How to Become a Winemaker: David Munksgard

As we celebrate David’s 30th vintage at Iron Horse, it feels like the perfect moment to share the how and the why he became a winemaker. This is David’s story, in his own words. It begins with a letter from Robert Mondavi. – Joy Sterling

As expected, the envelope was in our mailbox when we returned home. I opened it. Read it. Placed it in a drawer. “Maybe in another lifetime,” I said sadly.

Just five days earlier, my wife and I were with Robert Mondavi as he showed us his new winery in Oakville, Napa Valley. It was something that he saw in my eyes that I simply couldn’t admit to; that I wanted to be a winemaker.

He’d said that if I was interested, that I’d need to get a degree in enology and viticulture. He recommended CSU-Fresno, saying the more hands-on environment there would best fit me, so, he wrote a letter of introduction there for me. That was the envelope. This was winter of 1974.

On the flight back to our home to Virginia, I thought more and more about it. What was I thinking? Leaving a good job, selling our home and moving 3,500 miles to follow a dream. That’s just crazy. Occasionally, I’d pull the letter out and re-read it. Back in the drawer it went.

One late spring day in 1977, I drove home to find a for sale sign in our front yard. Entering our home, I found my wife with our 6 months old son asleep in her lap. Asking about the sign she replied, “I’ve made up our mind. You are going to be a winemaker.” Just a few months later we rolled into Fresno, our home for the next three years until my graduation in 1980.

David and his family the day they left for California | David featured in newspaper while in college

Walking into the college winery three weeks before classes began, I was greeted by an instructor who soon became my mentor and best friend. Asking if I had a direction I wanted to specialize in, I said no. He suggested sparkling wine. I was on my way.

My three years there were some of the best years of my life. My bond with my mentor grew as did my knowledge.

My first position after graduation was as assistant winemaker to a start-up sparkling wine facility, Chateau St. Jean Sparkling wines where I spent 9 foundational years, learning the nuts and bolts of the craft from Mentor #2.

From there I accepted my first full winemaker gig in the Finger Lakes of New York State. A friend had suggested that before I settle into my final position that, “I work in a tough climate where winters are harsh, and summers have rain. In a winery so small that you are expected to do literally everything.” Here I developed a great set of skills that would forever serve me well. In this sink or swim environment, my confidence grew. Here there is no network of support systems to assist winemakers. In the Finger Lakes, I was on my own. After six vintages, I felt that I was now ready for the big league. As many winemakers will attest, once you leave California, it’s tough to get back in.

David and Joy circa 2015 | David, Audrey and Joy during 2025 harvest

Over the years I’d formed a casual friendship with one of the partners of Iron Horse Vineyards. In fact, I’d interviewed for a position there in the mid 1980’s and had been turned down. In hindsight, I wasn’t ready for Iron Horse. To get back into California, I needed to do a bit of “networking”, so I sent a “stack” of resumes to that same partner. After a few weeks, this partner flew out to speak with me at my home. We had a hard, yet productive discussion. He said that the final decision lies with the senior partners who are away on a lengthy European vacation. Weeks go by. It’s early summer 1995 and I’m currently unemployed. A wonderful, family-owned winery one lake over wants me and I can’t hold them off any longer. At 10AM (Eastern), I sign a contract (that I wrote) that holds me obligated to this winery until at February of 1996. That afternoon Barry Sterling calls me, offering the winemaker position at Iron Horse. My heart sank. I explained to Barry what I had just done that morning. He seemed impressed that I felt obligated to fulfill the contract. Barry was willing to wait until I could join them in 1996. My heart soared.

I vowed to make my final harvest in the Finger Lakes my finest, and I was going to throw everything I had into it. I arrived at the winery at 6AM and headed home around midnight every day of harvest. I lost 15 pounds and ended up in the ER twice with dehydration. We won the coveted Governor’s and slew of other awards. It was hard leaving, but I was proud of our accomplishments.

I was finally ready for Iron Horse.

I’d always had a very romanticized image of what it was going to be like to be a winemaker. It included the vineyards and landscape, the buildings, and the rooms full of barrels. Walking the vineyard deriving inspiration. Harvest with the colors and smells. The teamwork that’s needed to bring in the crop. The bustle of activity in the cellar. The sounds. The perfume of fermentations. I was finally living all of that and much more. 51 years have past since that tour with the late Robert Mondavi planting the seed. It’s been a long journey crossing this great country three times, but I was never alone. It all started with a huge loving push by my late wife, followed by mentors as I needed them.

Iron Horse is — in every real sense — my family. No man deserves to be this lucky; but as they say, “I’ll take it.”