Woman's Wine Journey From Bolivia To California's 100-Year-Old Vines
Old Vine Zinfandel in California
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Big Sur coastal landscape in California
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Over 150 years ago, the idea of the American Frontier, a.k.a. the Old West, was a dream for those who had limited opportunities in their own land; it was the chance to build a much better life through hard work without having one's social standing get in the way. That dream mainly existed in California, and even today, it is a state that has encouraged entrepreneurial innovation across many sectors. It is also a relatively new winemaking area that showed the world that great wines weren't limited to European borders.
One woman, Susy Vasquez, experienced her own version of a modern-day American Frontier journey as she traveled to California from Bolivia to gain more experience with sustainable agriculture with a side benefit of improving her English, which she knew would open up better job prospects once she went back to Bolivia. Her focus was originally geared towards crops to be consumed as food, and the notion of making wine never occurred to her. Yet a friend introduced her to an American man, David, who would be the impetus to place her life on another track.
Life Has Other Plans
Susy Vasquez
LangeTwins
She wasn't interested in a romantic relationship then as she had always intended to go back home, so she only hung out with David as a friend. He also worked in agriculture but focused on growing grapes for wine, which was interesting to Susy, and brought to her attention that there was an intern opportunity with E. & J. Gallo Winery, one of the most successful wine companies in the world. The position was geared towards organic viticulture, which was very exciting to Susy, and she could work for a top company on the cutting edge of sustainability.
Susy's boss at Gallo, who used to be a professor at U.C. Davis, was always on the lookout for talent and came to her to offer a position that would involve being a liaison between the vineyard team and the winemaking team. "I don't know anything about fermentation science," answered Susy, who was quite taken aback by the request. And her boss replied, "Well, we are going to send you to U.C. Davis." So Susy ended up taking winemaking classes at Davis, and then, she really got a fantastic education working in a lab for Gallo that took the grapes from the vineyards and put them through all of the winemaking stages, evening bottling the wines. Gallo has miniature equipment, even a small bottling line, within the lab; that way, they could do their testing at every stage with small batches. Since Gallo grows grapes all over California with various grape varieties and styles of wines, it gave Susy a chance to understand the nuances of precision winemaking for multiple styles.
LangeTwins In Lodi
Alley with stores in old town La Paz Bolivia.
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Through time, Susy never ended up going back to Bolivia permanently as she went on to oversee entire wine programs at other wineries in the highly competitive California wine industry. Finally, she found her new home in Lodi, California, at the family winery LangeTwins.
Lodi has a special history - the first vineyard was planted there in 1850, and today, it has a high concentration of old Zinfandel vines, with the oldest dating back to the 1920s. The farmers in Lodi have always been ahead of the curve when it comes to sustainability, and they started America's original sustainable winegrowing program in the early 1990s. And because it is such a diverse winegrowing region, there are around 125 grape varieties in production; it is an ideal place for Susy, who loves to work with various varieties as well as making sustainability a major mission in her life, especially at such a multi-generational winery as LangeTwins.
Brad and Randall Lange
LangeTwins
LangeTwins is run by twin brothers and their adult children; their great-grandparents came to Lodi in the 1870s to farm non-irrigated watermelons. As a family, they purchased their first vineyard in 1916, and through each generation, have evolved to make more premium wines with a site-specific approach. Today, they are committed to keeping this a thriving generational business and they have committed to ambitious environmental projects such as removing 60 acres of vineyards as they would like to increase the biodiversity, enrich the soil and improve the watershed through regenerative farming – just one of the many admirable programs they have implemented.
A woman hiker helping another woman hiker
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Susy has been making wine for over 19 years, which seems shocking considering her vibrancy and overall glow when she talks about her job as a winemaker at LangeTwins.
Because it is not old hat, and if anything, it has kept her young while accumulating lots of knowledge and experience, making her an incredible leader. She remembers how hard it was when she was younger and had her second child, as she was passed up for promotions and felt guilty knowing that it could cause issues for her job. She loves her job and feels so lucky to be in the position she is in today, but it was challenging, and she doesn't want any young woman working for her to go through what she had to go through. She reassures everyone who works for her that they are part of a team and that means that if someone has a baby or any major life event or crisis, others will step up and cover them, and the favor will be returned.
Laid Out In The Past
Driving down a long road
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It was heartwarming to hear Susy reminisce about all those years ago when she first became friends with that American man, David, who introduced her to wine and the opportunity at Gallo. Even though she thought they were just friends hanging out whenever it was convenient and easy, she didn't realize that he lived over two hours away and would come to see her almost every weekend to hang out. Then, when she took a trip back home to visit her parents before she started at Gallo, he told her that he would visit her, which she quickly dismissed as so many people she knew in California said they would come to Bolivia but never ended up coming. But one day, she got an email from David saying he was coming, asking if he had a good itinerary and attached a copy of his plane tickets to show her that it was true. He said he wanted to see her at home, in her environment, but even after all that, she still thought she would return home after Gallo.
Susy hadn't talked about those memories in years because she is too focused on the present, as she has two kids, the oldest 16 years old, and yes, she ended up marrying David and he has been on this journey with her since that time. Sometimes, one's future starts to get laid out unbeknownst to that person, but it is all crystal clear when revisiting the past. Who she would marry or where she would live were not the only things that weren't clear during that time, as she couldn't even see her potential as an important leader who would make the road more possible for others.
LangeTwins lineup of wines
Cathrine Todd
2023 LangeTwins "Sand Point" Sauvignon Blanc, Lodi, California: 100% Sauvignon Blanc. This wine really punches above its weight retailing at only $12 with a refreshing zesty quality enhanced by tropical notes such as lemon sorbet and green mango flavors with mouthwatering fierce acidity balanced by a nice amount of weight on the palate.
2024 LangeTwins, Grüner Veltliner, North River Vineyard, Mokelumne River AVA, Lodi, California: 100% Grüner Veltliner (white grape originally from Austria) from the single vineyard North River, which is located in the sub-region of Mokelumne River - one of Lodi's cooler climates. Susy noted that for each vintage, they will decide what parcels to bottle as a single vineyard; for example, this Grüner Veltliner for some years will make a better blending partner for their white blends so that no single vineyard will be made, but 2024 was ideal for this Grüner Veltliner plot. Aromas of intense minerality with notes of pear drop and hints of white pepper with a softer acidity than the Sauvignon Blanc on the palate, yet it is still vibrant with a broad body with lemon curd flavors.
2022 LangeTwins 'Ivory & Burt' Old Vine Zinfandel, Lodi, California: 100% Old Vine Zinfandel. Another steal retailing at $16 as it has a nice amount of complexity and brightness that makes this wine irresistible with ripe strawberries flecked with cracked black pepper intermixed with the richness of blackberry preserves flavors that is lifted by bright cranberries with an underlying note of rocky gravel.
2020 LangeTwins "Midnight Reserve" Bordeaux Bend. Lodi, California: 55% Petit Verdot, 44% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Cabernet Franc. This is one of LangeTwins' top wines, and it changes its blend every year, yet Bordeaux varieties are always represented. 2020 was a spectacular year for Petit Verdot, which is why there is such a large percentage. Multilayered aromas of cocoa nibs, cassis and tapenade that has a slightly firm structure give shape and focus to the wine balanced by plush fruit and a juiciness that has a long finish leaving espresso notes in one's head.
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