Handcrafting Iron Hub’s Wines

Beyond Iron Hub Winery’s iconic vista and vineyards lies an even more unique experience: indulging in Tom Jones’ hand-crafted wines. As you know, the texture and balance of our wines often set us apart. Tom’s winemaking style creates textures often described as silky, smooth, full or velvety. Balance arises from blending each varietal individually, with attention to quality and disregarding quantity. At every stage of winemaking, Tom focuses on achieving the balance he wants in a wine. By incorporating barrels of different ages into a wine, he creates a wine that can “breathe” and develop without diminishing the varietals’ bright flavors. As the wine ages in the barrel, Malolactic fermentation is occurring, which is a secondary fermentation that contributes complexity and softens the texture of the wine.  For the red wines, balance is largely influenced by phenolic compounds often referred to as tannins. Tannins are complex organic compounds found naturally in the grapes’ skin and seeds and have a strong influence on the perceived body and dryness of a wine. The body, or structure, of a wine impacts how you experience the fullness of flavor. Another key component of wine to consider is acidity, which influences the texture and adds brightness to the natural flavors of the wine. Tom spends many days in his lab blending to create balanced wines with long finishes that are pleasant on the palate.

To demonstrate how these components work together, please consider the 2018 Chardonnay. To create this spectacular wine, Tom aged the Chardonnay in small French oak barrels of varying ages to create a full-bodied mouthfeel that has a smooth finish as the wine travels across your palate. He selects French oak barrels that are new as well as barrels that are at least 4 years old. Our Chardonnay was also aged on the inactive yeast cells called lees (with traditional “Bâtonnage” or stirring) and completed 100% malolactic fermentation, to allow greater complexity in flavor and texture.