About Six Sigma Ranch & Winery
Kaj Ahlmann, a Danish-born mathematician who spent 25 years as a General Electric executive helping introduce the company's famous Six Sigma quality methods, decided at age 50 to leave corporate life rather than relocate again for CEO Jack Welch. Drawing on childhood memories of his grandfather's farm in Denmark, he found a 4,300-acre cattle ranch outside Lower Lake in 2000, sealing the purchase with longtime owner Russell Rustici on a handshake after a three-hour pickup truck tour.
Kaj and his wife Else named the ranch for the statistical quality principles he helped pioneer, applying data-driven measurement to every step of naturally farmed, small-lot winemaking; the winery's first crush came in September 2005 with Tempranillo from Christian's Vineyard. Each of the roughly 40 high-elevation vineyard acres is named for an Ahlmann family member, sheep graze the vines, the tasting room occupies an old stagecoach stop, and guests tour the property in a rugged Pinzgauer military truck.
