Human Story
A Mongolian family is growing grapes in far away America and making their own wine
We are going to introduce a creative family living in Walnut Creek, a town on the west coast of California, USA. This family belongs to T. Tuvshintogs. T. Tuvshintugs lives with his wife B. Zagdsuren and three children. He came and settled in California 19 years ago.
Their family is very sporty. He has made mountain trips and running an integral part of his life, and the most interesting thing is that in 2017 he started growing grapes and making wine.
In the city where they settled, there is a world-famous wine factory called “Napa Valley”. In that sense, most of the families in the city cultivate grapes and make their own wine. When the family of T. Tuvshintogs first moved in, the neighboring family gave them two rows of vineyard land and offered to make wine by taking care of it themselves. This is how the history of the couple’s family wine production began. Subsequently, the couple learned from their neighbors how to care for the vines and wine production techniques and made 24 bottles of wine in the first year. The friends who were the first tasters were very enthusiastic, so they encouraged me to start making the next wine.
The field where they harvest is two rows 30 meters long. In the beginning, due to lack of experience, there were cases where the harvest was lost to squirrels, squirrels, and birds, but 250 liters of wine were produced from the harvest of last year, 2020. After harvesting in September-November, watering is stopped and the bushes are put to sleep. After the leaves have completely fallen, the old branches are cut between II and IV months, leaving the main bush. After that, starting from V month, the irrigation is resumed, the new crop is harvested by fertilizing.
T. Tuvshintogs works on his winemaking, while his wife, B. Zagdsuren, takes care of the grape growing process on her own.
Not only that, but also produces the design of the outer label of the wine bottle. For the first time in 2018, according to the wishes of his wife, B. Zagdsuren, he produced a sweet and mild wine, but every year, he changed the taste according to his wishes.
Making wine was something new and unimaginable to them. They also have a dream to share their wine history by participating in the annual festival held between wine producing families in the city.