I am trying to get a sense of the range of potential $/acre yields for wine grapes in Lodi. I recognize this could get complex quickly, as this is dependent varietal, quality, yield, quality of growing season, etc. But if you were to break it down into some broad categories - for example, highest quartile $/acre, median $/acre, lowest tier $/acre for bulk - what might that look like? But feel free to use any categories that make the most sense. I’m not a grower, and so if there’s a better way to break this out, I’m all ears!
I can’t give you per acre, but roughly a range per ton, and you can extrapolate from there. I would say average price for conventionally farmed stuff of a variety that is abundant, like Zin, is around $1000/ton. Add historic vineyard, sustainable or organic farming etc, and it can be $1200-1800. Pedigree vineyards with great reputation can be slightly over $2K. Bulk vineyards - well anything goes and this year you would have probably gotten $0 - but it’s likely in the $300-800/ton range, machine harvestable.
Old vines rarely produce much more than 1-2T/acre. A new vineyard that isn’t overcropped maybe 4-5T/acre. There are vineyards that push 10T/acre, but they’re normally more on the bulk side and probably won’t produce quality wines.
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Very helpful response - thank you!
Great response from Adam. The only thing I’ll emphasize is that “potential $/acre yields” right now is a really tough thing to get at because a lot of fruit is going unsold and Lodi seems to be getting hit hard. That was true in 2024 and it’ll most likely be true again in 2025, as slower sales mean wineries are sitting on inventory and may be revising down production volumes.
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