At Lange Twins Family Winery and Vineyard, every decision is filtered through one lens – sustainability. It turns out the same choices that ensure the next generation’s future result in some really delicious wine. 

Generational farming: Gambling on the future

Farming can sometimes be a gamble – and every good gambler knows the secret to winning is making the most of the cards you’re dealt. The Lange Family has been farming in Lodi for five generations. Like most farmers, they will tell you they gambled on whatever seemed like a winning hand – watermelons, cantaloupes, row crops – before ultimately landing (in their case) on winegrapes. For quite some time, that choice served them well. In 1974, Brad and Randall Lange (aka…the Lange Twins) founded Lange Twins Family Winery and Vineyard. 

Before that, the Lange Twins sold their grapes to larger wineries and helped to manage local vineyards. For a few decades, things went well… maybe a little too well. By the early 2000s, the Lange Family and many of Lodi’s winegrape growers faced the same problem – there were more winegrapes than buyers. Prices had plummeted – and to survive, they would have to make some big changes. That’s when the Lange Family took the biggest gamble in their family’s history.

Joe Lange, Randall’s son and International Sales Director at Lange Twins, recalls, “In 2005, the family realized that we weren’t gonna be able to continue farming for the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth generation. So, we pushed all of our chips to the center of the table and risked everything – leveraged every single piece of land that we owned, all the vineyards, all the way up to my parents and my aunt and uncle’s house here on the farm, and gave it all to the bank to finance the building of a state-of-the-Art Winery. And that’s allowed us to add value back to the vineyards to sell fewer of our grapes to big corporate wineries and make them under our name, under Lange Twins and a few other labels we make.”

Generational farming is sustainable farming

The Lange Family is keenly aware that choices made now will impact the future of the next generation of the Lange family – and those to follow. Joe elaborates, “We can’t be generational without being sustainable. The two go hand in hand. We look at sustainability as an all-encompassing effort – how we’re running our business, what we’re doing for our employees, what we’re doing amongst the vineyards with our habitat restoration projects. And so, as a family, we are always trying to look at the past and see what we can change to make the future generations of our family more successful on the farm. In my grandfather’s time, the perfect vineyard was one where the only green thing in the vineyard was the vine leaves. And that’s definitely changed now. When you look at vineyards, you do have weeds in the vineyard, you do have beneficial insects, and it’s more of a symbiotic relationship with nature. I think it is a key point of differentiation between the generations.”

Certified sustainable wine: Following the (Lodi) Rules

The Lange Family’s vineyards are certified sustainable through Lodi Rules. Joe elaborates, “On the vineyard side, what does sustainability look like? Water is our most crucial resource. Another huge resource is the soil. So, how do we regenerate the soil? We do it by planting cover crops in the fall and winter and then cultivating those cover crops to act as green manure to augment the soil. It’s also things kind of out of the box –  how to control rodent populations in the vineyard. So in the vineyards, we place owl boxes, and these owls can actually take anywhere between 500 – 1000 rodents during the spring and summer months.”

Biodiversity and habitat restoration is an integral part of the sustainable efforts at Lange Twins. One incredible example of their devotion to this cause is called Sandpoint. The family removed 13 acres of vines and replanted the area with native California plants. They’ve also invested in native grassland restoration to increase carbon sequestration. Their most recent project, in partnership with The Center for Land Based Learning, is a pollinator habitat. Sandpoint, native grassland restoration and the pollinator habitat all serve to create a healthier ecosystem – providing habitats and riparian corridors for beneficial insects, birds and native animals. 

Lange Twins wine: Zinfandel…and so much more

Lodi is synonymous with Zinfandel – and while Lange Twins Winery boasts some incredible Zinfandel in their repertoire, they’re eager to introduce folks to some of their more unexpected varietals. Joe smiles, “Zinfandel from Lodi is different than Zinfandel from anywhere else. We make a few different Zinfandels from Lodi. One of them comes from a vineyard planted in 1903. It doesn’t produce a lot of grapes, but the grapes that it does produce are super concentrated and top quality. Just think about what that vine has been through: prohibition, a couple of recessions, the commercialization of Zinfandel. It’s still there and it’s been in the ground growing for 121 years; it’s fantastic.”

Beyond Zinfandel, Lange Twins grows an additional 30+ varieties of wine grapes.

Joe enthusiastically adds, “You can find the international varietals, like Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. We’re making single-varietal single vineyard Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Franc, and Barbera. People that wanna scratch the surface and dig a little deeper into the region can find those gems.” 

Where to find Lange Twins wine

Lange Twins wines can be purchased direct from the winery or found at well-stocked wine shops, restaurants and hotels in 14 countries across the globe.

Joe proudly states, “That is one of the simplistic joys of the wine industry – especially when your name is on the bottle. You know exactly where those grapes came from, worked in every single one of those vineyards. And now I’m sitting on the 65th floor of a hotel in a Tokyo drinking a glass of my own wine. That’s really rad.”

Visit Lange Twins Family Winery and Vineyards

Lange Twins Family Winery and Vineyards

1525 E Jahant Road

Acampo, CA 95220

Open Friday-Sunday

Reservations recommended but not required

(209) 334-9780

Lodi: Our favorite agritourism destination

Planning to visit Lange Twins Winery in Lodi? Why not make a weekend of it? There’s so much to do in Lodi! Here are a few of our favorite ways to spend a weekend in Lodi.

Article by Hilary Rance. Photography by Alycia Moreno.