Mohr-Fry Ranch - 2020 Medal Winers

One of the lessons I learned from working with my dad is to do business with people you like. To work with those that are easy to work with and make you better at what you do. This may sound simple, but in reality, you end up having to deal with a lot of people, and some of them can be a real pain-in-the-ass. Both customers and vendors. The key is the relationship, and that is never more apparent than in our 24 years of doing business with Jerry & Bruce Fry. 

When we moved our winery to Lodi in 1996, our own vineyard was dying of phyloxera, and we had no grapes to make wine. My father worked out a deal with the Lodi Winegrape Commission – if a grower brought us 2 tons of grapes, we would make the wine, and give them 25 cases, and keep the balance for ourselves. At this point in time, there were only a handful of Lodi wineries, and very few “Lodi” labeled wines in the market. The vast majority of Lodi grapes were being blended away in big tanks at large wineries, and growers really had no sense how the wine from their vineyards tasted.

Jerry Fry showed up with 7 tons of beautiful Old Vine Zinfandel grapes. My father didn’t know what to do. We didn’t have the money to pay for the grapes, and we had no idea how the wine would turn out. Jerry told him not to worry about it, that we would work it out later. We ended up bottling 450 cases of that first vintage. It won a bunch of awards, sold out quickly, and has since grown to be our most popular wine.

The above story epitomizes our relationship with Mohr-Fry Ranch. To this day, we don’t have a contract, but a relationship sealed with a handshake, and glass of Zinfandel. It’s this type of partnership that helps us succeed, propels Lodi to new heights, and makes business fun. That commitment to quality shown through especially well this year, with a number of big awards for our Mohr-Fry Ranch Petite Sirah, Old Vine Zinfandel and Alicante Bouschet!

2018 Mohr-Fry Ranch Alicante Bouschet

Best of Class, San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition

2017 Mohr-Fry Ranch Petite Sirah

Double Gold, Sunset Magazine International Wine Competition
Gold, Los Angeles International Wine Competition
93 Points, California State Fair Wine Competition

2018 Mohr-Fry Ranch Old Vine Zinfandel

Gold, San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition