Gash take pride in having a hand in every aspect of creating fine wines from Lodi and the surrounding Northern California AVA’s. The entire process is done on their small estate winery. The attention to detail results in high quality wines that speak for themselves.
Q: How did it go this year?
A: 2025 was a year of guarded optimism. The cooler temperatures during the summer created expectations of a great harvest, though we were battling mildew pressures that we normally do not see in our vineyards. Most of the varietals made it through, though we had a few casualties. Grape contracts were light, which I am sure everyone has commented on. I understand the pressures both in the vineyard and at the winery. We cut back 30 or more percent on our targets as wine sales have created pipeline pressure.
Dwight Busalachi, owner and grower, Mio Vigneto
Dwight grows six varieties— cabernet sauvignon, fiano, ribolla gialla, nero d’avola, barbera and two clones of sauvignon blanc on seven of his 18 total acres. He plans to explore other Italian varieties and honestly believes he can grow high quality grapes of any variety due to Lodi’s weather and the range of well-drained soil types found in the Lodi AVA. – Credit Randy Caparoso, Lodi Wine blog, “Mio Vigneto Releases its First Estate Ribolla Gialla While Finishing its Winery and Visitor Facility.”
Q: How did it go this year?
A: We experienced a season combining renewal & reinvention. A portion of our customer base dialed back their standard purchase of grapes due to lack luster sales. Luckily, we acquired new buyers & our only unsold varietal was Cabernet Sauvignon. I saw this as an opportunity to experiment on developing a wine for a generation shifting away from high alcohol.
Q: What were some of the characteristics of the growing season?
A: Exchanging conversation throughout the season with grape growers in northern California, the consensus was stated,” expect a fantastic vintage.” This stems from the cool growing season at the start along with a small heat wave toward the end of the spring portion of vine development. I noted higher acids for the same sugar level in years prior during sugar accumulation stage of berry development.
Q: Are there any varieties your excited about?
A: A great opportunity to make Cabernet Sauvignon “the king of red grapes,” in an elegant style. I remembered Cab as a young man being a very drinkable low alcohol wine with meals. The surge in popularity of fruit driven high alcohol California wine starting in the 1970s, prompted wine makers to produce more extracted higher alcohol wine. Sales boosted and higher scores achieved from critics judging wines in competition. During those years we hosted business associates from Slovenia in 2005 for over a week. We organized wine tastings from Monterey to Mendocino counties and Livermore to Amador counties. Our guests tasted wines from many California AVA’s and gravitated only toward low alcohol wines that were a European style of wine crafting.
I sought the challenge of growing a low alcohol Lodi cab with my unsold grapes with all the attributes of a European wine. Grapes left behind could maybe rewrite the rules. My farming strategy was more critical than cellar techniques. Using data from previous years, I monitored the vine nutrient levels at key points during the season and employing precise irrigation strategies. Results were very exciting! I submitted a grape sample to ETS labs at 23.4 Brix for a quick phenolic panel. The results, total anthocyanins, 1250 mg/L out of range of 700 to 1500 mg/L for cabernet sauvignon. Harvesting at 23.9 degree brix yielded an exceptionally dark black color like petite sirah while only having a finish ABV 13.7 percent. The resulting wine seems to have all the qualities of a rich cabernet without the elevated alcohol levels. The success of this experiment remains to be seen, but it’s designed to delight both younger & older patrons.
Q: How many acres do you farm?
A: Currently, Mio Vigneto farms seven acres of our 20-acre parcel planting six grape varietals on one-to-two-acre blocks.
Alyce F. Peterson, vice president, L.A. Delta Investments
Alyce was raised in Sacramento and graduated from the University of Pacific. It was always Alyce’s dream that she and her husband Leonard H. Peterson own vineyards. So, after a 32-year career of sales and marketing in southern California, Alyce retired to join Leonard in the winegrape industry and the couples’ other pursuits. Alyce is also a realtor with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, Drysdale Properties selling vineyards, horse properties and country homes.
Q: How did it go this year??
A: On the plus side, harvest went well. Lodi is a wonderful community of winegrape growers who help each other out. And we had a new buyer for some of our grapes. For that we are so incredibly grateful. On the minus side, the market for winegrapes remained weak for the third year. More vineyards were removed, and grapes were left on the vines.
Q: What were some of the characteristics of the growing season?
A: The growing season was good. Mother Nature was kind and gave us the “ideal” Mediterranean climate: just enough pre-season rain followed by sunny warm-to-hot days and cool evening breezes.
Q: Are there any varieties you’re excited about?
A: We are most excited about syrah, zinfandel and merlot. Why? We grow them. And these varieties are spurring creativity from the winemakers and wineries. Wine is not a solo player. It is an element in a larger dining experience. How do we help the younger, adventurous eater pair wine with cuisines like Indian, Thai, or Korean? As a winegrape grower, we are excited about the creativity some winemakers and wineries are using to feature their wines. Whether it is new blends or serving wine slightly chilled to pair with spicier cuisines, or something else, it helps introduce wines made from syrah, zinfandel and merlot to new potential consumers.
Q: How many acres do you farm or how much did you source?
A: We farm about 80 acres; all sustainably certified through Lodi Rules.
Q: Anything else you’d like to say about this harvest?
A: Lodi has some wonderful things happening as we go forward into 2026. We now have two restaurants opened by Michelin star chefs. Appellation Lodi Wine and Roses is getting national press. Lodi is authentic and accessible for those curious about wine. Like Spain, Italy, and Greece (which are also on the 38th parallel), Lodi has vineyards with 50- to 100-year-old vines owned by the same family for up to five generations. The Lodi Wine Commission and the Lodi Visitors and Convention Bureau are working together to bring attention to this wonderful wine region. My thanks to Dr. Stephanie Bolton, PhD, Grower Communications and Sustainable Winegrowing Director with the Lodi Winegrape Commission, for her help with this article.