Support California Old Vine Region Where Pinot Noir Place Meets Syrah Street

The Lodi Wine Festival is back for another year, featuring wine tasting experiences from 40 wineries who together are pouring over 200 varietals. This is a unique opportunity to explore what the often underappreciated Lodi wine region has to offer all in one place. The festival is set to take place on Saturday, April 6, 2024 at the Lodi Grape Festival grounds. This event continues to prove Lodi's approachability for seasoned wine enthusiasts and beginners alike. Travelers have the opportunity to book accommodations at Lodi's premiere boutique hotel, Wine & Roses , which features a full service spa, a restaurant, and coffee shop. Additionally if you have an RV you can make a camping reservation to stay on property following the festival.

VIP ticketing allows admission an hour early, at 1:00 PM, and in addition to unlimited wine tasting gives access to the VIP Lounge which includes additional curated wine tasting and catered food. The VIP ticket cost is $70 with advanced purchase ($80 at the door.) Access to only The Grand Tasting begins at 2:00 PM, includes unlimited wine tasting, and costs $50 with advanced purchase ($60 at the door.) Designated driver tickets are also available.

Click here to purchase tickets | See the list of participating wineries

For many generations, grape growers in Lodi have been the custodians for thousands of acres of gnarly, weathered 50-100+ year old vines—purely out of love and nostalgia. Due to their labor of love, Lodi is indisputably home to California’s highest concentration of own-rooted, old vine vineyards—a fact which is a source of great pride among the Lodi wine community.

The sad fact is, these old vine vineyards are in danger...and not only in Lodi. Each year in California hundreds of acres of old vine vineyards are uprooted. Increasing costs of vineyard management, low yields, urban developments, and a diminishing return on the price the fruit is able to fetch is forcing many growers to replace beloved vineyards with rows of younger, more productive vines. These living artifacts of agricultural history are disappearing. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. Gone, too, are the special wines made from those historical vineyards. The mission is simple: preserve Lodi’s historical vineyards for generations to come. And in doing so, inspire a movement among like-minded people throughout the wine growing regions of California and beyond.

The minds behind this campaign are the Lodi growers themselves, who back in 1991 formed the Lodi Winegrape Commission to self-fund marketing, grower education, and viticultural research to improve the quality of their grapes and sell more of them to the rapidly growing wine production industry.

Lodi has always been an agricultural region. The vast majority of Lodi grapes are grown by hard-working farmers, over 750 of them, many with family roots in the region going back to the 1800s. Even today, the region's 85 or so home-based wineries represent less than 2% of the bonded wineries in the state. Yet Lodi grows over 20% of California's yearly grape crush. Do your small part by supporting Lodi winegrowers.

Click here to purchase tickets | See the list of participating wineries