Estate Tour

EXPLORE

COME FOR
THE WINE.
STAY FOR
THE DAY.

Our Heritage Museum opened in 1996. The main attraction is the world’s largest specimen of Crystalline Gold Leaf, a 44-pound treasure. It was discovered in 1992 in the Sonora Mining Corporation’s mine near Jamestown, about twenty miles from where it is displayed at our winery. John & Gail Kautz purchased it and sent it to Colorado for one year, where it underwent a process using acid baths and instruments equivalent to dental picks to extract 22 pounds of mariposite quartz, leaving the 44-pound piece of gold. It is considered priceless due to its rare form.

We have over 300,000 daffodil bulbs planted on the property. In March and April, you are greeted by a sea of daffodils as you approach the entrance of Ironstone Vineyards. Tulips are also in bloom around the same time. In addition, you’ll find azaleas, camellias, rhododendrons, hyacinths and pansies throughout the property. Regardless of the time of the year, there is always something in bloom.

Since gold is such an important part of the recent history of our state, we created an outdoor mining history museum. Included are a water wheel, flume, miner’s shack, mining shaft, equipment and machinery related to the gold rush days.

In 1989, the Kautz family assembled a crew of professional miners to blast, pick and shovel their way through the solid limestone and schist rock hillside. It took ten months to complete that process.

These environmentally friendly wine caverns are 10,000 sq. feet and naturally cool at a steady 60 degrees Fahrenheit with 70% humidity year-round. This is important for our wine aging. The waterfall in the back helps adjust the humidity. The caverns hold our Reserve Wines in a French and American oak barrels.

The Breezeway unites the wine caverns with the production area. This area includes a large stage that is used for wedding receptions, music events, wine club tastings, pre-concert parties and other celebrations.

Our tank farm includes sixty-four stainless steel tanks, some holding up to 32,000 gallons in capacity. It is computerized and temperature controlled to allow us to select specific lots of our Reserve wines. In our production center, guests are able to see some of the state-of-the-art tools that we use in our winemaking process, including a stainless steel hopper which can hold up to four tons, an auger fed destemmer crusher, a Diemme Bladder Press and a rotary fermenter.

Ironstone Vineyards sits on 1,150 acres of land, of which close to 100 acres is planted with grapes including: Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Muscat Canelli, Petite Sirah, Tempranillo, and Viognier.