December 7, 2023 • 21 mins
The Kautz family settled in California in 1926 from Germany to farm, eventually expanding into grape growing in the Lodi and Sierra Foothills appellations. Their Ironstone Vineyards located in Calaveras County is considered “the Queen of the Sierras” for its volcanic soils, optimum growing conditions and many grape varieties cultivated from Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay to Cabernet Franc and Zinfandel. The family is recognized for its many innovations in the region. www.ironstonevineyards.com
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(00:03):
Welcome to the Connected Table SIPs oniHeartRadio. We are your insatiably curious culinary
couple, Melanie Young and David Ransom. We bring you the dynamic people who
were front and center and behind thescenes in food, wine, spirits and
hospitality. Ours is a delicious lifeand we want to share it with you.
(00:26):
The Count's family has had a longand fruitful history in California agriculture,
dating to nineteen forty, when Frederickand Marie Coultz came to America from Germany
and acquired farmland and lodie. Theirson, John Couts, switched to premium
grape growing in nineteen sixty eight withconsiderable success. He established his first winery
(00:47):
in nineteen eighty eight, and overthirty years, the family's landholdings grew throughout
Lowdey and Sierra Foothills. One ofthe family's crown jewels is Ironstone Vineyards in
Calaveras County, which has been calledthe Queen of the Sierras for its optimum
growing additions that produce a wide rangeof wines from Shennon blanc and Chardonnay to
(01:11):
Cabernet frank and zinfandel to tell usmore about Ironstone Vineyards were joined by Joan
Couts, daughter to John and GailCouts. Joan handles global marketing and sales
and has dramatically expanded the family's exportbusiness. Welcome Joan, Hi, Thank
you. Joe and your ancestors cameover from Germany to California in nineteen twenty
(01:33):
six and settled near the Sierra Foothillsin the town of Lodi. What can
you tell us about your family andits role in developing the wine business in
Lodi and in the Sierra Foothills.My grandparents came over from Germany following the
American Dream, and I still cansee and hear my grandmother talking about the
American Dream and just getting chills downyour arms because they were so passionate about
(01:57):
that. So they came over withbasically no money. They found the opportunity
to be farm workers in California,and this was in the Lodi area,
and so they worked and saved upenough money finally to buy a small parcel
of land and that was just avery typical family farm. When my father
(02:21):
was graduating from high school, unfortunatelyhis father passed away and they couldn't afford
for him to go to college anyhow, so he stayed and started building the
family farm up to doing all sortsof commodities and eventually got into growing sweet
cherries in Lodi. And then innineteen sixty eight he decided he wanted to
(02:42):
plant wine grapes, and after yearsof growing sweet cherries, he knew that
LOADI had a very ideal climate microclimatefor California, with its warm summer days
and the Pacific Ocean breezes coming throughthat he thought, you know, wine
grapes would do very well. Atthe time, he went to the advisors
and asked them, you know,what do you suggest we grow here?
And they said, well, weknow zoofandel grows great there, and you
(03:07):
know other varieties like tokay and missionand karen Yon. So my father planted
shardonay, Merlin and cabernet, andyou know, had Shardonay planted and LOADI
for ten years before anybody else,and really just started building the operation up
and expanding his vineyard holdings and atthat time selling all of his grapes to
(03:29):
other growers in California. And youknow, over time is when we decided
to get more serious about our ownbrands. But I think him being a
part of agriculture and really working theland himself and being out there was super
important to the wine business, bothfor Lodi and for Murphy's and Sierra Foothills.
(03:53):
We're curious for our listeners who mayyou know they're working out their mental
map. Tell us about Loadie andthe Sierra Foothills distance wise? Where are
they and how are they similar andhow are they different in terms of terroir?
A good way to explain it.And this is what makes Lodie so
unique is that when you look atCalifornia, there's only one break in all
of California, right, and that'sthe San Francisco Bay, So Lord I.
(04:17):
And this is when he was growingsweet cherries. He realized this that
Lodi, if you went north ofSacramento or south of Stockton, so load
I's about ninety miles east of SanFrancisco. And so if you went,
you know, in either direction,sweet cherries didn't grow as well there.
And the thing about it is isyou know you have through the Carcina Straits
(04:42):
there in everything, you have thosePacific Ocean breezes coming through every evening cooling
load Ee. So as far asyou know like the terroir. It tends
to be a very bountiful area becauseyou have a lot of the you know,
from the Sierra Nevadas to the SierraFoothills, soils coming down in all
the nutrients and waters coming down,and that's through the San Francisco Bay,
(05:05):
the Delta water System, so you'vegot thousands of miles of Delta that's basically
going out to the Pacific Ocean.So that's where those breezes are coming back
in toward Lodi every evening. Murphy'sand the Sierra Foothills is about another sixty
miles east, and the best wayto kind of describe where the location is
(05:26):
is it sits somewhat between like Tahoeand Yosebodi National Park. So you're up
in the Sierra Foothills at the baseof the Sierra Nevada Mountains, but we're
about twenty four hundred and twenty sixhundred feet elevation, So the soils up
there tend to be very red,a lot of volcanic soils, a lot
of granite. You'll see in ourreserve wines. Often there's tends to be
(05:47):
a mineral note throughout them from winesthat are coming out of the Sierra Foothills,
and I think it's just you know, the gold that's in those hills
as well as coming out in theflavor profile of our Sierra foothill lines.
It's so interesting just picturing it,and they're very, very different. What
grows well. We're going to betasting some wines and discussing the caberny,
(06:11):
fronc and zinfandel. But you alsomentioned that your family was the first to
plant chardonnay in this area, andyou grow many grapes and you have a
lot of land also, so let'stalk about that and what grows really well
in the different areas. It's interestingbecause LOADI there's a lot that grows great
in LOADI. I mean all sortsof agriculture, you name it. It's
(06:35):
the whole San Joaquin County or valleyis the bread basket of the US.
I mean, we supply so muchfood and crops throughout the US and elsewhere
for that matter. But in Lodispecifically, I mean LOADI grows over one
hundred plus different varieties. You know, there's seven sub appellations of Lodi.
(06:57):
We happen to grow in six ofthose seven, so for us, it
allows us to have our zifandels plantedmore than the Columi River Subava or our
Pino Noir does great in the Jahantsub Ava, which tends to be closer
to those delta to the delta andthe water. And you know the Cabernet.
A lot of our Cabernet Sauvignona ismaybe in the Clements Hills sub Avia,
(07:19):
and then we have some up inslough House and Borden Ranch in some
other areas. The Loti appellation isa big appalation. It actually produces more
than nap and Sonoma combined. Butagain geographically it's a it's a large appellation,
and so I think that you know, it does super well across the
(07:40):
board with all varieties. Up inthe Sierra foothills, you're getting a little
bit probably a little bit more tanninstructure, a little more intensity, and
again the difference is those soils.The vines are really struggling because they have
to get in there, and sothe focus obviously is on the fruit itself.
(08:01):
One of the tenets that is veryimportant to you is the issue of
sustainability in your farming. You havea lot of land and you really work
to make sure that you're doing theright thing for the land as you grow
your grapes. Why don't you tellus a little bit about some of the
developments that you've created at Ironsteine.Yeah, well, it's sustainability is nothing
new for us. I mean,where everybody's talking about sustainability these days and
(08:24):
the importance of it, and it'sincredibly important. The thing is is that
my father he grew through the Bookof Hard Knocks. Basically he learned by
doing, and he was out there, and so sustainability has always been important
to him. For a while there, he was the president of the California
State Board for Food and Agriculture,so he was going up and down the
(08:46):
state promoting agriculture, learning about agricultureand all the different commodities. Way back
when he came across this really interestingprogram that they were doing in Citrus called
the integrated past management program. Sohe brought that back to Lodie and convinced
some different growers to try this.And integrated pest management was about bringing in
(09:09):
beneficial insects to combat the bad ones, and so they were doing that.
He developed, He didn't develop.He brought in drip irrigation because back then
they were doing you know, rowsor flooding or different ways that was wasting
water, and so they brought indrip irrigation. And so today all of
our vineyards are on drip and youcan also in addition to you know,
(09:33):
precisely having the water go where itneeds to go, you can also put
any nutrients through there too. Sodrip irrigation was something I mean back in
nineteen sixty eight he won a FordFoundation award about conservation and soil conservation and
everything, so that kind of tellsyou how long ago he was looking at
(09:56):
that. We finally became certain ifit's sustainable in all of our vineyards about
five years ago or so. Nowwe can show the certificate of something we'd
always been doing. But that's importanttoo. But you know, everything from
you know, soil fertility programs,cover crops, the drip irrigation, water
(10:18):
management programs, and sustainability. Thebeautiful, the beautiful thing about sustainabilities.
It takes into account your vineyard,but it also takes into account the venue,
you know, the properties around you. So if there's a cornfield doing
something, you're taking into account what'shappening upstream. It also goes all the
way into the winery and you knowwhat you're doing with your employees, and
(10:41):
you know your work environment as well, So it really encompasses all sorts of
aspects of you know, what weshould be doing well and as stewards of
the earth. With is what youare, you're helping for the greater good.
Absolutely doing these amazing initiatives and developmentsand rec and one a wonderful tribute
to your father to be recognized bythe Ford Foundation. We know that Ironstone
(11:07):
also is a great destination to visit. Tell us about the visitors experience for
our listeners who may want to plana trip. Oh, you know,
and it's wonderful. It's a greatweekend and you could spend a week easily
up in that area. The IronstoneWinery itself, I mean, we have
obviously tasting plenty of plenty of wonderfulwines to taste. There's a deli,
(11:28):
we have a music room with atheater pipe organ in it. We have
a museum. So the museum startedout to be mostly gold artifacts again coming
from that area. Now there's afew other things in there. There's a
jewelry, shop there. But alsoencompassed in the museum is a forty four
(11:52):
pounds piece of gold and it's agold leaf crystalline specimen. And it was
found about fifteen miles from the wineryon a vein that runs through the winery,
and it was found by a miningcompany. And when the mining company
was closing down, this piece waspotentially destined to go to France. My
(12:13):
parents caught wind of this and said, hold on, this is part of
our area. It has to stayhere. So they acquired it and picked
away a lot of the rock withacid. They dip it in acid when
dental picks pick away the rock.So now the gold leaf crystalline specimen sits
at the winery. It's forty fourpounds. It's on display in a vault
(12:35):
for anyone thinking anything crazy, sovery secure. It's an absolutely incredible piece.
And I always explain it in aterm that people who drink wine understand
in that it stands about two anda half wine bottles tall and about six
or eight wide. Definitely worth thevisit if you want to come. In
(12:56):
the summers. We do a greatconcert series and we have an outdoor amphitheater.
We have about fifteen acres of gardens. You know, honestly, there's
just so much to do. Andit's a great family destination as well,
because you have so much history aboutthe gold Rush there too. Well,
(13:16):
Joe, that just sounds so amazing. We can't wait to visit. I
mean, the photos of this goldpiece alone just blow us away. But
you also struck gold with your amazingwines. And we have four in front
of us to discuss in the Ironstonewhite label and black label reserve. Let's
(13:37):
start with the Cabernet Fronc. Wehave a white label twenty twenty one,
and then we'll move on to theblack. We'll do it by variety,
Okay, Yeah, the Cabernet Fronc. The white label is all lod diappllation.
And these wines are really fun totry side by side because it really
it really demonstrates the differences in theterroir. The Lodi fruit tends to be
(14:03):
I would say a little bit morejuicy. You'll get more cherry notes out
of that wine. It has usuallyaround five months or so combination of French
and American oak. And we usually, you know, like any any wine
or art piece, there's a blendin there, so they're always usually always
have a blended of Cabernet Sauvignon ormerlou and that varies by vintage, of
(14:28):
course. But this Cabernet franc isjust I love it because you know,
there's some Cabernet franc that can maybebe a little bit on the green side,
but because it's one of our lastgrapes to pick, it really ripens
and fully develops and you just getreally pretty flavors throughout, and it's the
(14:48):
tan instructure is very soft and justI don't know, just delicious is a
great way to describe it. WhereAs the the Cabernet franc the Resis,
which is now Sierra Foothills, astate grown fruit, is going to be
more time in oak. It's usuallyaround that twelve months plus in oak barrels,
(15:09):
and it's a bigger structured wine.It's got nice full tannins, but
they're the supple tannons, they're notthose stringent tannins, so nice round mouthfeel,
you know, this one. Havinga nice steak or grilled something with
(15:30):
it is just wonderful. But twocompletely different styles, which I personally like
because everybody has different preferences to whatthey'd like to drink, and so you
have two fabulous options here. Well, we tasted the Cabernet franc Ironstone twenty
one last night. We had akind of an interesting miluge of black beans
(15:54):
and chicken and onions, and it'slike a homemade stew. It was very
good, very very nice, andreally terrific body to it. And wait,
let's talk about the zinfandel. We'vegot old vines. We have a
twenty twenty in the Ironstone white label, and then we have the reserve twenty
twenty one, twenty twenty white labeland twenty twenty one reserve, and it's
(16:19):
zinfandel. So we're creaking a wholenother direction. And both of these are
from Lodi. Yes, yes,So first and foremost, Lodi is the
self proclaimed zinfandel capital of the world. It grows thirty thirty plus percent of
all zinfandel comes from Lodi. There'sa lot of old vines, and these
(16:42):
two zinfandels both from Lodi, botha combination of two three different vineyards but
different sites. So the white labelthe vines are between forty and sixty years
old, whereas the reserve zinfandel isbetween sixty and eighty years old, so
they're all those like old, kindof gnarly head trained vines. And the
(17:04):
one thing I will say about ourz infandels and the zinfandels we like to
produce is they all have a lotof finesse to thems. Zinfandels can be
pretty big, bold, in yourface wines with higher alcohols. These don't
have that. They're really I thinkelegant. I realize I'm biased, but
I think they're very elegant wines witha lot of finesse to them, and
(17:25):
the alcohol is definitely in balance andin check. The first z infandel,
the white label, well it's blendedwith some petite Sarah and it's going to
have a lot of those kind ofnice BlackBerry notes to it. It'll have
a little bit of blueberry coming throughfrom that petite Sarah, which I find
very pretty. Again, it's aroundthose five months American and French oak,
(17:47):
whereas the reserve z infandel double thatin oak time, so more of that
twelve plus months, a bit morestructure to it, a bit more tannin,
but again not the astringent tannins,the suppultanins. So both wonderful wines,
but again two different styles. Youknow, I said it earlier,
but that's again the beauty of wineand the booty with working with these varieties
(18:11):
and these beautiful old wines. Howspecial that is to have that opportunity.
You are very active in global marketingand sales. Are you seeing a lot
more people reaching for these beautiful redwines as you travel? I mean,
are you seeing trends that reflect this? You know, it's interesting. Yeah.
We export our wines to around fiftycountries worldwide, and so you do
(18:36):
see the different trends in markets.California's quintessential grape is Zimfandel, so you
do see it out there. Obviouslyyou see primitivo coming out of Italy,
but the styles are still different.Zimfandel is one of our best selling wines
internationally. You know, anywhere yougo, Shardana and Cabernet are king.
(18:56):
People know that, but Zimfindel doesreally well, and people, I think,
really appreciate the style of it,and they just love the fact that
it is Californian, and I thinkthat makes it special. It is quintessential
Californian. Speaking of quintessential, wewant to note here that Ironstone Vineyards is
(19:17):
distributed by Quintessential Wines, which isbased in Napa. You've been with them
for a very long time, andthe website is Quintessential Wines. We also
want to make sure that we putin that your website is Ironstone Vineyards dot
Com because you can buy your winesanywhere in the United States, and of
course visit the winery and of courseget the chance to drink gold and see
(19:37):
gold. Absolutely, and you knowwhat, we love having guests visit the
winery. It's definitely worth it.And we encourage you know, coming for
the day, coming for the weekend, bringing your family, bringing your friends.
There's just so much to do thereand it's a beautiful area as it
is. You know, the townof Murphy's is a very quaint kind of
(20:00):
gold rush town and there's a lotto do and see all around that area.
And so, like I said,we definitely welcome anybody to come visit
us in California any time of yearbecause we're not far from a ski resort,
you know, so winter skiing orsummer concerts or summer boating. It
kind of has everything. Well,California has everything in our book. We
(20:22):
love California. Joan Caltz has beensuch a pleasure to talk to you on
the Connected Table SIPs. Thank youfor your time and your beautiful wines.
Thank you very much. Hope tosee you out here. Absolutely count on
it. You've been listening to TheConnected Table SIPs with Melanie Young and David
Ransom. To listen to more indepth features with the movers and shakers who
(20:47):
shape the wine, food spirits andhospitality industry, tune into our companion show,
The Connected Table Live. You cantune into the live broadcast on Wednesdays
at two pm Eastern Time on Wfour Cyra, easy to find at ww
dot W four cy dot com,or listen to all our shows anytime at
(21:07):
iHeart dot com and on the iheartapp. Connect with us on Twitter at Connected
Table, and follow us on Facebookand Instagram under the Connected Table. And
remember always stay insatiably curious.
Welcome to the Connected Table SIPs oniHeartRadio. We are your insatiably curious culinary
couple, Melanie Young and David Ransom. We bring you the dynamic people who
were front and center and behind thescenes in food, wine, spirits and
hospitality. Ours is a delicious lifeand we want to share it with you.
(00:26):
The Count's family has had a longand fruitful history in California agriculture,
dating to nineteen forty, when Frederickand Marie Coultz came to America from Germany
and acquired farmland and lodie. Theirson, John Couts, switched to premium
grape growing in nineteen sixty eight withconsiderable success. He established his first winery
(00:47):
in nineteen eighty eight, and overthirty years, the family's landholdings grew throughout
Lowdey and Sierra Foothills. One ofthe family's crown jewels is Ironstone Vineyards in
Calaveras County, which has been calledthe Queen of the Sierras for its optimum
growing additions that produce a wide rangeof wines from Shennon blanc and Chardonnay to
(01:11):
Cabernet frank and zinfandel to tell usmore about Ironstone Vineyards were joined by Joan
Couts, daughter to John and GailCouts. Joan handles global marketing and sales
and has dramatically expanded the family's exportbusiness. Welcome Joan, Hi, Thank
you. Joe and your ancestors cameover from Germany to California in nineteen twenty
(01:33):
six and settled near the Sierra Foothillsin the town of Lodi. What can
you tell us about your family andits role in developing the wine business in
Lodi and in the Sierra Foothills.My grandparents came over from Germany following the
American Dream, and I still cansee and hear my grandmother talking about the
American Dream and just getting chills downyour arms because they were so passionate about
(01:57):
that. So they came over withbasically no money. They found the opportunity
to be farm workers in California,and this was in the Lodi area,
and so they worked and saved upenough money finally to buy a small parcel
of land and that was just avery typical family farm. When my father
(02:21):
was graduating from high school, unfortunatelyhis father passed away and they couldn't afford
for him to go to college anyhow, so he stayed and started building the
family farm up to doing all sortsof commodities and eventually got into growing sweet
cherries in Lodi. And then innineteen sixty eight he decided he wanted to
(02:42):
plant wine grapes, and after yearsof growing sweet cherries, he knew that
LOADI had a very ideal climate microclimatefor California, with its warm summer days
and the Pacific Ocean breezes coming throughthat he thought, you know, wine
grapes would do very well. Atthe time, he went to the advisors
and asked them, you know,what do you suggest we grow here?
And they said, well, weknow zoofandel grows great there, and you
(03:07):
know other varieties like tokay and missionand karen Yon. So my father planted
shardonay, Merlin and cabernet, andyou know, had Shardonay planted and LOADI
for ten years before anybody else,and really just started building the operation up
and expanding his vineyard holdings and atthat time selling all of his grapes to
(03:29):
other growers in California. And youknow, over time is when we decided
to get more serious about our ownbrands. But I think him being a
part of agriculture and really working theland himself and being out there was super
important to the wine business, bothfor Lodi and for Murphy's and Sierra Foothills.
(03:53):
We're curious for our listeners who mayyou know they're working out their mental
map. Tell us about Loadie andthe Sierra Foothills distance wise? Where are
they and how are they similar andhow are they different in terms of terroir?
A good way to explain it.And this is what makes Lodie so
unique is that when you look atCalifornia, there's only one break in all
of California, right, and that'sthe San Francisco Bay, So Lord I.
(04:17):
And this is when he was growingsweet cherries. He realized this that
Lodi, if you went north ofSacramento or south of Stockton, so load
I's about ninety miles east of SanFrancisco. And so if you went,
you know, in either direction,sweet cherries didn't grow as well there.
And the thing about it is isyou know you have through the Carcina Straits
(04:42):
there in everything, you have thosePacific Ocean breezes coming through every evening cooling
load Ee. So as far asyou know like the terroir. It tends
to be a very bountiful area becauseyou have a lot of the you know,
from the Sierra Nevadas to the SierraFoothills, soils coming down in all
the nutrients and waters coming down,and that's through the San Francisco Bay,
(05:05):
the Delta water System, so you'vegot thousands of miles of Delta that's basically
going out to the Pacific Ocean.So that's where those breezes are coming back
in toward Lodi every evening. Murphy'sand the Sierra Foothills is about another sixty
miles east, and the best wayto kind of describe where the location is
(05:26):
is it sits somewhat between like Tahoeand Yosebodi National Park. So you're up
in the Sierra Foothills at the baseof the Sierra Nevada Mountains, but we're
about twenty four hundred and twenty sixhundred feet elevation, So the soils up
there tend to be very red,a lot of volcanic soils, a lot
of granite. You'll see in ourreserve wines. Often there's tends to be
(05:47):
a mineral note throughout them from winesthat are coming out of the Sierra Foothills,
and I think it's just you know, the gold that's in those hills
as well as coming out in theflavor profile of our Sierra foothill lines.
It's so interesting just picturing it,and they're very, very different. What
grows well. We're going to betasting some wines and discussing the caberny,
(06:11):
fronc and zinfandel. But you alsomentioned that your family was the first to
plant chardonnay in this area, andyou grow many grapes and you have a
lot of land also, so let'stalk about that and what grows really well
in the different areas. It's interestingbecause LOADI there's a lot that grows great
in LOADI. I mean all sortsof agriculture, you name it. It's
(06:35):
the whole San Joaquin County or valleyis the bread basket of the US.
I mean, we supply so muchfood and crops throughout the US and elsewhere
for that matter. But in Lodispecifically, I mean LOADI grows over one
hundred plus different varieties. You know, there's seven sub appellations of Lodi.
(06:57):
We happen to grow in six ofthose seven, so for us, it
allows us to have our zifandels plantedmore than the Columi River Subava or our
Pino Noir does great in the Jahantsub Ava, which tends to be closer
to those delta to the delta andthe water. And you know the Cabernet.
A lot of our Cabernet Sauvignona ismaybe in the Clements Hills sub Avia,
(07:19):
and then we have some up inslough House and Borden Ranch in some
other areas. The Loti appellation isa big appalation. It actually produces more
than nap and Sonoma combined. Butagain geographically it's a it's a large appellation,
and so I think that you know, it does super well across the
(07:40):
board with all varieties. Up inthe Sierra foothills, you're getting a little
bit probably a little bit more tanninstructure, a little more intensity, and
again the difference is those soils.The vines are really struggling because they have
to get in there, and sothe focus obviously is on the fruit itself.
(08:01):
One of the tenets that is veryimportant to you is the issue of
sustainability in your farming. You havea lot of land and you really work
to make sure that you're doing theright thing for the land as you grow
your grapes. Why don't you tellus a little bit about some of the
developments that you've created at Ironsteine.Yeah, well, it's sustainability is nothing
new for us. I mean,where everybody's talking about sustainability these days and
(08:24):
the importance of it, and it'sincredibly important. The thing is is that
my father he grew through the Bookof Hard Knocks. Basically he learned by
doing, and he was out there, and so sustainability has always been important
to him. For a while there, he was the president of the California
State Board for Food and Agriculture,so he was going up and down the
(08:46):
state promoting agriculture, learning about agricultureand all the different commodities. Way back
when he came across this really interestingprogram that they were doing in Citrus called
the integrated past management program. Sohe brought that back to Lodie and convinced
some different growers to try this.And integrated pest management was about bringing in
(09:09):
beneficial insects to combat the bad ones, and so they were doing that.
He developed, He didn't develop.He brought in drip irrigation because back then
they were doing you know, rowsor flooding or different ways that was wasting
water, and so they brought indrip irrigation. And so today all of
our vineyards are on drip and youcan also in addition to you know,
(09:33):
precisely having the water go where itneeds to go, you can also put
any nutrients through there too. Sodrip irrigation was something I mean back in
nineteen sixty eight he won a FordFoundation award about conservation and soil conservation and
everything, so that kind of tellsyou how long ago he was looking at
(09:56):
that. We finally became certain ifit's sustainable in all of our vineyards about
five years ago or so. Nowwe can show the certificate of something we'd
always been doing. But that's importanttoo. But you know, everything from
you know, soil fertility programs,cover crops, the drip irrigation, water
(10:18):
management programs, and sustainability. Thebeautiful, the beautiful thing about sustainabilities.
It takes into account your vineyard,but it also takes into account the venue,
you know, the properties around you. So if there's a cornfield doing
something, you're taking into account what'shappening upstream. It also goes all the
way into the winery and you knowwhat you're doing with your employees, and
(10:41):
you know your work environment as well, So it really encompasses all sorts of
aspects of you know, what weshould be doing well and as stewards of
the earth. With is what youare, you're helping for the greater good.
Absolutely doing these amazing initiatives and developmentsand rec and one a wonderful tribute
to your father to be recognized bythe Ford Foundation. We know that Ironstone
(11:07):
also is a great destination to visit. Tell us about the visitors experience for
our listeners who may want to plana trip. Oh, you know,
and it's wonderful. It's a greatweekend and you could spend a week easily
up in that area. The IronstoneWinery itself, I mean, we have
obviously tasting plenty of plenty of wonderfulwines to taste. There's a deli,
(11:28):
we have a music room with atheater pipe organ in it. We have
a museum. So the museum startedout to be mostly gold artifacts again coming
from that area. Now there's afew other things in there. There's a
jewelry, shop there. But alsoencompassed in the museum is a forty four
(11:52):
pounds piece of gold and it's agold leaf crystalline specimen. And it was
found about fifteen miles from the wineryon a vein that runs through the winery,
and it was found by a miningcompany. And when the mining company
was closing down, this piece waspotentially destined to go to France. My
(12:13):
parents caught wind of this and said, hold on, this is part of
our area. It has to stayhere. So they acquired it and picked
away a lot of the rock withacid. They dip it in acid when
dental picks pick away the rock.So now the gold leaf crystalline specimen sits
at the winery. It's forty fourpounds. It's on display in a vault
(12:35):
for anyone thinking anything crazy, sovery secure. It's an absolutely incredible piece.
And I always explain it in aterm that people who drink wine understand
in that it stands about two anda half wine bottles tall and about six
or eight wide. Definitely worth thevisit if you want to come. In
(12:56):
the summers. We do a greatconcert series and we have an outdoor amphitheater.
We have about fifteen acres of gardens. You know, honestly, there's
just so much to do. Andit's a great family destination as well,
because you have so much history aboutthe gold Rush there too. Well,
(13:16):
Joe, that just sounds so amazing. We can't wait to visit. I
mean, the photos of this goldpiece alone just blow us away. But
you also struck gold with your amazingwines. And we have four in front
of us to discuss in the Ironstonewhite label and black label reserve. Let's
(13:37):
start with the Cabernet Fronc. Wehave a white label twenty twenty one,
and then we'll move on to theblack. We'll do it by variety,
Okay, Yeah, the Cabernet Fronc. The white label is all lod diappllation.
And these wines are really fun totry side by side because it really
it really demonstrates the differences in theterroir. The Lodi fruit tends to be
(14:03):
I would say a little bit morejuicy. You'll get more cherry notes out
of that wine. It has usuallyaround five months or so combination of French
and American oak. And we usually, you know, like any any wine
or art piece, there's a blendin there, so they're always usually always
have a blended of Cabernet Sauvignon ormerlou and that varies by vintage, of
(14:28):
course. But this Cabernet franc isjust I love it because you know,
there's some Cabernet franc that can maybebe a little bit on the green side,
but because it's one of our lastgrapes to pick, it really ripens
and fully develops and you just getreally pretty flavors throughout, and it's the
(14:48):
tan instructure is very soft and justI don't know, just delicious is a
great way to describe it. WhereAs the the Cabernet franc the Resis,
which is now Sierra Foothills, astate grown fruit, is going to be
more time in oak. It's usuallyaround that twelve months plus in oak barrels,
(15:09):
and it's a bigger structured wine.It's got nice full tannins, but
they're the supple tannons, they're notthose stringent tannins, so nice round mouthfeel,
you know, this one. Havinga nice steak or grilled something with
(15:30):
it is just wonderful. But twocompletely different styles, which I personally like
because everybody has different preferences to whatthey'd like to drink, and so you
have two fabulous options here. Well, we tasted the Cabernet franc Ironstone twenty
one last night. We had akind of an interesting miluge of black beans
(15:54):
and chicken and onions, and it'slike a homemade stew. It was very
good, very very nice, andreally terrific body to it. And wait,
let's talk about the zinfandel. We'vegot old vines. We have a
twenty twenty in the Ironstone white label, and then we have the reserve twenty
twenty one, twenty twenty white labeland twenty twenty one reserve, and it's
(16:19):
zinfandel. So we're creaking a wholenother direction. And both of these are
from Lodi. Yes, yes,So first and foremost, Lodi is the
self proclaimed zinfandel capital of the world. It grows thirty thirty plus percent of
all zinfandel comes from Lodi. There'sa lot of old vines, and these
(16:42):
two zinfandels both from Lodi, botha combination of two three different vineyards but
different sites. So the white labelthe vines are between forty and sixty years
old, whereas the reserve zinfandel isbetween sixty and eighty years old, so
they're all those like old, kindof gnarly head trained vines. And the
(17:04):
one thing I will say about ourz infandels and the zinfandels we like to
produce is they all have a lotof finesse to thems. Zinfandels can be
pretty big, bold, in yourface wines with higher alcohols. These don't
have that. They're really I thinkelegant. I realize I'm biased, but
I think they're very elegant wines witha lot of finesse to them, and
(17:25):
the alcohol is definitely in balance andin check. The first z infandel,
the white label, well it's blendedwith some petite Sarah and it's going to
have a lot of those kind ofnice BlackBerry notes to it. It'll have
a little bit of blueberry coming throughfrom that petite Sarah, which I find
very pretty. Again, it's aroundthose five months American and French oak,
(17:47):
whereas the reserve z infandel double thatin oak time, so more of that
twelve plus months, a bit morestructure to it, a bit more tannin,
but again not the astringent tannins,the suppultanins. So both wonderful wines,
but again two different styles. Youknow, I said it earlier,
but that's again the beauty of wineand the booty with working with these varieties
(18:11):
and these beautiful old wines. Howspecial that is to have that opportunity.
You are very active in global marketingand sales. Are you seeing a lot
more people reaching for these beautiful redwines as you travel? I mean,
are you seeing trends that reflect this? You know, it's interesting. Yeah.
We export our wines to around fiftycountries worldwide, and so you do
(18:36):
see the different trends in markets.California's quintessential grape is Zimfandel, so you
do see it out there. Obviouslyyou see primitivo coming out of Italy,
but the styles are still different.Zimfandel is one of our best selling wines
internationally. You know, anywhere yougo, Shardana and Cabernet are king.
(18:56):
People know that, but Zimfindel doesreally well, and people, I think,
really appreciate the style of it,and they just love the fact that
it is Californian, and I thinkthat makes it special. It is quintessential
Californian. Speaking of quintessential, wewant to note here that Ironstone Vineyards is
(19:17):
distributed by Quintessential Wines, which isbased in Napa. You've been with them
for a very long time, andthe website is Quintessential Wines. We also
want to make sure that we putin that your website is Ironstone Vineyards dot
Com because you can buy your winesanywhere in the United States, and of
course visit the winery and of courseget the chance to drink gold and see
(19:37):
gold. Absolutely, and you knowwhat, we love having guests visit the
winery. It's definitely worth it.And we encourage you know, coming for
the day, coming for the weekend, bringing your family, bringing your friends.
There's just so much to do thereand it's a beautiful area as it
is. You know, the townof Murphy's is a very quaint kind of
(20:00):
gold rush town and there's a lotto do and see all around that area.
And so, like I said,we definitely welcome anybody to come visit
us in California any time of yearbecause we're not far from a ski resort,
you know, so winter skiing orsummer concerts or summer boating. It
kind of has everything. Well,California has everything in our book. We
(20:22):
love California. Joan Caltz has beensuch a pleasure to talk to you on
the Connected Table SIPs. Thank youfor your time and your beautiful wines.
Thank you very much. Hope tosee you out here. Absolutely count on
it. You've been listening to TheConnected Table SIPs with Melanie Young and David
Ransom. To listen to more indepth features with the movers and shakers who
(20:47):
shape the wine, food spirits andhospitality industry, tune into our companion show,
The Connected Table Live. You cantune into the live broadcast on Wednesdays
at two pm Eastern Time on Wfour Cyra, easy to find at ww
dot W four cy dot com,or listen to all our shows anytime at
(21:07):
iHeart dot com and on the iheartapp. Connect with us on Twitter at Connected
Table, and follow us on Facebookand Instagram under the Connected Table. And
remember always stay insatiably curious.
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