Ron Mansfield in Fenaughty Vineyard, one of the celebrated vineyards he managed in El Dorado County (2014)
Ron Mansfield, who nearly 50 years ago saw on Apple Hill the potential for crops other than apples, died Sunday after a long siege with Parkinson’s Disease. He was 76.
In 1980, he and his wife Carolyn founded Goldbud Farms in what is known as both Apple Hill and the Camino/Fruitridge District just outside Placerville. Their savvy farming was quickly and widely recognized for the character and quality of their cherries, peaches, nectarines, apples and plums, with demand accelerating.
David Berkley of David Berkley Fine Wines & Specialty Foods in Sacramento saw early on the caliber of fruit being grown by the Mansfields and capitalized on their output of Montmorency, Utah Giant, Rainer and Bing cherries, shipping them about the world. Fashionable restaurants, cruise ships, home canners and pastry chefs eagerly anticipated each spring wave of Goldbud cherries.
Berkley, at that time also the wine consultant to the White House, introduced Mansfield’s cherries to presidential chief usher Gary J. Walters, who added them to the White House pantry, where they remained a spring staple stretching from the presidencies of Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama. All presidents during that span responded with personal notes to Berkley expressing their appreciation for and enjoyment of Goldbud fruits.
Berkley credits his sister Beverly with introducing him to Mansfield around 1980. After Berkley vented his frustration over the quality of fruit he was getting from other growers, Mansfield agreed to manage his orchards toward Berkley’s standards. “I talked to him about growing stone fruit that is left on the trees until ripe, until it has the right sugar, with the perfume, texture and sweet juiciness it is supposed to have. He said it would cost him more to do that. When I said I’d pay him, he said, ‘You got a deal,'” recalled Berkley.
Berkley was so happy with the results he would package Mansfield’s fruit under the imprimatur “David Berkley Collections” for shipment about the world. Cherries, for one, would be hand-packed in meticulous rows in specially built boxes, the fruit encased in sheets of tissue and goldleaf.
Once, a White House pastry chef in preparing for a state dinner said he not only wanted to make a special dessert to highlight Goldbud cherries he also wanted to use branches still bearing Goldbud cherries for table decorations. When Berkley put the proposal before Mansfield, he replied, “I don’t normally chop up my trees,” Berkley recalled. They reached an accommodation whereby Mansfield would prune judiciously some of his cherry trees. The upshot was a report in The New York Times that raved about both dessert and table decor.
Berkley also recalled that whenever a Goldbud delivery was put on display in his store – O’Henry peaches, Bing cherries, Fuji apples, white nectarines – the aroma would envelop customers as soon as they entered. “Ron and I would stand back by the pastry department to watch the reaction of people coming in. That would tell us if the peaches were as fragrant this year as last year,” said Berkley.
“Ron was always accommodating. I would go up there or he would come down here, and he would talk of the troubles he was having. To grow stone fruit at Placerville is very difficult, but he was always kind, thoughtful and hard-working. Ron was a hands-on fellow. He got out there in the orchard,” he added.
And vineyard. Within the Sierra Foothills wine trade, Mansfield became a highly respected and influential steward of vineyards. He was an early advocate of Rhone Valley grape varieties in the region, urging fellow farmers to put in Syrah, Grenache, Viognier, Mourvedre and the like. He was especially keen on finding and exploiting the best base material he could – cuttings and clones with storied histories from Beaucastel, Tablas Creek and Alban.
For decades, winemakers both distant and nearby tapped Mansfield for grapes for their brands, which included Edmunds St. John, Terre Rouge/Easton Wines, Donkey & Goat, Lavender Ridge and Holly’s Hill. He oversaw around 300 acres of wine grapes in El Dorado County, some owned by the Mansfield family, others by neighbors.
“A big guy with a homespun drawl and laconic manner, Mansfield brings the sensitivity and precision of a bonsai artist to vines. As a consequence, on the short list of people responsible for El Dorado County’s standing as a fine-wine region, he’s at or near the top,” I wrote following a vineyard tour with Mansfield a decade ago.
Mansfield shared an especially long and close working relationship with winemaker Steve Edmunds of the Berkeley winery Edmunds St. John. Together, their lobbying on behalf of the French variety Gamay Noir resulted in blocks of the grape sprouting at at least two El Dorado County vineyards, Witters and Barsotti, which Edmunds tapped for his popular and acclaimed “Bone-Jolly” wines.
“Ron’s talent as a farmer knocked me out right away. He grew cherries, and I’d never eaten a cherry I enjoyed so much before I got to eat one of Ron’s,” recalled Edmunds in an exchange of emails. “Same thing with his wonderful peaches and nectarines, and I buy his Fuji apples every year they’re available (he lost his crop in 2022) because they’re the best apples I’ve ever eaten. When I met Ron, back in 1988, he was just beginning to get started with wine grapes. Over the years my customers have told me that the wines I’ve made from Ron’s grapes are among the best they’ve ever had the pleasure to drink. Ron liked them, too,” recalled Edmunds.
“Ron had a marvelous way of making you feel welcome, and right at home, from the minute you first met him. He genuinely enjoyed engaging with new people, and growing his connection to them,” Edmunds added.
“When I first met Ron, his kids were still in elementary school, I think, and I’d see them with him sometimes when I’d go up to see how their grapes were coming along. It was absolutely joyful to see how he adored them, and they adored him. In more recent years I’ve loved seeing him in the office at the shed on Carson Road, working with his son Chuck, who’s gradually been taking the reins at the family fruit-growing operation. In many way, it seems, Chuck has learned well how to be pretty much the same kind of guy as his Dad. I think Ron had a great heart, he was a kind and generous friend, and it hurts that he’s gone,” said Edmunds.
Mansfield was born in Bakersfield, where he grew up in a farming family that tended alfalfa, cotton and grains.
In 1974 he graduated from the University of California, Davis, with a degree in renewable resources. Following marriage to Carolyn in 1978 the couple moved to El Dorado County, where Mansfield went to work for the El Dorado Irrigation District, installing soil-moisture probes. He also helped develop the district’s Irrigation Management System to better conserve water resources.
He also began to farm, and hung out his shingle as an agricultural consultant. From 2009 to 2020 he was a member of the El Dorado County Agricultural Commission.
Away from orchard and vineyard, Mansfield indulged two colorful passions – horse racing and bowling. His winnings from the first horse he owned, Loyal Lad, gave the family the funds to buy the land now occupied by Goldbud Farms, recalls his son Charles. His stable also included Alicia Guest, Reno Rose and Western Paradise. His latest star, Shelter in Pace, won seven straight races during Mansfield’s final days.
In 2022, Mansfield competed in his 50th consecutive United States Bowling Congress National Open Championship in Las Vegas with bowling partner John Pocekay. The two had started to compete together in 1972 at Long Beach. “Despite noticeably struggling with his symptoms, Ron finished his amateur career that day to a standing ovation and a respectable multi-strike game, a heart-warming and simultaneously tear-jerking moment for all in attendance,” recalls Charles Mansfield.
In addition to his wife and son, Ron Mansfield is survived by his daughter Amanda, her husband Josh, Chuck’s wife Kristin, and five grandchildren – Jett, Max, John, Mira and Ben. A celebration of life will be at 1 p.m. April 13 at David Girard Vineyards outside Placerville. In lieu of flowers or gifts, family members request that any remembrances be donated to Snowline Hospice of Placerville.
Charles Mansfield said he, other family members, and the company’s employees will continue Goldbud Farms.