Hang in there — we will survive German, Austrian wine varieties not for everyone

Editor: More than 60,000 Americans are known to be infected with coronavirus. More than 800 additional people have died from the illness in the United States. Is this the apocalypse?

No. The end times are not upon us. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, described in the Biblical Book of Revelations, indeed stride the globe — war, famine, pestilence and death ... but those horrors have been a part of human societies since Cain slew his brother Abel.

Human beings are tough, resilient creatures. Evolution equipped our species, Homo Sapiens, with a powerful immune system which fights disease, speeds recovery from wounds and illness, and enables people to function despite physical ailments. W e do not go calmly into the darkness, but fight, fight against the dying of the light.

There’s no rational reason to strip grocery store shelves, resurrect home bomb shelters, or greet visitors at the front door with a loaded shotgun. Basic personal hygiene, from washing hands regularly to doing the laundry, will protect nearly everyone from “COVID-19.” As President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said in one of his “Fireside Cats” radio speeches during the Great Depression, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

Calma te, Lodi, be calm, think clearly, and all will soon be well once more.

LANGE WINCKLER Lodi

Protect yourself and your community

Editor: I appreciate the letter concerning the coronavirus in the Sentinel by Dr. James Grady and the paper’s FAQs. We should follow Dr. Grady’s advice. Our nation has never seen such a devastating infectious pandemic since the flu epidemic in 1918.

To help protect yourself and your family, there is good information on the CDC website cdc.gov.

Another source of information is found at the City of Lodi website, www.lodi.gov. A recent post dated March 21 provides information in English and Spanish. It answers FAQs about the stay-at-home order issued by the governor on March 19, and the subsequent order issued by San

Editor: We read with interest the informative article in the Lodi News-Sentinel’s Lodi Living section on Saturday, March 7 about one of Lodi’s early winemaking pioneers, Dave Lucas and his Lucas Winery. However, we must take issue with one of his comments: “Some of the German varieties are a little more challenging for us and belong down on the Central Coast.”

I am not aware of Mr. Lucas having experience with German and Austrian varieties in his own fields or winery. However, I am aware that the view is held by many persons in the winemaking field. On the other hand, we at Mokelumne Glen

Vineyards have raised and sold German and Austrian grape varieties for a number of years here in Lodi and sold them to several well-known Northern California wineries which have been quite successful with wines that have been made from our grapes.

We do agree that German and Austrian grape varieties do offer some challenges that are not always otherwise experienced in this area.

Thus it is reasonable that these varieties are best grown here only by these growers who are willing to face and overcome these challenges.

Understandably, it is acceptable to us to us if other growers choose to follow Mr. Lucas’ inferred recommendation to not plant German and Austrian grape varieties in the Lodi area.

ROBERT KOTH Co-owner, Mokelumne Glen

Vineyards