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High above Fiddletown, an old mining community in the Sierra Foothills of California, is Red Mule Road. It may not seem like anything particularly magical just driving down the tree-lined street, with its sprawling sections of land. But when you pull into 16915, you’ve found your way to Le Mulet Rouge Vineyard and Winery. That’s where the magic is found. Husband and wife Randy and Tracy Hart, along with their best friend, Jody Yehle, founded Le Mulet Rouge—French for ‘The Red Mule’—after spending many successful years as architects, of all things. Though wine has been a longtime passion, winemaking seemed like an unattainable dream that was best left to others. In 2014, nearly 15 years after initially getting the bug for the wine industry, they decided to leave their professional careers in Denver, Colorado to pursue winemaking in California fulltime. In only four years, they have produced a number of award winning wines—proving that their calling was waiting for them in the Foothills the whole time. “If I could do it all over again, I would have pursued our passion in wine a lot sooner.” said Tracy. “I’m happy to have carried the experiences that I have, but I would love to have found wine earlier.” Their training in architecture did come in handy when designing the look and feel of, not only their winery in Fiddletown, but also their tasting room in the historic town of Sutter Creek. They invest just as much attention to detail in their wines as they do in their design but, perhaps, using different senses. “As women, we have a more advanced sense of smell than many people realize.” Tracy explained. “Back in cavemen times, our sense of smell was how we identified our own children and knew if they were healthy or not. In the winery, my nose can tell me so much about the quality of our wine. During harvest, when we’re fermenting the grapes in bins, what I don’t want to smell is a sulfur scent, because that means the grapes are stressed. I smell every single bin to make sure that isn’t happening.” This incredible sense of smell also contributes to our ability to taste, which, for most of us, is the best part of wine. And if you thought that being in the wine industry means a lot of taste testing, you would be right.
“In our tasting room, when we open a bottle of wine we always test it to make sure that it’s a good bottle before we serve it.” Tracy explained. “Sometimes I have to pinch myself—what an amazing job!” Along with all of the smelling and tasting of the wine that takes place is an immense amount of planning. During harvest season, Tracy finds that their architecture backgrounds help them tremendously in the planning process to ensure that everything is done properly and on time to yield the best results. Tracy and Jody are both very much a rarity in both their worlds—architecture and wine are historically considered to be male dominated fields. But that hasn’t prevented them from making Le Mulet Rouge a label to be reckoned with. “This is a very challenging and competitive career.” Tracy said of winemaking. “You have to have that passion. You have to make your wine stand apart, and also be able to stay true to who you are in the process. I try to avoid using words that aren’t ‘me’ to describe what we do, and instead try to tell our story in an authentic way that is representative of us.” At the end of the day, their winemaking journey comes down to one basic ingredient—friendship. If not for the partnership between Randy, Tracy, and Jody, this longtime dream would never have become a reality. They each play their roles—Tracy the winemaker, Randy the vineyard manager, and Jody the business manager. And they pay homage to that relationship with their newly released Syrah blend ‘Trois Amis’—or ‘Three Friends’. To sum up their goals for every wine they produce, the “trois amis” say this on their website: “We hope those who drink our wine will fall in love with the vision and creativity we pour into each bottle. A little inspiration to not settle. Always dream big. Never give up.” For more information visit lemouletrouge.com, and find them on Facebook. m
Read more from About Town Deb, Russ Reyes of Kilt & Cork, and Jeremy Maron the Existential Wine Guy, as the #TrioVino continue their way through the best wineries Northern California has to offer and share their stories with Bliss Babe readers!
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