Wine
Class with Jeff Kunde
4th Generation Winegrower - Kunde
Family Estate Winery
A Personal View of Sonoma
Monday, May 11, 2009
Dale Shephard Room at 6:00
We'll be tasting these Kunde Family Estate Wines.
Magnolia Lane Sauvignon
Blanc
Chardonnay “Nu” (un-oaked)
Chardonnay
Zinfandel
Cabernet Sauvignon
Syrah
Reservations are required. Participation is limited
to 35.
Please call 612-626-7788.
$30 - charged to your member account.
Delicious appetizers will be part of this wonderful
presentation.
4th generation winegrower,
Jeff Kunde. Jeff Kunde serves as Chairman of the
Board and partner for Kunde Estate Winery &
Vineyards. He travels extensively around the United
States to promote the Kunde Estate brand of signature
wines and its winegrowing legacy. "I have always
lived on this land, and in my role as Board Director,
I show it to people from all over the world and
get to see how special it is through their eyes."
Jeff has served on
the Board of Directors of the Sonoma County Convention
and Visitors Bureau, the Sonoma County Grape Growers
Association, the Sonoma Country Farm Bureau, the
Sonoma County Wineries Association, and the Wine
Institute. He remains actively involved in the community
his family has called home since 1904.
Kunde Family Estate
Winery - Family owned and operated for five generations,
Kunde Family Estate produces ultra-premium, estate-grown
wines that are sustainably farmed in the finest
traditions of Northern California's renowned Sonoma
Valley.
First planted in 1879 by viticultural pioneers James
Shaw and Captain John Drummond, with imported cuttings
from Chateaux Margaux and Lafite Rothschild, our
estate is comprised of 1,850 contiguous acres in
the heart of the Sonoma Valley. 700 acres are planted
to twenty different varieties of wine grapes. Our
main ranches, Wildwood and Kinneybrook, stretch
for two miles along scenic Sonoma Highway and extend
1,400 feet up from the valley floor, across the
rolling hills, and into the Mayacamas Mountain range.
Featuring seven different
microclimates within the vineyards, the estate consists
of three distinct elevation ranges: valley floor,
hillside and mountainside. These distinct elevations
contain a mix of soil depths and types as well as
sun exposures. Mountain and hillside vineyards are
mainly dry farmed, and specific trellising and ground
cover crops are utilized to enhance fruit characteristics.
The soil base, known as “Red Hill” series,
is volcanic red ash produced from lava flows that
occurred more than five million years ago.
The valley floor soils
consist of shallow gravely loams and “Red
Hill” clay. Evening coastal fog and wind protection
make these vineyards the coolest on the estate.
The hillside vineyards are mainly “Red Hill”
soils and influenced by fog and wind. And our mountainside
vineyards are terraced with very shallow “Red
Hill” soils. They lie above the fog and are
prone to afternoon winds, making these vineyards
the warmest climate on the estate.
Within these two ranches
are several vineyard designations, each planted
to a carefully selected varietal to enhance the
unique flavor portrait produced by the terroir,
the vines, and the distinct climate: Kinneybrook
Chardonnay, Shaw Century Vines Zinfandel, C.S. Ridge
Chardonnay, Wildwood Chardonnay, Drummond Cabernet
Sauvignon, and Magnolia Lane Sauvignon Blanc. Our
winemaking team has also crafted several distinctive
wines produced exclusively for our Kunde Family
Estate Wine Club members that note specific vineyard
block
Kunde Family Estate,
one of Sonoma Valley's oldest and most renowned
family agricultural enterprises, has won a 2008
Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership
Award (GEELA).
The State of California's
highest environmental honor, the award was given
to the Kunde's by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at
ceremonies in Sacramento. The 108-year-old Kunde
Family Estate was recognized in the category of
Innovation Sustainability for pioneering efforts
to integrate environmental values and conservation
into long-term decision making and management of
its 1,850 acre estate, including its vineyards,
winemaking facilities, and open lands, and for its
innovative programs to educate its visitors and
surrounding community on sustainable practices.
"When we ramped
up work on sustainability in 2003, our environmental
and economic objectives were straightforward - to
have a successful company that used environmentally
sound, economically feasible, and socially equitable
practices to create ultra-premium wine," said
Jeff Kunde, fourth generation winegrower and leader
of Kunde Family Estate's Green Team. "While
our objectives remain the same, our mission has
become much broader - to educate and inspire our
visitors and community on sustainability. We are
very proud that today we are considered to be a
leader in sustainability and public awareness,"
Kunde added.
Highlights of Kunde
Family Estate's green practices include:
• Significant
reductions in kilowatt usage per case (down 18 percent),
natural gas usage (down 30 percent), and disposable
waste (down 55 percent).
• Soil conservation
and creek restoration benefiting the aquatic habitat
of Sonoma Creek and other minor tributaries.
• A native nursery
program, which involves planting and growing native
trees in the community, in partnership with local
elementary schools
• An annual "Green
Ranger Day" for local schools, teaching children
about sustainability. Activities include planting
creek banks with native plants, releasing ladybugs
for natural predation in vineyards, painting owl
boxes for natural habitats and planting the native
tree nursery with acorns from oaks on the estate.
• Second Level
Green Business Certification (the highest level
given) from the San Francisco Bay Area Green Business
Program - one of only 12 Sonoma County wineries
out of more than 225 to be awarded this certification
• Eco-Tour and
Sustainable Wine Growing Hikes teaching people about
Kunde Family Estate's vineyard and winery practices.
A portion of the event proceeds are donated to the
Sonoma Ecology Center.
Kunde
Family Estate Winery
