Spenker Winery

Check out Lodi’s unique wine and cheese combo at Spenker’s Family Farm—a winery and cheese factory all rolled into one! They offer some seriously award-winning cheeses made with farmstead milk from their own goats. 🧀🍷

The Spenker family has been farming their 60-acre land just west of Lodi for over a century. It all started when Chuck and Bettyann met at a home winemaking party and fell head over heels. Fast forward to 1994, and they turned their winemaking passion into a business to show off their top-quality Zinfandel grapes.

Their daughters, Kate and Sarah, grew up in the thick of it, helping with everything from muddy vineyard work to chatting with customers about wine-making secrets.

Chuck and Bettyann’s leap from hobbyists to commercial winemakers really paid off. Their 1995 Spenker Zinfandel was a hit, scoring a “90” in Wine Spectator magazine in August 1997—the first Lodi wine to do so! They even got their picture in the magazine!

Their success sparked a movement, encouraging others to create premium wines from Lodi grapes. They teamed up with other local wineries to boost tourism and put Lodi on the map with tasting events, wine trails, and more.

Nowadays, you can find all sorts of wines in Lodi and at Spenker, but Zinfandel will always hold a special place as the wine that started it all!