World-renowned winery Iron Horse Vineyards developed a special brut for Lunar New Year

SEBASTOPOL, Calif. -- One Sebastopol-based winery is honoring Lunar New Year with a special bottle of brut. In fact, it's a yearly tradition.

Each year, the world-renowned Iron Horse Vineyards produces a special sparkling wine to commemorate the occasion. This year, they developed the vintage brut called, "Dragon."

"It's a blend of chardonnay and pinot noir grown here on the estate," said Joy Sterling, the Partner and CEO of Iron Horse.

The family-owned, pioneering estate winery was founded in 1976, specializing in celebrated sparkling wines.

"We're 13 miles from the coast," expressed Sterling. "The ocean is very important, that's what gives us our cool weather, so that we can make sparkling wine."

The unique, handcrafted bottles have been cherished worldwide.

"Our wine has been served at the White House for 38 years," expressed Sterling. "We are all about evolution...if we can think of one thing to do that's exciting, exhilarating, stimulating, and delicious, then we're just going to go for it."

Iron Horse is all about bottling different bubbly for different occasions. In February, the winery released "Dragon" to celebrate the Year of the Dragon.

"This is our second vintage of Dragon," stated Sterling. "The first vintage of Dragon was made for export to China."

Sterling added, "We were approached by a company in China who had heard about Iron Horse...they wanted to try bringing in California sparkling wine into the market."

Dragon is a brut, which is sparkling, unsweetened wine with a dry finish that complements Asian cuisine.

"When you're feasting and celebrating community, which is what Lunar New Year is about, you're going to have a lot of different dishes," described Sterling. "And one of the great things about sparkling wine is that it can go with many different flavors."

She added, "Bubbly can go with everything."

One of the winery's key missions is to give back to the community through wine.

"We have several giving wines, one of them is called, 'Gratitude,'" shared Sterling. "For that vintage...we give five dollars a bottle to the Redwood Empire Food Bank."

Sterling continued, "Excellence for us means the quality of the wine, but also how we conduct ourselves as employers, as community members, that's just essential, in fact, that's part of our sustainability. It is also doing the right thing."

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