David Munksgard - Winemaker Emeritus

David Munksgard has transitioned into the role of Winemaker Emeritus at Iron Horse. He is an enologist, a graduate of the enology/viticulture program at California State University, Fresno. He joined the extended family in 1996, bringing with him 16 years of experience in producing both sparkling and still wine in California's Russian River Valley and New York's Finger Lakes region.

David evolves with the vineyards and the wines. “Our goal here is to make better wines each year. That really keeps you on your toes, forcing you to re-think everything. Nothing is sacred; nothing is cast in stone.” Believing that great wines start with great grapes, David works closely with the vineyard team. His winemaking decisions are made as the grapes come into fruition. The first, most important is when and where to harvest on the estate. “Here I am 30 plus years into my career and I’m so excited about our future wines, I can hardly be contained.”

He says, "I'm doing everything I've always wanted to do. I'm working with estate-grown grapes; I'm making still and sparkling wines; I'm working for and with some very fine people, all of whom are driven by one single goal - to make wonderful wines that we can all be proud of. “

David describes himself as a hopeless romantic. He is a devoted family man. His passion and enthusiasm for wine is contagious.

Summing up his feelings about winemaking, David concludes, “For those of us fortunate enough to be making wine, it is not that we should be winemakers, we simply MUST be winemakers. Nothing else will satisfy that need to craft; to imprint onto and into our wines what we feel and see when we walk the vineyard and dream of what it might be.”