The Kautz family, owners of both Ironstone and Christine Andrew wines, have been farming the land in Northern California since 1923, when Grandfather Kautz bought the land and started to graze cattle. In the mid 1960s, his son John began planting Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Lodi region and just under 30 years later, the winery was established. Today, all four grandchildren are working in the business, each of them with a different area of responsibility. The Kautz family owns 2,200 hectares of vineyards, located in the Lodi and Calaveras County/Sierra Foothills AVAs. As you might expect, there is a wide variety of grape varieties grown, from classic Zinfandel and Chardonnay to the more unusual Cabernet Franc, Tempranillo and the almost unique Symphony. They also have some of the oldest head trained Zinfandel plantings in the Lodi region, which they use in their reserve wines, offering phenomenally concentrated flavours. The Ironstone Winery is located in the historic gold rush town of Murphy’s, located in Calaveras County in the Sierra Foothills, three hours east of San Francisco. Construction began in 1989 and when miners blasted and hand carved the ageing caverns from a solid rock mountain, they commented how hard the stone was, that it was like iron – hence the name Ironstone Vineyards.

Montes are renowned for being pioneers in the winemaking world, and following the huge success of Kaiken, the result of their foray into Argentina, the next logical step was to take their winegrowing expertise to the northern hemisphere. Montes started in the Napa Valley as they did in Chile and Argentina, by sourcing grapes in the areas that Aurelio Montes thought were most suited to his creations. He searched for the best grapes he could find in three areas of the Napa Valley, Yountville, Coombsville and Oak Knoll. Aurelio has always been passionate about Cabernet Sauvignon, and these parts of the Napa Valley boast some of the best Cabernet Sauvignon in the world. Aurelio was determined to work his Chilean magic in the vineyards of California, and the Montes Napa Angel Cabernet Sauvignons, are a testament to his hard work and expertise.

After resurrecting Sutter Home in 1948, the Trincheros struggled to keep the family winery afloat, imbuing it with the values of hard work, ingenuity, humility and integrity that have characterised them ever since. Each member of the family played a vital role in keeping the business running: Mother Mary Trinchero kept the books, younger children Vera & Roger helped on the bottling line, while order brother Bob assisted his dad, Mario, and uncle John in cleaning out tanks and barrels. The family’s cohesion kept Sutter Home together and eventually made it the success it is today. With its creation of White Zinfandel in the early 1970’s and the introduction of high-quality, affordably priced varietal wines during the 1980’s & 90’s, Sutter Home has become a household name and the second largest, independent family-run winery in the US.