Calwineries

Iron Horse Vineyards

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Iron Horse Vineyards is located on a beautiful, 300 acre piece of property in Western Sonoma County. It was established in 1971 by Rodney Strong. Forrest Tancer and Barry and Audrey Sterling bought the property in 1976. They spent considerable capital and effort on planting approximately 100 acres of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Iron Horse currently controls nearly 250 acres of vines and makes both sparkling and still wines. In addition to their Green Valley production, Forrest Tancer contributes 60 acres of Cab, Merlot, Cab Franc, Sangiovese, Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc from his family’s property in Alexander Valley.

Iron Horse has one most of the major wine awards and is a favorite at high-end restaurants throughout the country. On several occasions, Presidents Reagan, Bush Sr. and Clinton all served Iron Horse at the White House while entertaining world leaders and diplomats.

Forrest Tancer oversees both the grape growing and winemaking processes. His family owns T-Bar-T Ranch in Alexander Valley, and Tancer grew up tending the vineyards. In 1988, he was named Sonoma Winemaker of the Year.

Iron Horse’s 2000 Classic Vintage Brut is a blend of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay. It was aged with its yeast in the bottle for four years. This balances the natural acidity with a creamy texture. 5,600 cases were produced. The 2000 Russian River Cuvee is basically the Reserve bottling of the same wine.

Iron Horse also makes several still wines including Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from Green Valley. Additionally, they produce a particularly nice Sangiovese with grapes from the T-Bar-T Ranch in the Alexander Valley AVA.