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Madroña Vineyards Blog

December 8, 2020

"Stay at Home Order"--Not Quite Here in El Dorado Yet!
Tastings Outdoors Right Now, But Maybe Curbside Sales Soon

To be upfront and forward, we know that everyone wants to talk about the elephant in the room, meaning the impending “Stay at Home” order coming to our area due to Covid-19. Don’t worry, we’ll get to that, but only so that the remaining Shrub Reports during the holidays can be on the more positive side as “Hope” springs eternal for the New Year! Can we shake on that?

OK, so, the potential “Stay at Home” order. First of all, we are hoping that the hospitalization rates and ICU occupancies drop throughout our area let alone the entire nation. Having said that, as a small business we need to “hope for the best” while “preparing for the worst.”

If our region’s ICU bed availability continues to decline and the potential impact of gatherings from Thanksgiving transpires, then things will shut down in an effort to curb the spread. We, as winery owners, have already been having discussions about the winter months and what they hold for our small business, let alone our staff, family and friends.

We started having the hard discussions about a month ago, preparing for January (we hadn’t really expected this all in December, but we adjust). We started figuring out staff schedules balanced by availability and the potential needs of a dynamically changing customer environment. This meant certainly that Maggie and I would be working more shifts (as we don’t really get paid). And by having a smaller core staff to work with, this would keep everyone healthier while keeping us sane. Add into this the new OSHA regulations for Covid, and we're thankful Madroña is a small business.

But it also meant that we had to furlough some flexible tasting room staff until probably April, when we expect things may loosen up. We could see that the hours wouldn’t be there during the winter, and the winery/vineyard operations come first (wines and vines don’t care there’s a virus). This is yet another position that I never thought we’d be in!

So, with the “Stay at Home” order, it will mean that our tasting area will cease to operate until restrictions are lifted. We will be able to work in the cellar (bottling, racking, etc.) as an essential business, but the sales part will be restricted to Curbside purchases. Of course we’ll also be shipping wine via UPS to anyone who needs it.

Now before you start worrying about us too much, in all honesty we’ve been making the hard decisions and preparing for this over the last several months. But there are lots of businesses that have it harder than we do. Restaurants and small shops with fewer possibilities probably need your support desperately right now.

So even if you don’t plan to eat at the restaurant in the next few months, get a gift card and pass them around. During times like these, it’s not the profit and loss of a business that gets it through; it’s all about cash flow.

So if you want your corner restaurant to be there after Covid subsides, support them now. As for us, pop a bottle of Madroña and embrace what’s good in life, even during a pandemic!

We'll get off our soapbox now, but remember that we’ll all get through this by working together!

December 1, 2020

Small Business is about Always Learning and Always Being Dynamic
A Win-Wine-Win-Win Situation

First and foremost, we hope you all had amazing Thanksgivings! With the smaller gatherings, there's a good chance conversations were more than just talking about the weather. It surely was at our house!

So, you may have expected that we'd be talking about the chance of closing down due to California's rapidly rising Covid cases and the governor's thoughts on keeping rates in check. But we thought we could leave that until next week and instead talk about something more positive!

Well, you should all pat yourselves on the back because...You Did It! And now, you probably would like to know what you actually did do. Well, you stocked up on our 2017 Crystal Range Zinfandel and bought all the cases available in just about three months.

Now, this is no little feat. We produced 1248 cases of this bottling of Crystal Range and were selling it only through the tasting room (and UPS). That's a lot of wine during a short period of time, pandemic or no pandemic.

But here are some of the takeaways for us from this Win-Win experience:

  • It was a good Zinfandel at an amazing price
  • From a purely business point of view, your support meant cash flow for us
  • The story was almost as important as the wine itself
  • People believe in naturally/organically produced grapes
  • People need 'Tuesday' night wines in their wine selection
  • People shouldn't buy wines untasted
  • Most people don't know where the Crystal Range is
  • Price matters
  • The laughs and smiles on the Pricing ($1137/bottle or $84/case) were the best part

I won't delve into things here too deeply, but we've learned a lot by having fun with the Crystal Range. Basically, we had the wine and people wanted to support. And if you can do that with some fun and value at the same time, then you have a Win-Wine-Win-Win situation.

We've always known that people need Tuesday night wines (wines at a great price that you can open anytime without feeling guilty). In fact, our El Tinto is that wine for many people. (The greatest compliment I've heard is that the El Tinto is a Tuesday wine you can open on Saturday!) So when I see the pricing from many wineries all in the $30-$60 range, I wonder if they aren't missing the boat on some things.

Of course image and 'perceived reputation' are important (unfortunately) in the wine industry, but the realization that Madroña's heart really is a being community winery is what has come out of this. True, the demographics in the area don't support overly priced wines, but it was interesting to see how many 'new tasters', people in their early to mid-20's with limited funds, would walk out with a case of Crystal Range.

Do we think this has hurt our reputation? No, although we did do this fun experience with our second label, Crystal Range, rather than Madroña. So there could be a discussion there as well.

But ultimately, it was pure fun to present this wine out in our tasting area with its Estate-Grown, naturally farmed, varietally-focused characters. And then to see the recognition of the 99.38% discount on a case come over the faces of everyone new to the story. For me, that was pure joy as people started to comprehend what we were doing.

So what started out as a way to get wine into peoples' hands turned into so much more for us here. We're happy the Crystal Range is sold out, and we're sad that the wine is sold out. But the memories are great. And to you, we thank you for this and the support!

And yes, we're already getting the "What are you going to do next?" Honestly, we don't know, but I'm sure it will take a glass of Crystal Range to get the mental juices flowing some Friday night!

November 25, 2020

Happy Thanksgiving!

Madroña is Closed Thursday to be with Family--Opening again Outside Friday

Sometimes, we all need to slow down a bit and reflect on what amazing lives we have and not focus on what we think it should be. For us, Thanksgiving is some of that where we can embrace (literally, figuratively, and by Zoom) our families and friends while being thankful of having food on the table and a roof over our heads.

Of course always wanting to tie wine into every aspect of life, I think we'll be enjoying the traditional classics this Thanksgiving. With the spice mix of our turkey's stuffing, we always pop a bottle of Gewürztraminer and a bottle of Grenache. Both wines highlight the elegance of the turkey's flavor while pairing amazingly well with the savory spices that surround almost all or our family's traditional dishes.

And with Hanna (our eldest) home, we'll be making Salmon in Parchment Paper as she's a pescatarian. This is recipe from Teena Hildebrand of Narrow Gate Winery in her cook book. For this, it's a Rucksack Cellars' Pinot Noir as we go local!

May your traditions and celebrations be thankful during these trying times, and may we all focus on what's really important in our lives (even if it's just for an afternoon)!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Madroña Family!

November 17, 2020

Purple Level, Tightening Again

Well, once again we find ourselves here in a restricted level (in fact, the most restricted level) as we head into the holidays. We'll say this once again, "Please just wear a mask when you're out!" That helps small business, and helps slow the spread as we all wish to get back to normal.

Secondly, especially during this holiday season, support those local restaurants as they will have a tough time trying to serve outside while the winter moves in. And that doesn't even take into account the additional costs of propane and heaters as they try to keep customers warm. We choose one to two restaurants a week to support with curbside pickups as we're in the business (and know that their margins are slim for sure!).

Now having said all that, here are the nuts and bolts for us a winery. In the purple tier, we can continue to do tastings, but everything needs to be done outdoors. If you happened to have visited us on a rainy or cool day during our time in the orange tier, we had set up 8 tables distanced downstairs in the winery cellar with heaters and racks of barrels separating tables. I would run the large cooling fans each hour to stir up the air, making sure conditions felt (and were) safe. Alas, those days of any indoor tasting are over for now.

To be honest, we really don't expect conditions to change now until perhaps April. At least from a small business point of view, we have to prepare for the worst (and hope for the best). So, that means that we have some thinking to do as we make all tastings outdoors, all the time.

One bonus is that, although we're in the Sierra Nevada, days during winter can be beautiful outside and warm enough to enjoy the environment. Truly, it's either stormy here or beautifully clear with sunshine. (We don't have that many cloudy days, and no fog for sure!) Thus, for a great portion of the winter season, we should be able to provide a great tasting outside under the trees in front of the winery.

But the question comes up as to what we do on the stormy days. We can set up 6 tables in our crush pad area that is covered and protected from elements by some degree. With heaters, this might be an opportunity. But it does make working in the winery difficult without access to the outer areas of the winery with the forklift and pallet jacks. So, we will see what we decide.

So, for the 76th time this year, we ask for and appreciate your patience with what Covid adjustments. Always wanting to err on the side of caution, we will do what we believe is safe and follows the state's guidelines.

If you're coming up for a tasting, make reservations (as we will have fewer tables), and then we can agree to reach out to each other to make sure we're actually tasting that day once the weather solidifies. Sound good?

And remember that we're always open for curbside pickup from the parking lot if you just need to take some wine home! Cheers!

November 10, 2020

Orange Level (kind of), Red Level (kind of)

Ok, so we find ourselves in a totally new situation with Covid that we really didn't think we'd be in. And that's saying a lot.

This morning, El Dorado county was in the Orange level with California's Covid tiered system. At noon, due to an increase in one our county's numbers, El Dorado county was moved into the Red tier. But if one looks at the three criteria of the State's system of colors, El Dorado county was up in one, held steady in one, and was lower in the third.

So now we find ourselves in kind of a purgatory. If we go to the county's Covid website with all the latest information, we are listed still in the Orange level while the county adjudicates the State-assigned Red tier from earlier today.

Ok, from a small business point of view, we'll admit that hoping around in the tiers is hard. It's hard on everyone, but especially hard on restaurants. For us as a winery, the difference between the Orange and Red tiers is whether we can do tastings indoors (at 25%) or only do tastings outdoors.

As you probably know, we have set up the cellar with all the social distancing and air circulation so that we could continue to do tastings during the inclement weather periods (like last weekend's snow!). With heaters at each table, stacks of barrels between tables, and our large winery fans working with airflow, people seemed to really enjoy themselves (of course masks are required any time you're not at your table). And with our flight tastings and sterilizing everything between customers, we as a winery felt comfortable with the safety of the experience. It's a win-win (or a wine-wine!).

With the Red tier (which our county received by having our cases per 100,000 residents going up, even though Camino/Pollock Pines had 0 cases), we will be relegated to being outside only. So it's time to put on our thinking caps one more time and be prepared for what may be coming.

We take this all very seriously and will follow the county's requirements (as well as our own level of concern) to provide a safe and enjoyable experience. And no matter how tired we get reinventing ourselves, we need to remember that many businesses have it harder than we do. And for them, we all need to do a bit more curbside pickups!

#1--Did you Vote?!?
Vote, Pop, Sample and Relax

It's election season (if you've just come out of hibernation), and it's the last days of showing your American spirit by voting. If you haven't voted before, here is how you do it.

  • Vote--In person, or drop off, it will be counted
  • Pop--Pop a bottle of your favorite Madroña wine
  • Sample--Pour yourself and nice glass of wine and embrace it's flavors
  • Relax--The election season is almost done, and you have done your part!

Unlike washing your hair, voting does not allowed you to simply rinse and repeat. Please only vote once, but you can do steps 2, 3, and 4 as many times as you want (or need) as the results come in. And thank you again for doing your American civic duty!

November 2, 2020

Madroña and Rucksack Weather Report!

Click Here for Reservations
So, tying into last week's story about our outdoor tastings, we thought we should give you all a weather report for the upcoming week in our area. Of particular importance is the fact that Club Members have gorgeous Wine Club Shipments here to pick up this week. This may be the perfect week, temperature-wise and crowd-wise, for Club Members to come up for their complementary wine tasting and grab their shipment and wines for the holidays. Just check out the forecast below!

Forecast--With an unusual high pressure front sitting over the area, temperatures are expected to be higher and unusually pleasant for outdoor tastings this week. Clear skies and autumn colors are gracing the area, everywhere we look. Towards the end of the week, a low pressure system will be moving into the area, cooling the temperatures significantly.

Coincidentally, a low pressure of crowds has enveloped the area as Pumpkin Hill, oops, I mean Apple Hill, slows down after Halloween. The crowded roads are clearing as this low crowd pressure approaches the region and locals once again venture out on weekends.

This Week's Forecast

Monday--High Temperature--79 Clear skies with a light west/northwest wind, intensify the refreshing citrus and apple characters of our 2019 Hillside Chardonnay!

Tuesday--High Temperature--75 Clear skies with a variable breeze and the 2016 Signature Zinfandel will be tasting exceptionally fruity with impressive color!

Wednesday--High Temperature--75 Clear skies with a variable breeze highlighting the boldness of our 2017 Hillside Merlot and its chameleon-like versatility with food!

Thursday--High Temperature--77 Clear skies with a light breeze, with a 97% chance that Paul will pull out the 2006 Reserve Cabernet for club members to taste to celebrate the club and a beautiful day!

Friday--High Temperature--56 Cloudy with a slight chance of rain, necessitating the use of blankets while embracing the Estate Grown aspects of the Club Shipments 2017 Signature Cab Sauvignon!

Saturday--High Temperature--52 Mostly sunny with crisp temperatures. This is a red wine tasting day for sure, showing why bold mountain-grown reds are superior to low-elevation wines. Dress warmly!

Sunday--High Temperature--51 Mostly sunny with crisp temperatures. We may just need to open up something special to celebrate making it through election week. Dress warmly once again!

The seasons are changing, and outdoor tastings may become more of an experience as temperatures drop. So RSVP this week and enjoy the incredible weather before it's all gone. (And remember that Madroña is open every day and Rucksack just Saturday and Sunday, with our last seatings being at 3:45 PM.) Click Here for Reservations

October 29, 2020

It's Time to Embrace Some Change!

This last weekend, we got our first glimpse of what some of winter may hold for us and our tasting "area". Sure, it froze in the vineyards, and we need more of this cold weather, but it was interesting to talk to people tasting outside, bundled up with some breezy conditions and cool temperatures. So what did we find out?

Well, let's start again with what we are currently doing with our outdoor tastings. We are doing flights where people get to choose two selections out of four different and diverse sets of our wines. We are taking the pandemic restrictions seriously, with sterilizing everything in between tasting groups. The difficulty in this was making sure that our new protocols fit into our "low-impact" values for the environment.

Thus instead of plastic tablecloths, we use butcher paper, changed out and recycled between customers (and everyone loves taking notes and drawing on the paper). And since kids are no longer allowed to run around the other customers, families play games and draw while the parents taste wine. (We kind of fell into that!)

Knowing that we wanted to pour six different wines and would need six different glasses, we quickly contemplated using plastic for pure ease. But alas, that neither fit into our values for the environment with waste nor our pure pride in the quality of our wine (really, drinking Madroña out of plastic? It makes a difference!). More labor, for sure, washing the glasses, but it keeps people working, improves the experience and reduces garbage, all part of our sustainability beliefs.

Lastly with the reservations and the limited tables available, we have been able to keep larger distances between tables than just 6 feet. Customers have asked why we don't just add more tables to accommodate more people, but then the quality of the experience goes down.

Now, to last weekend. It was chilly for sure, and it showed the inventive spirit of Madroña wine lovers. Scarves, jackets, blankets and more graced our patrons as they embraced the cooler temperatures. Our job was to provide a safe environment while keeping the wines at temperature. (Interestingly, we need to keep red wines warmer in cooler ambient temperatures as it makes for a much better showing for the wines and a better experience.)

So we have an idea of how some outdoor tasting could happen this coming winter. We're often blessed by having a fair amount of good weather during the winters up here where the sun is warm and the winds calm.

As for tasting indoors, we know we can fit 12 tables downstairs in cellar and barrel room separated by stacks of barrels to insure social distancing. But the question will be, "Do we feel comfortable with our staff working and customers tasting all together in a space?" Yes, the ceilings are 18 feet high and there's plenty of open air, but will we all feel comfortable? That may depend a lot on how the pandemic progresses and how we all choose to embrace it.

As business owners, we will weigh the risks in the coming months. We definitely appreciate your understanding that we may be inside only, outside only, inside and outside, or even closed. Safety comes first, especially during these times.

It may be a cool winter, but regardless, a glass of wine makes everything better!

October 20, 2020

Where are we today?

We know change is coming, but precisely when is up in the air. The two major factors that will guide this pending change are the County Covid Levels and the weather. Over the past week, we have heard both that the Covid Level in El Dorado County may switch to Yellow, which would mean we could open up with 50% capacity inside. But we have also heard that it will be rising again to Red Level, which means we would not be able to open up at al inside at all. Add to this that we are in the middle of October, and the weather is bound to change away from this unusual heat. In fact, we see a bit of it in the forecast....our high is 65 on Saturday, but the threat of rain has subsided.. All of this leaves us in a bit of a quandary as to what our next re-invention will look like, but we are gearing up mentally and physically to tackle it!

October 13, 2020

Almost There--Perk Up Paul!

If you happen to have enjoyed our outdoor tasting room experience here at Madroña over the last few months, you might have had the the unfortunate experience of asking Paul how things are going. Be warned if he asks, "Do you really want to know?" If you answer "Yes", his answers will include the impacts of smoke, tariffs, Covid, heat, and aspects of fatigue that can be downright depressing.

Honesty can be tough to swallow sometimes, so luckily people are sipping wines during the tasting to wash it all down.

But hoping to balance things just a bit here, we'd like to list out all the little things that are going great right now. Hopefully this brings a smile to your face and a sense of normalcy as well! So here goes:

  • The fruit fly population seems very low this year.
  • We never personally met the bear in the vineyard that ate all the Cabernet in the small block

That's it! (Wait, that was Paul's list. Now let's continue with the real list!)

  • We aren't picking up any smoky characters in the wines of 2020
  • Everyone loves the outdoor tasting experience, and it works well with our wines
  • Sprocket's ACL surgeries went really well and now he's like a lethargic puppy!
  • We've finished picking grapes for the year!
  • The quality of the wines so far from 2020 looks really good
  • The Rucksack Cellar's commercial kitchen is almost finished
  • Maggie and Paul get to work with an incredible staff
  • The 2017 vintage of Cab Sauv and Cab Franc from Madroña are tasting great
  • We get to live in one of the most beautiful places on earth, the Sierra Foothills

And #10, this note from a long-time customer/club-member that arrived yesterday, that grounds us and reminds us of why we do what we do.

As my wife and I had dinner last night, just the two of us, we opened one of your 2009 bottles of Petite Verdot. It is an exquisitely wonderful bottle of wine. Congratulations on the artistry of farming (an art and science combined), managing your way through a myriad of ups and downs, trial and error, luck, fear and love it took to produce this bottle of wine. It is an excellent reflection of your work and dedication to doing it "the right way".
Your wines have been a part of the fabric of my family’s life as of the mid 80s. Holidays, weddings, grandchildren entering our lives, celebrations or just a break at the end of a hectic day, sad times and great times. Thank you for caring, persevering through the years, and allowing us to share your efforts.

Sometimes it's the silver-lining that we should be focusing on rather than the doldrums of the day. We shouldn't forget, this and we all have things in our lives that are going great somewhere.And believe it or not, even Paul's been practicing a more upbeat view. So don't be afraid to ask him how things are going. Just please don't ask him about the current Federal Tariffs and small business!

October 6, 2020

Almost There--Pull Up Biggs!

Well, now that we've totally confused you with the title, we need to do a little explaining.

We are all but done picking grapes, with the plan of finishing on Thursday, one day before the rain. In a normal year, this would be a reason for celebration with lots of hooping and hollering.

And now the explanation. The title comes from perhaps the most quoted line from Star Wars #4, A New Hope (the original). This is from the scene where Biggs is attacking the Deathstar with his rebel fighter, so focused on the target, "Almost There", that he can't seem to hear others telling him to "Pull up Biggs".

OK, that's what harvest has felt like this year. The searing heat, the haze, some smoke, Covid-19, leaf hoppers, PG&E shutoffs, the bear in the Cab, and oh, that was all in the last two weeks! We've kept our focus on the goal of making some spectacular wines out of one of the most challenging years ever. And we need to remember that we even had it good compared to many other viticultural areas on the West Coast.

That focus, however, with adjusting fermentation protocols, embracing the beautiful maturity of the fruit at lower sugar levels, and running the winery on a much tighter staff, has brought about some incredible deep, dark wines with amazing fruit. It's early, but we're all really excited about aspects of this vintage...especially Zinfandel, Malbec, Syrah and Cabernet Franc. It's early yet, but we just may have squeezed through without smoky characters.

So for those of you who don't follow Star Wars, the moral of "staying on target" ended up costing Biggs his life as he was blown out of the sky by the Evil Empire. I don't know who is the Evil Empire in the wine industry (just kidding, I do), but I'm hoping we'll be able to "pull up" right after harvest as we are "almost there"!

But it is 2020.

Disclaimer: We've watched Star Wars #4 so many times in our family that we quote things all the time. For you super-purists, we do know that Biggs actually dies in the initial attack where Luke tells him to "Pull up Biggs!" It is Davish Krail who says "Almost there" on his attack on the one weak spot of the Death Start. Their outcomes are the same, however, as both die in fiery crashes. But as I get older, I like to remember things in my own way, and out family remembers Biggs saying "Almost there", and we say it on every trip we take as a family!

September 29, 2020

Really, We're Talking about Smoke Again?

So first and foremost, our thoughts and concerns go out to our friends and fellow wineries throughout the Napa and Sonoma appellations. The Glass Fire, which started just two days ago, is impacting a region that has had more than its share of fires this year. We suspect that most of the harvesting has already happened, meaning that there should be a solid collection of coastal wines from the 2020 vintage. But for those that have had to evacuate or were looking for a bit more hangtime on the vine, we can only say that our thoughts are with you.

As for us, we have had pretty nice conditions up here in the Sierra Foothills for the past two weeks until this latest blast of heat. With it has come some hazy but not yet really smoky conditions. Our harvest is about 75% finished with about 40-45 tons yet to pick (predominantly Zinfandel and Barbera). The grapes on the vine are all within a solid pickable window, so I think we're just going to plow through the picking (I have the tank space!) and finish harvesting by late next week.

Here's your update for the "quality" of the 2020 vintage so far. NumbTer 1, I haven't tasted any smoky characters in any of the wines that have finished their primary fermentations. It's an early indicator that we may have skirted by any smoky taint aspects in our region (other winemakers have been saying the same thing). Having said that, the verdict isn't in yet, so be prepared for updates.

Secondly, the quality overall is looking very good with more mature fruit and phenolic characters at lower brix (sugar) levels. That bodes well for wines with great fruit and softer tannins packaged with lower alcohol balance!

Thirdly, the color extraction is incredible this year, making inky, black wines on the reds. I didn't know if this would be the case since we've adjusted our fermentation protocols to have shorter contact times with the skins to limit any potential pickup of smoky characters. You'd think this would make lighter wines, but the extraction of color during the first few days with a warmer fermentation has given us the opposite!

Lastly, as I've mentioned before, I am so ready for this harvest season to be done! One more week, and we'll be breathing a little more easily, assuming the smoke clears out of the state some too!

Raise a glass to our fire fighters, and may conditions improve across the state!

September 22, 2020

We are back and what few weeks it's been!

The last two weeks have been busy busy busy! Just to list a few...

  • Harvest has started, and its a doozy! Normally we have 6-8 weeks to pick our grapes, but this year, everything seems to be ready at once. We should be done next week, which makes it about 3.5 weeks!
  • Smoky Taint - So far, there had been no evidence of smoky taint, but we will know more once fermentation is over.
  • We held our first harvest dinner, a dried wreath flower class, and our first Community Night. We also held a private zoom tasting for a group of 60 and a Donor Event for The Harris Center.
  • The outside tasting area has been rocking, and we have moved to 7 days a week through the end of October. Saturdays have turned so busy that we are starting to turn away customers. And last Saturday---I put in 22,000 steps!
  • Unfortunately, our Portugal cruise was cancelled. We are looking at potential dates for 2022. But we do have a New Orleans Trip planned for November 2021. Stay tuned for details!
  • As we write this, El Dorado county is in still in Red Phase, we hear that we may soon be lowered to the orange level, but we have not heard yet. While that will be good news for many wineries, our tastings will remain outside as our tasting room does not have enough room for social distancing, even at 25% capacity. Update - we are now in Level Orange!
  • We were notified yesterday that we will receive a grant Small Business Grant for Covid Related Expenses.

A Bit of a Harvest Update (from a frazzled Paul!)
Well, as I've told many of you while you've been tasting, I can't wait for this harvest to be over (let alone the year 2020!). But that really isn't new information, and you're looking for new information.

So here goes as a snapshot on September 22 at 1:35pm. So far, things are looking pretty good. The majority of the harvest will happen in just 3 weeks, with so many varieties yelling "it's my turn to be picked!" Although logistically challenging and long hours, our plethora of different-sized tanks has kept us just barely ahead of the curve. Thus, we're picking when think is perfect for the grape maturity rather than being forced into picking overripe!

As of right now, I could maybe pick up a hint of smokiness in one lot of Cabernet Franc, although it could just be me trying to find something in the wine. (And spiciness is a character of Cabernet Franc already.) We really haven't had but a couple of smoky days. Instead, we've had hazy days which I'm thinking (and hoping) are different than smoky days in terms of smoke pickup in the resulting wines. We'll know more after the primary fermentations, but I'm cautiously optimistic right now!

With the cooling temperatures, things are slowing up a bit with perhaps some of the later varieties like Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah taking their sweet time to mature. We'd love a bit of a breather.

Lastly, tonnages (or yields) are somewhat down, but overall quality is tasting pretty darn good with incredible color. And now that it's 1:51pm, maybe I should go taste through again! It's just that kind of vintage.

September 1, 2020

'Red Phase' or Is It 'Phase Red'!

I think it was Monty Python who coined the phrase, "And now for something completely different!"

Well, the state of California has come up with a new system for Covid rankings of what we can and cannot do. Instead of Phases 1 through 4, we are now Yellow, Orange, Red and Purple, with Purple being the most strict and worst off.

As for El Dorado county, we have (so far) more or less flown under the radar throughout this pandemic unlike the most of the rest of California. We are in the Red level here, but close to being in the Orange Phase. That would allow more things more for restaurants, schools, etc. But we need to keep our numbers low. Be vigilant.

As for the vines, once again they don't seem to care that there is a pandemic going on. We'll start picking either this Saturday or around Labor Day with some of the early varieties. We are luckier than many regions who are in the midst of harvest now and will be greeted by intense heat this weekend. It will make for a mad-dash of picking.

As for us, the grapes are coming along with great acid and generally very nice uniformity. And hopefully temperatures will cool significantly next week, elongating our harvest here. And cross your fingers that smoke and fires continue to stay away!

So the takeaway? The harvest is coming, the fruit looks great, we've had more haze than smoke here, and we're in the Red Phase (hoping for Orange soon!).

And as business owners, we simply ask that people still wear their masks. Please!!!

August 25, 2020

So Let's Talk Smoke!

It's been smoky here this week (in case you've been living in a cave). Fires throughout California (especially down along the coast) caused by dry lightning strikes last week have brought challenges to many of the regions. Our thoughts go to friends and all those who are in the direct line of the fires or have been evacuated.

As for the Sierra Foothills in these higher elevations, we have been spared, but the smoke has been pushed up in our direction. So, what does all this mean?

Well, let's get into some of the details. Most of you know that I (Paul) am a glass half full person, but there isn't much to be positive about in all this. If I had to find one good thing, the hazy conditions masked the sun and cooled temperatures a bit on what were supposed to be some scorching days. That's it!

Now to the challenging aspects. Well, smoky conditions are downright depressing, not only for the loss of trees and wildlife, but mentally it's a damper. In addition, it is more difficult for working outside (remember, we're actually farmers first), and it means caring for the health of our staff and crew as almost all aspects of farming and now tasting room are done outdoors!

But the question we're getting most is the potential impact on the wines. Well, if you think of how plants work, they transpire through the leaves, taking in CO2 and putting out oxygen. While ripening fruit, they may even be working a bit harder. If you then add in smoky particulate matter, the vine may absorb this into its system (through transpiration, like breathing) and incorporate smoky characters into the cell wall of the grape. Thus when you ferment the harvested grapes (juice and grapes skins together for making red wines), you run the risk of leaching out some of these smoky characters. This is a simplified explanation, but basically shows my understanding.

Now, here's the hard part. How long does it need to be smoky before the grapes incorporate this character? I don't know, but it makes senses that fewer hours of smokiness would be better.

How smoky does it have to be to have the grapes incorporate this character I don't know, but less smokiness would be better.

Does the timing of the smoky conditions impact the amount picked up by the vine? Maybe, but I don't really know.

Is there anything we can do about it right now in the vineyards? Not really. I'm doing some overhead irrigation for the old vines here at Madroña, but there are limits to how this could help.

We will change up some of the fermentation practices by pressing off (separating the skins from the wine) earlier to give less time for leaching out smoky characters. We'll also do very distinct press cuts, separating the hard pressed portions away from the "free run". And we'll cross our fingers and pray a lot!

To be honest, the smoky conditions so far have not been as smoky as we've had in previous vintages (with little or no impact on the wines, i.e. 2013, 2017, 2019, etc.). But truly, we won't know for sure until the wines are in the barrel and aging, maybe during the winter. We'll keep you posted.

Two last little bits. We've just installed our PurpleAir sensor here at Madroña to look at air quality (should be running soon) as well as our one in the Sumu Kaw Vineyards in Pleasant Valley. Check out PurpleAir.com, for maps of the world with current air quality numbers. And if you're really a person who wants to understand more, check out this NOAA Smoke Model (click on the "check mark" under "loop" on the "near-surface smoke") for California smoke models. Play around with the dates to find the model that shows what's been happening with smoke flows in California.

Farming has always been complicated, but we hope you enjoy this in-depth look at another aspect of the new normal as temperatures move upward. How about another glass of wine to take it all in?

August 18, 2020

Such a strange week of weather!

While you can't can't hear it, the picture to the right was when the wind was blowing, it was raining, and it was 90 degrees. Very strange indeed. And how does this impact the vines? Well, it's kind of complicated.

Think of it this way. Vines generally do well in the heat, and higher temperatures will generally speed up the ripening process. But at temperatures over 100 degrees, vines can shut down and go into a more protective state until temperatures drop. More worrisome is that nighttime temperatures are staying high, equating to a loss of acid in the grapes but no ripening at night.

Also, the grapes are mid-way to nearly finishing veraison where the berries turn color and soften. They also start to accumulate sugar, and the berries can no longer get mildew!!! It's a pivotal period where we can breath a little easier about preventing mildew in the fields (it looks really good this year in the vineyard!).

So what does this heat really mean? Well, if we continue to have mid-90's temperatures for the next three or four weeks, it will speed up the start of picking and compress the harvest season. It will also reduce the amount of hangtime on the vine, taking some of the complexity from juice. Thus, more really ripe characters, lower acids, and very sleepy winemakers.

Realistically (and optimistically), though, these warmer temperatures will push the grapes cleanly through veraison, then cool. Our higher elevation vineyards up here in the mountains are naturally behind (because we bud later), giving us more breathing room on the ripening sugars, and setting us up for an autumn of shorter days with longer hangtime on the vine. Thus full maturity, and complex characters.

The second scenario is much more the norm here than the first, but both have happened. The new few weeks, however, will be the deciding factor! At least we're not yet harvesting here like some regions!

Ironically for quality, what is of more concern right now is the potential for smoke from the number of fires that have started throughout California. This smoke can be picked up by the transpiration of the vines and put into berries and thus into the wines during fermentation. Interested in this aspect more, take a look at PurpleAir.com, you can see the air quality in our region (and in yours) - it's actually a very cool tool website.

So far, so good. But we'll keep you posted on how the season progresses!

August 11, 2020

We are back!!

We had a lovely break from Covid-19 this past week! Time for family, hiking, games, and of course wine. Oh, and sleep! and naps! and more sleep! It is amazing how much more creative and inspired you can be when you are rested. We recommend it for everyone!

While in Tahoe, we had beautiful weather, and we have to say that we have never seen the lake looking so beautiful.

August 3, 2020

Time to Relax!

We beg your forgiveness and understanding, but we are "taking the week off." With Hanna's birthday and a chance to spend a week in Tahoe, Paul has taken his first day off since March 15th and Maggie is only working during some of the vacation (before the kids wake up each morning). Ironically, we are mostly sleeping on vacation. But we're also hiking, playing games, cooking, and noting that there really isn't anything on TV at any time of the day.

So a truncated "weekly" update with just the Toast to Thursday below as we are on vacation!

And hopefully you can take some time to rejuvenate too! Cheers!

July 27, 2020

Time to Relax!

Club Member Appreciation week is off to a fabulous start! We have truly enjoyed visiting with so many long-time and new club members, and we are always honored by the number of people who say that this is their first venture out during Covid times. One of the nicest benefits that we enjoy with customers now seated at picnic tables, is that we have much more time to speak to everyone one-on-one, discussing how much we all miss travel, our community gatherings, and business. The topics never cease to tire us!

But in reflecting on how Covid-19 has become more "normal" now, both Paul and I find that we must remind ourselves that we cannot just plop down at the picnic table with you. The impulse can be so strong! It is easy to forget that we are in a pandemic as it just all feels so normal...but then we are jolted that this is all not normal, and we can't sit down with you! I remember the adage from when I was a skydiver that people are very careful during their first 1-100 jumps. But then between 100 and 1,000 jumps, people got much more relaxed in their safety precautions, and more accidents/deaths occurred. And then there were the skydivers over 1,000 jumps who were extremely cautious because they had all seen too many things happen. That's how I feel with Covid - the invisible enemy. It's too easy to relax, so let's all stay vigilant and kick this virus in the booty!

July 21, 2020

Time to Clear Some Things Up (and have some fun!)

For those of you who read last week's email, thank you so much! We never know how much people are interested in the day-to-day aspects of a small family winery.

First and foremost, we are still currently open for outdoor tastings at the winery, Friday through Sunday. El Dorado County is not on the governor's watch list, but we'll keep you posted if things change (as we do our part!).

However, our last email caused plenty of fun confusion over the release of our 2017 Crystal Range Zinfandel. I tried to give plentiful information as to what we were doing (including noting that there were no typos), but alas every person tasting this weekend seemed to want to know more.

So yes, the 2017 Crystal Range Zinfandel was released last Thursday.
Secondly, this Zin is from our vineyards (98% Zin, 1 % Petite Sirah, 1% Muscat)
Thirdly, yes we released it at the price of $1000/bottle.
Fourthly, yes currently we are doing a 99.3% discount on a case.
Fifthly, yes you read that correctly, 99.3% discount on a case!

Now, let's start with the background (a story I've now told many times!).

In 2017, we had a great harvest from our 21 acres of Zinfandel. It produced great quality and great quantity at the same time. We make different tiers of Zinfandel (Single Vineyards, Signature Collection, Hillside Collection, Lake Tahoe, etc.) focused on the different vineyards and the characteristics of each wine, yet we still had some of the 2017 Zin still in the barrel!

I then worked with one of the grocery stores to make a wine that would fit for their palate, fruit-oriented with a rounded finish. This worked well, they took their wine, but I had some Zin still in barrel.

Now, 7 months later and more time aging, this 2017 Zinfandel is tasting pretty nice. Mountain red fruit, hints of black berry, and a bit more of the chocolatey-oak aspects coming through on the palate, it was time to put this wine in the bottle! We had already planned to pull out one of our oldest labels (Crystal Range) from way back in 1988 (thus the color scheme for those of you old enough to understand) to promote this Zin.

And then everything changed a week ago Monday. Our Governor made the decision to clamp down once again and get the Covid-19 pandemic under control. When this happened last time in March, we started out El Tinto sale to help people out. But alas, you all bought us out of that wine (and I can't just snap my fingers to get another in the bottle).

But Maggie and I both thought that, as a community winery, we had an opportunity to help out with what we had in stock...WINE!

The last bit to the story is that we saw the Crystal Range Zinfandel as a wine to fill the pantry for everyday use, letting people feel good about living the "good life" with a "good bottle" of wine during uncertain times. We wanted to price the wine to do the yeoman's duty ($84/cs), but not a bottle here or bottle there.

Thus I will reiterate something here. The 2019 Crystal Range Zinfandel is $1000/bottle, but on special during this phase of the pandemic at $84/cs! (This is not a typo!!!) Got it? Or better yet. Got Yours? Click here to pick up at the winery or have it shipped!

And remember, have fun even during the most trying times. Zen helps! (Or is that Zin!)

July 14, 2020

We're Still Open! (and the 2017 Crystal Range Zinfandel)

As I'm writing this, Governor Newsome of California has issued a statewide closure to many things including indoor activities at wineries.

How does that impact us? At Madroña and Rucksack, we had already moved all tastings outside with the social distancing and sanitizing called for. For once it's a blessing to have the trees and the area to spread out to keep everything safe. So, in a few words, we are open as before and still focused on safety (reservations required, all outdoor, masks required to be seated, no live music, everything sterilized, individual glasses per taste, etc.).

But it's amazing how much can happen with just one week. We had expected to write a bit more about the "nuts and bolts" of the winery business in this mini Shrub Report, but instead we're taking a bit of a detour into a different part winery life.

A week ago, the nation hadn't anticipated such an increase in Covid-19 cases throughout the country. Even though El Dorado County is still flying under the radar in the number of Covid cases, the governor of California has made the call for safety.

Of course, we have respected the distancing with our outdoor tasting experience as well come up with creative ways to limit our/your exposure while still giving a sense of normalcy (which honestly has taken a heck of a lot of energy to figure out!!!).

But to a great degree, we feel like we are heading back to the earlier days of the pandemic in March and April when we all made great strides in controlling the spread. Knowing that people were going to be at home, looking for some aspect of life before, we had offered the El Tinto at an incredible price to not only get us through (as a winery) but to give people a chance to enjoy something great without breaking the bank.

Now to the other part of the story. In 2017, we had a great harvest from our 21 acres of Zinfandel. It produced great quality and great quantity at the same time. We make different tiers of Zinfandel (Single Vineyards, Signature Collection, Hillside Collection, Lake Tahoe, etc.) focused on the different vineyards and the characteristics of each wine, yet we still had some great Zin in the barrel!

This is where the lines intersect. We understand that life is challenging out there right now (as it is for us too). Not completely understanding where things are going yet still wanting to enjoy life, it's time to be more conservative both regarding finances and health (wear a mask!). On our side, we can't reinstate the El Tinto sale since you all did a great job of wiping out our inventory (and I can't just make El Tinto out of the blue whenever I want!).

But I had planned to bottle 1,230 cases of our 2017 Crystal Range Zinfandel (our second label) for potential chain store clients. This Zinfandel (as you can see below in our new release section) is a super solid, rounded, sweet-fruit oriented Zinfandel that is fantastic for everyday enjoyment. We, however, had not intended to offer this to customers as, being honest, it runs the risk of cannibalizing sales from our other wines (and a single large sale to a grocery chain would be better).

But alas, this week is different than last week, and people may be in need once again of a great wine at an amazing price, just to get that semblance of normalcy.

So, we're releasing the 2017 Crystal Range Zinfandel on Friday this week at $1000/bottle or $84/cs (not a misprint). It's meant to get a good bottle of wine on your table through what could be a lengthy new reality! It's kind of crazy, but it's the little things that seem to get us over the bigger humps in life. It could be playing with the kids or the dog. Or watching a favorite movie 96 times. For us, it's our nightly walk through vineyards. And for the number of people who have enjoyed El Tinto as a staple over the last several months, we suspect a great glass of wine in the evening helps ground people to the day.

Now it's Zinfandel, and hopefully the price helps! Fate has a way of aligning things if we just give it a chance! Cheers!

To order your wine for pickup or shipping (as weather permits), click here and go to Specialty Wines for the 2017 Crystal Range Zinfandel.

July 6, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week #4

Well, now that we have a few "tasting room" weekends behind us, we're starting to iron out the opportunities and the challenges with our the new Covid-19 tasting set-up. Add to this the chance to glean information from all of you who have come out for tastings, and there are probably some aspects of this new way to tasting Madroña wines that are here to stay.

But one thing we have learned from all of this is that trying to plan to far into the future (with Covid-19) is like throwing darts at a moving target. So instead, we take it day to day, ready to adjust but taking notes on things that work. So here's a bit of the inner thinking and nuts and bolts of the business parts.

We knew and still know that providing a healthy and safe tasting experience is paramount. Both we and the tasters needed to feel comfortable with the experience, especially in order to focus on the wines! Thus the distancing of tables outside under the trees provided the opportunity for safety. Ironically, it has also made for a much more intimate setting with tasters settling into their tables as the breezes rustle through the trees (kind of romantic!).

Our first challenge, however, was to make sure we could sterilize the tables to the levels dictated by the state. Our solution was to essentially provide new tablecloths at each seating with sterilized clip and pens and notes and everything. It takes far more staff to ensure this, but it was the only way we felt we could comply with the safety needs.

The result is white butcher-block paper clipped down on our new picnic tables. People are encouraged to write down which flights they are tasting and to take notes on the wines. To our delight, most people take the chance to doodle while they taste, adding a level of relaxation that is not possible in a more frenetic atmosphere like a tasting room. And the artwork...there are some very talented artists tasting wine!

This slower paced tasting with the pleasant distraction of doodling gives an experience that we had not really anticipated. Instead, we were thinking predominantly about the safety and how we could still provide an opportunity to taste several different wines.

But the relaxed tasting is so "apples and oranges" compared to the previous style in our tasting room that the appreciation of the wines seems different as well. More time to savor, no need to "hold" your spot at the tasting bar, no need to get the attention of the server for your next taste, and copious amounts of room around you all just seem to add more value into experience.

But, how do we continue to give the information on the wines for which we at Madroña are so known? That is for the next installment of this business narrative (as we can see that to truly cover these topics with real information, this entry will be too long!).

And it will gives us another weekend to glean even more information and suggestions from tasters at our "wine tasting wine bar-like" experience! Come give us your thoughts too! Reservations are available on our website, just look in the upper right hand corner.

June 29, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week #3

We hope you had a fabulous week and are looking forward to the 4th of July weekend! As we have said before, in every challenge is opportunity. We have had tremendous feedback from our new flights tasting. The most common comment is that people enjoy the intimate experience and not having to "belly" up to the bar. As we move forward, we will probably find a way to make this a continuing part of our plans.

We are however, saddened to see the Covid-19 cases rising throughout the United State and especially in California. For us, this means that rather than loosening up our protocols, we need to continue keeping them tight, making sure that you, our guest, remain safe (as well as our staff). When you come to Madroña or Rucksack, you can expect that we have given thought about how to minimize the contact between customers and servers, as well as sanitizing protocols. We want you to feel comfortable visiting Madroña and Rucksack, thus freeing you up to enjoy the wine experience to its fullest!

May we all stay healthy and safe!

June 23, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week #2

It was a wonderful weekend of tasting rooms (or rather 'tasting areas') like we've never seen before. It's almost an intimate, non-intimate experience that borders on surreal, especially for a winery that has prided itself on direct involvement with the tasters and wines for the last 40 years! And we have to say, we're enjoying the experience.

Yes, tasting now takes an RSVP, and we do have to charge a bit more for the experience (basically because our labor costs are much higher with all the sterilizing of tables, pens, holders, information sheets, and everything). But the calmer spirit of tasting seems to make up for any other inconveniences customers may be tackling.

For us, it's more work in the back and less one-on-one explanations (although Paul seems to always be out there in his mask explaining some weird wine fact or another). But the collection of wine flights, Paul's 1-minute videos on each of the wines, the casual tasting schedule, and all the room provided by the social distancing of the tables outside seems to be providing a new experience for our wine lovers.

As a community winery, we're gleaning information from people's opinions in order to find the right fit. But ultimately, it's a much more relaxed wine tasting experience under the trees!

Who would have thunk it, but this license to try something new may just spark some real changes in the future. In any case, come up and experience it and give us your thoughts! Cheers.

Madroña's Open for Tasting - Friday-Sunday by RSVP, Last RSVP @ 3:30
Here are the details once again!

We have moved all of our tasting outside under the large cedar trees, and we have created wine flights featuring different wines. Each customer gets to select two of the flights seated at our new picnic tables (comfortably seating 2-6 people). The wine flights change every few weeks to include different wines! You may bring your own picnic foods, but we do need you to respect the 1 hour reservation spot. Arrive without a reservations? Not a problem please just check with us to see if we have one available. We do ask that you wear masks from your car to the table, and then if you get up from the table. Flight tastings cost $15/person and we give $5.00 back when you purchase a bottle. Of course, each club membership receives two complimentary tastings per day (for the club members!). This is a new way of tasting for us, but it has been well received. We hope that will join us as we head down this new adventure.

(P.S. We will be open for curb-side pick-ups every day from 11-4. And need to reserve a time? Just head to www.MadronaVineyards.com and click on reservations in the upper right-hand corner!)

June 15, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week #1

So...are you wondering what we are thinking this week? Well, it's novel, it's new...and its a result of Covid-19! On June 20th (here on the west coast) - at approximately 1:26 pm Pacific Time, we will be summer the first ever live broadcast of the Summer Solstice Celebration from Stonehenge! We are busy thinking what very special glass of wine we should use to toast this spiritual occasion. If you want to join the celebration. check out the English Heritage Facebook Page! And then let us know what worthy Madroña wine you are going to sip!

Madroña's Open for Tasting - Friday-Sunday by Reservations
We are officially welcoming in Phase 3 of the Covid Re-openings! We have moved all of our tasting outside under the large cedar trees, and we have created wine flights featuring different wines. Each customer gets to select two of the flights seated at our new picnic tables (comfortably seating 2-6 people). You may bring your own picnic foods, but we do need you to respect the 1 hour reservation spot. Arrive without a reservations? Not a problem please just check with us to see if we have one available. We do ask that you wear masks from your car to the table, and then if you get up from the table. Flight tastings cost $15/person and we give $5.00 back when you purchase a bottle. Of course, each club membership receives two complimentary tastings per day (for the club members!). This is a new way of tasting for us, but it has been well received. We hope that will join us as we head down this new adventure.

(P.S. We will be open for curb-side pick-ups every day from 11-4. And need to reserve a time? Just head to www.MadronaVineyards.com and click on reservations in the upper right-hand corner!)

In the past 7 days, the world has changed. We have gone from despair to finally hope. Hope with the number of people standing up for social justice that real change came come. We thank you for understanding why we took the past week away from social media and marketing. We posted the following message on our social media channels yesterday. And while we are moving forward again with promoting our goings-on, we will continue to stay focused on doing more to promote a healthier and equitable world.

June 9, 2020

Phase 2 - Week #4

"Last Tuesday, June 2 nd we paused. We paused our social media feed, we took a break from our weekly marketing, and we cancelled upcoming events. We took this past week off from these things to give us space for reflection. We spent hours listening to stories and talking late into the night. We participated in thoughtful and insightful conversations with our children about topics from Black Lives Matter, to social injustice, and to media bias. We realized that not everyone is comfortable with social media posts or promoting their philanthropy in times such as these, and that we all need to find our own authentic way to share our responses. We began to read to educate ourselves more fully. The more we read, the more we listened, the more we talked, the clearer it became that there is no way for us to truly understand what it means to grow up black in our country AND we unequivocally understand that racism has no place in our business, our community or our world.

As we go forward, we're committed to listening and continuing to educate ourselves. As a business and as a family we will continue to have respectful conversations, even if they are uncomfortable. We will continue to generously support our community. And we continue to be dedicated to inclusivity and social justice reform. We will do more and work to not let this moment fade."

June 2, 2020

Phase 2 - Week #3

With the nation's focus on the Corona virus, social justice and a general unease in our country, we're going to take a break from marketing this week.
We had already paired our Toast to Thursday and have listed it if you are interested in supporting Dedrick's Cheese shop as well as picking up a nice pairing for that night. And as always, the virtual tastings are listed below for a different kind of get-away.
Thank you for understanding, and we hope you are all staying safe and doing well

May 25, 2020

Phase 2 - Week #2

t's amazing how much can change in a week! So we look at the vines outside, and they've grown a foot or more since our last email. But we could argue that our business has changed even more than that as we try to negotiate the constantly dynamic changes of the new Phase 2 reality.

It is true that we will be hosting our Annual Open House this weekend, but completely within the guidelines and restrictions given to us by the state and our county's environmental health department. First and foremost, this requires reservations to attend as well as a litany of requirements to insure public safety.

We appreciate your patience as we all try to figure out how this new style of "tasting" can work and how sustainable it really is. We know it means fewer attendees, less personal interaction from our staff, more focus perhaps on the wines, and an understanding that we are all trying to incorporate new ways of doing things that were pretty simple...in the past.

We've thought out each aspect of this year's Open House from so many different angles, but alas the end user, our family of Madroña lovers, is the last bit of information we need. Honest feedback on this entirely different approach will be what we hope to get.

So, your job is to get reservations and follow all the requirements (including wearing your mask from the car to the table) to a "T". Be patience and understanding that we are trying something new. Try not to compare things to the way "it used to be" since that isn't possible now. And give constructive feedback (email) when you get home.

May 22, 2020

Rumors and Reality

Ah yes, the rumor! While we are most grateful to our local television station for promoting our re-opening on Memorial Day Weekend, this unfortunately is not true. We will not be open for tasting this coming w eekend (May 23rd & 24th) . Under the Phase II rules, we are only able to open for seated tastings when we are serving a meal. While this would be our normal Open House weekend, we just did not feel we could meet the protocols necessary to keep you and our staff safe on such short notice.
And Now...the reality! We will be opening on May 30th and May 31st for a slimmed down version of our 40th Open House. Capital Sierra Catering will be onsite serving up those fabulous gourmet hamburgers, and piping hot sweet potato fries. We will be showcasing wine flights of which you will have the choice of two different selections!
We can take reservations for up to 6 people at one table (although the tables are most comfortable with 4).
Reservations for this event are $20/person and each reservation will include one of Capital Sierra Catering's gourmet hamburgers, home-fried sweet potato fries and your choice of two flights of wine. Reservations can be made from MadronaVineyards.com or by going directly to Open Table.
In order for us to open during Phase II, we all must follow certain guidelines. This is what you can expect.
1. We will be following all state and county regulations to ensure your safety and the safety of our employees.
2. All dining will be outside.
3. We will be serving the gourmet burgers that you have come to expect along with sweet potato fries! If you need a vegetarian option, please make your reservation, but note your preference in the comments. Each meal will include a choice of 2 flights of wine chosen from several available flights. Tickets are $20/person and will be charged at the end of the meal.
4. Reservations can be made at MadronaVineyards.com or by calling the winery. Please note - we are unable to extend your reservation if you do not arrive at your scheduled time.
5. Reservations are for a one hour time period only. Our tables can accommodate groups from 2-6, although 4 is the most comfortable. During this time, we are unable to accommodate animals traveling with you (unless a designated service animal) or children who are not able to stay seated at the table.
6. Please do not attend if you have traveled in the past 14 days, have a fever, or feel sick in any way.
7. You are required to wear a mask from your car until you are seated, where it can be removed.
And most importantly, you may order wine while you are here to take home with you! Just let your server know!

And More Reality... This Sunday (May 24th) at 4pm sharp will mark the end of our El Tinto, Lot 39 sale ($101/cs) that we have held for the entirety of the Phase 1, Shelter in Place mandate. On Monday, it goes back up to $14/bottle. So if you need El Tinto stocked up, you might want to stop by the winery this weekend for some curbside pickup! (Order Here!)
Thank you for working with us on these adjustments during the Phased Re-Opening, and we look forward to hopefully seeing you soon!
On our side, we'll continue to make awesome wines, be creative, and listen. We won't sacrifice safety for ease, but we'll all celebrate this beautiful area we get to call home. We hope to see you up here this weekend!

May 18, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week 10 – Phase II

As we enter week #10, things have changed quite a bit, once again. California has entered Phase 2 with El Dorado County being on the forefront of the reopening. Restaurants are allowed to do some indoor dining, and more retailers have been allowed to do curbside pickup.

For wineries, our tasting rooms have a glimpse of being able to reopen, but more along the lines of restaurants rather than traditional tasting rooms. The major requirement (besides all the sterilizing and social distancing protocols) is that wine can only be served with a meal. Most wineries don't have that ability.

We weighed out trying to open for some tasting this coming weekend, but we decided that this was something we couldn't and shouldn't rush into. For once in our winery's life, we don't aspire to be first at something.

Madroña's Open House, Phase 2 Style
Most of you know that Madroña's Annual Open House is El Dorado County's oldest consecutively celebrated winery event. Every year for the past 40 years, we have held our Open House in May, celebrating our new (and old) wines with hamburgers, French fries and friendship. Wanting to keep the tradition running, we are moving towards celebrating our Open House on Saturday, May 30th and Sunday, May 31st. With this, though, comes a slew of new regulations for safety reasons.

1. All tastings will be done by reservation only and paid for on the same ticket. We are currently setting up this system as we speak.
2. Tastings will be served with a meal. This works for Open House nicely.
3. Tastings will be held outside, with tables set a fare distance apart.
4. We will be serving a choice of flights of wine with the "meal".
5. Tastings will last up to an hour, at which point we need to prepare (sterilize the table) for the next guests.
6. Tastings are for 2-6 people per table, and tasters must arrive at the same time. (Tables cannot be moved together to host more than 6 people.)
7. Our employees will be wearing masks to serve you, practicing social distancing.
8. We're sure there will be other limitations and rules as everything seems to change daily.

We appreciate your patience as we try to figure out the new "normal". Your safety and our employees' safety is of our utmost concern, and thus the precautions we take will be strictly adhered to. (Plus they are required by the state of California and ABC.) Ultimately, it will be different yet memorable experience of wine tasting.

We will be sending out more information this week as we solidify all our plans. Be warned, however, that we are limited in the number of tables we have. So when we start taking reservations and you are hoping to come out, you'd better sign up quickly as we won't have much flexibility after reservations fill up!

Hopefully June will be different, and we will continue to do the curbside pickups for all who need some great wine!

May 9, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week 9

As we enter week #9 of Shelter in Place, it's all coming down to planning for, hopefully, a reopening of some sort at the tasting room. This planning is a little like throwing darts at a moving target as we really don't know what's going to be possible. We know our employees' safety is paramount, and we want the "tasting" experience to be as engaging as ever, but we know that what was "normal" will no longer be normal. But we're blessed with an understanding community who has supported our business (and others) in amazing ways over the last couple months (and 40+ years). It makes "out-of-the-box" ideas seem possible and even reasonable, knowing that we are all in this together. Keep your ideas coming, and we'll keep thinking (while working in the vineyards and the beautiful weather (or rain like tomorrow)). Thank you and Cheers!

May 4, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week 8

As we enter week #8 of Shelter in Place, I find myself continually running mantra's through my head..."Focus on what you can do, not what you can't do", "In difficulty lies opportunity" and "Life's not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning how to dance in the rain." Currently, we are planning on what re-opening will look like, how to keep our customers and our staff safe and how to utilize all the fabulous ideas we gleaned from our most recent pop-up Zoom call. We hope that you continue to enjoy our offerings, and please know that we welcome all feedback and suggestions.

April 27, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week 7

As we enter week #7 of Shelter in Place, there are inklings from the governor that we may be progressing towards some sort of loosening of the restrictions, at some point. As a small business, we are trying to take hints wherever we can find them as we try to prepare for the next step in our community's battle with containing Covid-19. What this means for tastings here at the winery, we do not know. We just know it's going to be different than before. But in any case, we do want to be cautiously ready for whatever form the new experiences take.

As for the vineyards, it's business as usual. The sun comes up, the weather warms, and the vines just keep growing (and the weeds too). We're spending more time out in the vineyards working with the vines, and mowing many mornings and evenings. If we push hard now, it will pay off in spades later (and saved time).

We hope you all are continuing to do well during these difficult times. Although life is far more complicated than wine releases, vineyard updates and visions from a small business, we hope our little slice of "normal" helps get you through the day. Your support of our winery most certainly has helped us get through the days! Thank you again.
So, here's what's going on this week here at Madroña!

April 20, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week 6

As we enter week Six of Shelter in Place in El Dorado County, it's been an interesting few days. The vines are finally starting to unfurl their young leaves as temperatures rise and the sun shines a bit more. We did bottle two days the end of last week as wines like the Chenin Blanc and the Grenache Rosé are finally in the bottle. We did our best to work with some of the Small Business Association loans, but alas the money has already run out.
But all in all, we continue to do well. We all have our health (as does Leslie), and we're making connections with friends and family (via Zoom) which helps us get through the less sane hours. And of course we have all of you, which we appreciate more than you know. Thank you!
So, here's what's going on this week here at Madroña!

April 14, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week 5

As we enter week Five of Shelter in Place in El Dorado County, the sun has finally come out and the vines are just starting to bud. It helps remind us that we are lucky to live in such a beautiful area, and while surrounded by family, we are truly blessed! We hope that you, too, are healthy with a roof over your head and food in fridge as we all get through this together (and think of those who need a bit more help).

The vines continue to grow, the wines need attention, and here's what's going on this week at Madroña!

April 8, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week 4

As we enter week four of Shelter in Place in El Dorado County, we are reminded that each of us is experiencing a different part of this experience. If you are in New York, the appex may be this week, in other parts of the nation, the appex is predicted to be April 15th. Alas here in California, it is predicted to be April 26th. No matter where you are, we look forward to a day when we will all be on the same footing.
So what's new for this week at Madroña?

April 2, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week 3

As we enter this third week of quarantine, we are counting our blessings. We are thankful for friends, family and our fabulous customers. Our vineyards survived (mostly) the first frost of the year, and we are thankful that you all love El Tinto! And finally, we are very, very thankful for all the notes, texts, emails, and Facebook/Instagram posts of encouragement. They keep us going each day.

March 23, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week 2

We sincerely hope that this email finds you well and safe in these very unusual times. We have received a tremendous number of upbeat, heartfelt, and encouraging notes from our customers and we are most appreciative. They keep us going each day! While we believe this will be a long haul, we will all get through this together.

March 19, 2020

The Long Term Game Plan

It's been a wild few days here at Madrona. It started with strong winds Saturday night and a power outage. Sunday, we held Session #3 of our Quintet tasting by candlelight, and by Sunday afternoon, not only were we shoveling our way out of 9" of snow, we were closing our tasting room per the directive of the Governor's office. Thankfully, we received electricity back at the winery last night at 5:39. And we are grateful!
As with all small wineries, and businesses in general, the long-term effects of the tasting room closure will create significant challenges for our business. The closure of restaurants will also effect our business. We are currently in planning mode of how to successfully make it through 8-12 weeks. Almost all of our employees have been with us for more than 10 years and we consider them family. Our planning not only includes how to stay in business, but how to protect our employees as best as we are able while supporting our community.
With our tastings and events cancelled for the foreseeable future, our major challenge is how do we bring our authentic, family style, educational tasting room environment to you? So we are embracing our creative side, assessing our strengths, and putting together some fun opportunities for you. Stay tuned as we roll these out, and you won't be disappointed!

But what are we doing immediately?
First, our tasting room is open for pick-up orders, club orders, and shipping orders. We have implemented all the necessary and increased sanitation requirements to keep you and our staff healthy. If you would like us to run orders out to your car, please call ahead and we will have them ready!
Secondly, our largest event of the year, The El Dorado Winery Association Passport Weekend has been postponed until July. Each year, during Passport only, we offer our amazing fruit-forward blend, El Tinto, at the incredible price of $100/case. This year we are beginning this sale now. Enjoy a case of El Tinto by the case for $101/case. (We raised it $1.00 so it would qualify for the shipping deal below!). We will run this special until we are allowed to open for tastings again! It's a bargain on a great wine! Perfect for enjoying with friends via Facetime or Skype!
Thirdly, we are offering $5.00 shipping on any orders over $100.00, not including club shipments. Just because we have been asked to "Shelter in Place", does not mean that you should not enjoy our wonderful sustainable farmed, well-balanced wines.
Finally, we have been transitioning our on-line shopping cart. We have released it earlier than anticipated, but you can order wines for pick-up and to be shipped through the site. Because we have moved up the release, there still may be a few bugs, but rest assured, we will ensure each order is correctly calculated before it ships!
Thank you for all the support, and may we all learn something from this experience. (And take care of yourselves and your neighbors...we're all in this together!).

March 16, 2020

Important Customer Information

To Our Valued Madrona Customers,
Like so many of you, we have spent the last several days and weeks learning about the Corona virus, and how it is impacting the world. For us, that means understanding how it affects our employees, guests, and community, and then making the necessary adjustments to our winery operations. In light of the most recent recommendations from California state officials, we have made the decision to exercise caution and temporarily close our tasting room starting today.
During the tasting room closer, we will remain open for shipping orders and any pick-up/drive-up orders that are emailed or called in (530-644-5948). However, in additional to being closed for the corona virus today, we are also closed due to snow and lack of electricity. We have been without electricity since 2am Sunday morning, and there is no anticipated restoration time but we are hopeful it will be soon! However, we do have email and electricity from home, so we will get your emails.

Our situation is constantly changing, as we know yours are as well. We will keep you informed of changes through our Facebook and Instagram accounts.

We hope that you take the necessary precautions to keep yourself, family and community safe and health. This will be a time of great challenge for all of us, but we are strong.

December 8, 2020

"Stay at Home Order"--Not Quite Here in El Dorado Yet!

Tastings Outdoors Right Now, But Maybe Curbside Sales Soon

To be upfront and forward, we know that everyone wants to talk about the elephant in the room, meaning the impending “Stay at Home” order coming to our area due to Covid-19. Don’t worry, we’ll get to that, but only so that the remaining Shrub Reports during the holidays can be on the more positive side as “Hope” springs eternal for the New Year! Can we shake on that?

OK, so, the potential “Stay at Home” order. First of all, we are hoping that the hospitalization rates and ICU occupancies drop throughout our area let alone the entire nation. Having said that, as a small business we need to “hope for the best” while “preparing for the worst.”

If our region’s ICU bed availability continues to decline and the potential impact of gatherings from Thanksgiving transpires, then things will shut down in an effort to curb the spread. We, as winery owners, have already been having discussions about the winter months and what they hold for our small business, let alone our staff, family and friends.

We started having the hard discussions about a month ago, preparing for January (we hadn’t really expected this all in December, but we adjust). We started figuring out staff schedules balanced by availability and the potential needs of a dynamically changing customer environment. This meant certainly that Maggie and I would be working more shifts (as we don’t really get paid). And by having a smaller core staff to work with, this would keep everyone healthier while keeping us sane. Add into this the new OSHA regulations for Covid, and we're thankful Madroña is a small business.

But it also meant that we had to furlough some flexible tasting room staff until probably April, when we expect things may loosen up. We could see that the hours wouldn’t be there during the winter, and the winery/vineyard operations come first (wines and vines don’t care there’s a virus). This is yet another position that I never thought we’d be in!

So, with the “Stay at Home” order, it will mean that our tasting area will cease to operate until restrictions are lifted. We will be able to work in the cellar (bottling, racking, etc.) as an essential business, but the sales part will be restricted to Curbside purchases. Of course we’ll also be shipping wine via UPS to anyone who needs it.

Now before you start worrying about us too much, in all honesty we’ve been making the hard decisions and preparing for this over the last several months. But there are lots of businesses that have it harder than we do. Restaurants and small shops with fewer possibilities probably need your support desperately right now.

So even if you don’t plan to eat at the restaurant in the next few months, get a gift card and pass them around. During times like these, it’s not the profit and loss of a business that gets it through;it’s all about cash flow.

So if you want your corner restaurant to be there after Covid subsides, support them now. As for us, pop a bottle of Madroña and embrace what’s good in life, even during a pandemic!

We'll get off our soapbox now, but remember that we’ll all get through this by working together!

December 1, 2020

Small Business is about Always Learning and Always Being Dynamic

A Win-Wine-Win-Win Situation

First and foremost, we hope you all had amazing Thanksgivings! With the smaller gatherings, there's a good chance conversations were more than just talking about the weather. It surely was at our house!

So, you may have expected that we'd be talking about the chance of closing down due to California's rapidly rising Covid cases and the governor's thoughts on keeping rates in check. But we thought we could leave that until next week and instead talk about something more positive!

Well, you should all pat yourselves on the back because...You Did It! And now, you probably would like to know what you actually did do. Well, you stocked up on our 2017 Crystal Range Zinfandel and bought all the cases available in just about three months.

Now, this is no little feat. We produced 1248 cases of this bottling of Crystal Range and were selling it only through the tasting room (and UPS). That's a lot of wine during a short period of time, pandemic or no pandemic.

But here are some of the takeaways for us from this Win-Win experience:

  • It was a good Zinfandel at an amazing price
  • From a purely business point of view, your support meant cash flow for us
  • The story was almost as important as the wine itself
  • People believe in naturally/organically produced grapes
  • People need 'Tuesday' night wines in their wine selection
  • People shouldn't buy wines untasted
  • Most people don't know where the Crystal Range is
  • Price matters
  • The laughs and smiles on the Pricing ($1137/bottle or $84/case) were the best part

I won't delve into things here too deeply, but we've learned a lot by having fun with the Crystal Range. Basically, we had the wine and people wanted to support. And if you can do that with some fun and value at the same time, then you have a Win-Wine-Win-Win situation.

We've always known that people need Tuesday night wines (wines at a great price that you can open anytime without feeling guilty). In fact, our El Tinto is that wine for many people. (The greatest compliment I've heard is that the El Tinto is a Tuesday wine you can open on Saturday!) So when I see the pricing from many wineriesallin the $30-$60 range, I wonder if they aren't missing the boat on some things.

Of course image and 'perceived reputation' are important (unfortunately) in the wine industry, but the realization that Madroña's heart really is a being community winery is what has come out of this. True, the demographics in the area don't support overly priced wines, but it was interesting to see how many 'new tasters', people in their early to mid-20's with limited funds, would walk out with a case of Crystal Range.

Do we think this has hurt our reputation? No, although we did do this fun experience with our second label, Crystal Range, rather than Madroña. So there could be a discussion there as well.

But ultimately, it was pure fun to present this wine out in our tasting area with its Estate-Grown, naturally farmed, varietally-focused characters. And then to see the recognition of the 99.38% discount on a case come over the faces of everyone new to the story. For me, that was pure joy as people started to comprehend what we were doing.

So what started out as a way to get wine into peoples' hands turned into so much more for us here. We're happy the Crystal Range is sold out, and we're sad that the wine is sold out. But the memories are great. And to you, we thank you for this and the support!

And yes, we're already getting the "What are you going to do next?" Honestly, we don't know, but I'm sure it will take a glass of Crystal Range to get the mental juices flowing some Friday night!

November 25, 2020

Happy Thanksgiving!

Madroña is Closed Thursday to be with Family--Opening again Outside Friday

Sometimes, we all need to slow down a bit and reflect on what amazing lives we have and not focus on what we think it should be. For us, Thanksgiving is some of that where we can embrace (literally, figuratively, and by Zoom) our families and friends while being thankful of having food on the table and a roof over our heads.

Of course always wanting to tie wine into every aspect of life, I think we'll be enjoying the traditional classics this Thanksgiving. With the spice mix of our turkey's stuffing, we always pop a bottle of Gewürztraminer and a bottle of Grenache. Both wines highlight the elegance of the turkey's flavor while pairing amazingly well with the savory spices that surround almost all or our family's traditional dishes.

And with Hanna (our eldest) home, we'll be making Salmon in Parchment Paper as she's a pescatarian. This is recipe from Teena Hildebrand of Narrow Gate Winery in her cook book. For this, it's a Rucksack Cellars' Pinot Noir as we go local!

May your traditions and celebrations be thankful during these trying times, and may we all focus on what's really important in our lives (even if it's just for an afternoon)!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Madroña Family!

November 17, 2020

Purple Level, Tightening Again

Well, once again we find ourselves here in a restricted level (in fact, the most restricted level) as we head into the holidays. We'll say this once again, "Please just wear a mask when you're out!" That helps small business, and helps slow the spread as we all wish to get back to normal.

Secondly, especially during this holiday season, support those local restaurants as they will have a tough time trying to serve outside while the winter moves in. And that doesn't even take into account the additional costs of propane and heaters as they try to keep customers warm. We choose one to two restaurants a week to support with curbside pickups as we're in the business (and know that their margins are slim for sure!).

Now having said all that, here are the nuts and bolts for us a winery. In the purple tier, we can continue to do tastings, but everything needs to be done outdoors. If you happened to have visited us on a rainy or cool day during our time in the orange tier, we had set up 8 tables distanced downstairs in the winery cellar with heaters and racks of barrels separating tables. I would run the large cooling fans each hour to stir up the air, making sure conditions felt (and were) safe. Alas, those days of any indoor tasting are over for now.

To be honest, we really don't expect conditions to change now until perhaps April. At least from a small business point of view, we have to prepare for the worst (and hope for the best). So, that means that we have some thinking to do as we make all tastings outdoors, all the time.

One bonus is that, although we're in the Sierra Nevada, days during winter can be beautiful outside and warm enough to enjoy the environment. Truly, it's either stormy here or beautifully clear with sunshine. (We don't have that many cloudy days, and no fog for sure!) Thus, for a great portion of the winter season, we should be able to provide a great tasting outside under the trees in front of the winery.

But the question comes up as to what we do on the stormy days. We can set up 6 tables in our crush pad area that is covered and protected from elements by some degree. With heaters, this might be an opportunity. But it does make working in the winery difficult without access to the outer areas of the winery with the forklift and pallet jacks. So, we will see what we decide.

So, for the 76th time this year, we ask for and appreciate your patience with what Covid adjustments. Always wanting to err on the side of caution, we will do what we believe is safe and follows the state's guidelines.

If you're coming up for a tasting, make reservations (as we will have fewer tables), and then we can agree to reach out to each other to make sure we're actually tasting that day once the weather solidifies. Sound good?

And remember that we're always open for curbside pickup from the parking lot if you just need to take some wine home! Cheers!

November 10, 2020

Orange Level (kind of), Red Level (kind of)

Ok, so we find ourselves in a totally new situation with Covid that we really didn't think we'd be in. And that's saying a lot.

This morning, El Dorado county was in the Orange level with California's Covid tiered system. At noon, due to an increase in one our county's numbers, El Dorado county was moved into the Red tier. But if one looks at the three criteria of the State's system of colors, El Dorado county was up in one, held steady in one, and was lower in the third.

So now we find ourselves in kind of a purgatory. If we go to the county's Covid website with all the latest information, we are listed still in the Orange level while the county adjudicates the State-assigned Red tier from earlier today.

Ok, from a small business point of view, we'll admit that hoping around in the tiers is hard. It's hard on everyone, but especially hard on restaurants. For us as a winery, the difference between the Orange and Red tiers is whether we can do tastings indoors (at 25%) or only do tastings outdoors.

As you probably know, we have set up the cellar with all the social distancing and air circulation so that we could continue to do tastings during the inclement weather periods (like last weekend's snow!). With heaters at each table, stacks of barrels between tables, and our large winery fans working with airflow, people seemed to really enjoy themselves (of course masks are required any time you're not at your table). And with our flight tastings and sterilizing everything between customers, we as a winery felt comfortable with the safety of the experience. It's a win-win (or a wine-wine!).

With the Red tier (which our county received by having our cases per 100,000 residents going up, even though Camino/Pollock Pines had 0 cases), we will be relegated to being outside only. So it's time to put on our thinking caps one more time and be prepared for what may be coming.

We take this all very seriously and will follow the county's requirements (as well as our own level of concern) to provide a safe and enjoyable experience. And no matter how tired we get reinventing ourselves, we need to remember that many businesses have it harder than we do. And for them, we all need to do a bit more curbside pickups!

#1--Did you Vote?!?

Vote, Pop, Sample and Relax

It's election season (if you've just come out of hibernation), and it's the last days of showing your American spirit by voting. If you haven't voted before, here is how you do it.

  • Vote--In person, or drop off, it will be counted
  • Pop--Pop a bottle of your favorite Madroña wine
  • Sample--Pour yourself and nice glass of wine and embrace it's flavors
  • Relax--The election season is almost done, and you have done your part!

Unlike washing your hair, voting does not allowed you to simply rinse and repeat. Please only vote once, but you can do steps 2, 3, and 4 as many times as you want (or need) as the results come in. And thank you again for doing your American civic duty!

November 2, 2020

Madroña and Rucksack Weather Report!

Click Here for Reservations

So, tying into last week's story about our outdoor tastings, we thought we should give you all a weather report for the upcoming week in our area. Of particular importance is the fact that Club Members have gorgeous Wine Club Shipments here to pick up this week. This may be the perfect week, temperature-wise and crowd-wise, for Club Members to come up for their complementary wine tasting and grab their shipment and wines for the holidays. Just check out the forecast below!

Forecast--With an unusual high pressure front sitting over the area, temperatures are expected to be higher and unusually pleasant for outdoor tastings this week. Clear skies and autumn colors are gracing the area, everywhere we look. Towards the end of the week, a low pressure system will be moving into the area, cooling the temperatures significantly.

Coincidentally, a low pressure of crowds has enveloped the area as Pumpkin Hill, oops, I mean Apple Hill, slows down after Halloween. The crowded roads are clearing as this low crowd pressure approaches the region and locals once again venture out on weekends.

This Week's Forecast

Monday--High Temperature--79 Clear skies with a light west/northwest wind, intensify the refreshing citrus and apple characters of our 2019 Hillside Chardonnay!

Tuesday--High Temperature--75 Clear skies with a variable breeze and the 2016 Signature Zinfandel will be tasting exceptionally fruity with impressive color!

Wednesday--High Temperature--75 Clear skies with a variable breeze highlighting the boldness of our 2017 Hillside Merlot and its chameleon-like versatility with food!

Thursday--High Temperature--77 Clear skies with a light breeze, with a 97% chance that Paul will pull out the 2006 Reserve Cabernet for club members to taste to celebrate the club and a beautiful day!

Friday--High Temperature--56 Cloudy with a slight chance of rain, necessitating the use of blankets while embracing the Estate Grown aspects of the Club Shipments 2017 Signature Cab Sauvignon!

Saturday--High Temperature--52 Mostly sunny with crisp temperatures. This is a red wine tasting day for sure, showing why bold mountain-grown reds are superior to low-elevation wines. Dress warmly!

Sunday--High Temperature--51 Mostly sunny with crisp temperatures. We may just need to open up something special to celebrate making it through election week. Dress warmly once again!

The seasons are changing, and outdoor tastings may become more of an experience as temperatures drop. So RSVP this week and enjoy the incredible weather before it's all gone. (And remember that Madroña is open every day and Rucksack just Saturday and Sunday, with our last seatings being at 3:45 PM.)Click Here for Reservations

October 29, 2020

It's Time to Embrace Some Change!

This last weekend, we got our first glimpse of what some of winter may hold for us and our tasting "area". Sure, it froze in the vineyards, and we need more of this cold weather, but it was interesting to talk to people tasting outside, bundled up with some breezy conditions and cool temperatures. So what did we find out?

Well, let's start again with what we are currently doing with our outdoor tastings. We are doing flights where people get to choose two selections out of four different and diverse sets of our wines. We are taking the pandemic restrictions seriously, with sterilizing everything in between tasting groups. The difficulty in this was making sure that our new protocols fit into our "low-impact" values for the environment.

Thus instead of plastic tablecloths, we use butcher paper, changed out and recycled between customers (and everyone loves taking notes and drawing on the paper). And since kids are no longer allowed to run around the other customers, families play games and draw while the parents taste wine. (We kind of fell into that!)

Knowing that we wanted to pour six different wines and would need six different glasses, we quickly contemplated using plastic for pure ease. But alas, that neither fit into our values for the environment with waste nor our pure pride in the quality of our wine (really, drinking Madroña out of plastic? It makes a difference!). More labor, for sure, washing the glasses, but it keeps people working, improves the experience and reduces garbage, all part of our sustainability beliefs.

Lastly with the reservations and the limited tables available, we have been able to keep larger distances between tables than just 6 feet. Customers have asked why we don't just add more tables to accommodate more people, but then the quality of the experience goes down.

Now, to last weekend. It was chilly for sure, and it showed the inventive spirit of Madroña wine lovers. Scarves, jackets, blankets and more graced our patrons as they embraced the cooler temperatures. Our job was to provide a safe environment while keeping the wines at temperature. (Interestingly, we need to keep red wines warmer in cooler ambient temperatures as it makes for a much better showing for the wines and a better experience.)

So we have an idea of how some outdoor tasting could happen this coming winter. We're often blessed by having a fair amount of good weather during the winters up here where the sun is warm and the winds calm.

As for tasting indoors, we know we can fit 12 tables downstairs in cellar and barrel room separated by stacks of barrels to insure social distancing. But the question will be, "Do we feel comfortable with our staff working and customers tasting all together in a space?" Yes, the ceilings are 18 feet high and there's plenty of open air, but will we all feel comfortable? That may depend a lot on how the pandemic progresses and how we all choose to embrace it.

As business owners, we will weigh the risks in the coming months. We definitely appreciate your understanding that we may be inside only, outside only, inside and outside, or even closed. Safety comes first, especially during these times.

It may be a cool winter, but regardless, a glass of wine makes everything better!

October 20, 2020

Where are we today?

We know change is coming, but precisely when is up in the air. The two major factors that will guide this pending change are the County Covid Levels and the weather. Over the past week, we have heard both that the Covid Level in El Dorado County may switch to Yellow, which would mean we could open up with 50% capacity inside. But we have also heard that it will be rising again to Red Level, which means we would not be able to open up at al inside at all. Add to this that we are in the middle of October, and the weather is bound to change away from this unusual heat. In fact, we see a bit of it in the forecast....our high is 65 on Saturday, but the threat of rain has subsided.. All of this leaves us in a bit of a quandary as to what our next re-invention will look like, but we are gearing up mentally and physically to tackle it!

October 13, 2020

Almost There--Perk Up Paul!

If you happen to have enjoyed our outdoor tasting room experience here at Madroña over the last few months, you might have had the the unfortunate experience of asking Paul how things are going. Be warned if he asks, "Do you really want to know?" If you answer "Yes", his answers will include the impacts of smoke, tariffs, Covid, heat, and aspects of fatigue that can be downright depressing.

Honesty can be tough to swallow sometimes, so luckily people are sipping wines during the tasting to wash it all down.

But hoping to balance things just a bit here, we'd like to list out all the little things that are going great right now. Hopefully this brings a smile to your face and a sense of normalcy as well! So here goes:

  • The fruit fly population seems very low this year.
  • We never personally met the bear in the vineyard that ate all the Cabernet in the small block

That's it! (Wait, that was Paul's list. Now let's continue with the real list!)

  • We aren't picking up any smoky characters in the wines of 2020
  • Everyone loves the outdoor tasting experience, and it works well with our wines
  • Sprocket's ACL surgeries went really well and now he's like a lethargic puppy!
  • We've finished picking grapes for the year!
  • The quality of the wines so far from 2020 looks really good
  • The Rucksack Cellar's commercial kitchen is almost finished
  • Maggie and Paul get to work with an incredible staff
  • The 2017 vintage of Cab Sauv and Cab Franc from Madroña are tasting great
  • We get to live in one of the most beautiful places on earth, the Sierra Foothills

And #10, this note from a long-time customer/club-member that arrived yesterday, that grounds us and reminds us of why we do what we do.

As my wife and I had dinner last night, just the two of us, we opened one of your 2009 bottles of Petite Verdot.It is an exquisitely wonderful bottle of wine.Congratulations on the artistry of farming (an art and science combined), managing your way through a myriad of ups and downs, trial and error, luck, fear and love it took to produce this bottle of wine.It is an excellent reflection of your work and dedication to doing it "the right way".

Your wines have been a part of the fabric of my family’s life as of the mid 80s.Holidays, weddings, grandchildren entering our lives, celebrations or just a break at the end of a hectic day, sad times and great times. Thank you for caring, persevering through the years, and allowing us to share your efforts.

Sometimes it's the silver-lining that we should be focusing on rather than the doldrums of the day. We shouldn't forget, this and we all have things in our lives that are going great somewhere.And believe it or not, even Paul's been practicing a more upbeat view. So don't be afraid to ask him how things are going. Just please don't ask him about the current Federal Tariffs and small business!

October 6, 2020

Almost There--Pull Up Biggs!

Well, now that we've totally confused you with the title, we need to do a little explaining.

We are all but done picking grapes, with the plan of finishing on Thursday, one day before the rain. In a normal year, this would be a reason for celebration with lots of hooping and hollering.

And now the explanation. The title comes from perhaps the most quoted line from Star Wars #4, A New Hope (the original). This is from the scene where Biggs is attacking the Deathstar with his rebel fighter, so focused on the target, "Almost There", that he can't seem to hear others telling him to "Pull up Biggs".

OK, that's what harvest has felt like this year. The searing heat, the haze, some smoke, Covid-19, leaf hoppers, PG&E shutoffs, the bear in the Cab, and oh, that was all in the last two weeks! We've kept our focus on the goal of making some spectacular wines out of one of the most challenging years ever. And we need to remember that we even had it good compared to many other viticultural areas on the West Coast.

That focus, however, with adjusting fermentation protocols, embracing the beautiful maturity of the fruit at lower sugar levels, and running the winery on a much tighter staff, has brought about some incredible deep, dark wines with amazing fruit. It's early, but we're all really excited about aspects of this vintage...especially Zinfandel, Malbec, Syrah and Cabernet Franc. It's early yet, but we just may have squeezed through without smoky characters.

So for those of you who don't follow Star Wars, the moral of "staying on target" ended up costing Biggs his life as he was blown out of the sky by the Evil Empire. I don't know who is the Evil Empire in the wine industry (just kidding, I do), but I'm hoping we'll be able to "pull up" right after harvest as we are "almost there"!

But it is 2020.

Disclaimer:We've watched Star Wars #4 so many times in our family that we quote things all the time. For you super-purists, we do know that Biggs actually dies in the initial attack where Luke tells him to "Pull up Biggs!" It is Davish Krail who says "Almost there" on his attack on the one weak spot of the Death Start. Their outcomes are the same, however, as both die in fiery crashes. But as I get older, I like to remember things in my own way, and out family remembers Biggs saying "Almost there", and we say it on every trip we take as a family!

September 29, 2020

Really, We're Talking about Smoke Again?

So first and foremost, our thoughts and concerns go out to our friends and fellow wineries throughout the Napa and Sonoma appellations. The Glass Fire, which started just two days ago, is impacting a region that has had more than its share of fires this year. We suspect that most of the harvesting has already happened, meaning that there should be a solid collection of coastal wines from the 2020 vintage. But for those that have had to evacuate or were looking for a bit more hangtime on the vine, we can only say that our thoughts are with you.
As for us, we have had pretty nice conditions up here in the Sierra Foothills for the past two weeks until this latest blast of heat. With it has come some hazy but not yet really smoky conditions. Our harvest is about 75% finished with about 40-45 tons yet to pick (predominantly Zinfandel and Barbera). The grapes on the vine are all within a solid pickable window, so I think we're just going to plow through the picking (I have the tank space!) and finish harvesting by late next week.
Here's your update for the "quality" of the 2020 vintage so far. NumbTer 1, I haven't tasted any smoky characters in any of the wines that have finished their primary fermentations. It's an early indicator that we may have skirted by any smoky taint aspects in our region (other winemakers have been saying the same thing). Having said that, the verdict isn't in yet, so be prepared for updates.
Secondly, the quality overall is looking very good with more mature fruit and phenolic characters at lower brix (sugar) levels. That bodes well for wines with great fruit and softer tannins packaged with lower alcohol balance!
Thirdly, the color extraction is incredible this year, making inky, black wines on the reds. I didn't know if this would be the case since we've adjusted our fermentation protocols to have shorter contact times with the skins to limit any potential pickup of smoky characters. You'd think this would make lighter wines, but the extraction of color during the first few days with a warmer fermentation has given us the opposite!
Lastly, as I've mentioned before, I am so ready for this harvest season to be done! One more week, and we'll be breathing a little more easily, assuming the smoke clears out of the state some too!
Raise a glass to our fire fighters, and may conditions improve across the state!

September 22, 2020

We are back and what few weeks it's been!

The last two weeks have been busy busy busy! Just to list a few...

  • Harvest has started, and its a doozy! Normally we have 6-8 weeks to pick our grapes, but this year, everything seems to be ready at once. We should be done next week, which makes it about 3.5 weeks!
  • Smoky Taint - So far, there had been no evidence of smoky taint, but we will know more once fermentation is over.
  • We held our first harvest dinner, a dried wreath flower class, and our first Community Night. We also held a private zoom tasting for a group of 60 and a Donor Event for The Harris Center.
  • The outside tasting area has been rocking, and we have moved to 7 days a week through the end of October. Saturdays have turned so busy that we are starting to turn away customers. And last Saturday---I put in 22,000 steps!
  • Unfortunately, our Portugal cruise was cancelled. We are looking at potential dates for 2022. But we do have a New Orleans Trip planned for November 2021. Stay tuned for details!
  • As we write this, El Dorado county is in still in Red Phase, we hear that we may soon be lowered to the orange level, but we have not heard yet. While that will be good news for many wineries, our tastings will remain outside as our tasting room does not have enough room for social distancing, even at 25% capacity.Update - we are now in Level Orange!
  • We were notified yesterday that we will receive a grant Small Business Grant for Covid Related Expenses.

A Bit of a Harvest Update (from a frazzled Paul!)

Well, as I've told many of you while you've been tasting, I can't wait for this harvest to be over (let alone the year 2020!). But that really isn't new information, and you're looking for new information.

So here goes as a snapshot on September 22 at 1:35pm. So far, things are looking pretty good. The majority of the harvest will happen in just 3 weeks, with so many varieties yelling "it's my turn to be picked!" Although logistically challenging and long hours, our plethora of different-sized tanks has kept us just barely ahead of the curve. Thus, we're picking when think is perfect for the grape maturity rather than being forced into picking overripe!

As of right now, I could maybe pick up a hint of smokiness in one lot of Cabernet Franc, although it could just be me trying to find something in the wine. (And spiciness is a character of Cabernet Franc already.) We really haven't had but a couple of smoky days. Instead, we've had hazy days which I'm thinking (and hoping) are different than smoky days in terms of smoke pickup in the resulting wines. We'll know more after the primary fermentations, but I'm cautiously optimistic right now!

With the cooling temperatures, things are slowing up a bit with perhaps some of the later varieties like Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah taking their sweet time to mature. We'd love a bit of a breather.

Lastly, tonnages (or yields) are somewhat down, but overall quality is tasting pretty darn good with incredible color. And now that it's 1:51pm, maybe I should go taste through again! It's just that kind of vintage.

September 1, 2020

'Red Phase' or Is It 'Phase Red'!

I think it was Monty Python who coined the phrase, "And now for something completely different!"

Well, the state of California has come up with a new system for Covid rankings of what we can and cannot do. Instead of Phases 1 through 4, we are now Yellow, Orange, Red and Purple, with Purple being the most strict and worst off.

As for El Dorado county, we have (so far) more or less flown under the radar throughout this pandemic unlike the most of the rest of California. We are in the Red level here, but close to being in the Orange Phase. That would allow more things more for restaurants, schools, etc. But we need to keep our numbers low. Be vigilant.

As for the vines, once again they don't seem to care that there is a pandemic going on. We'll start picking either this Saturday or around Labor Day with some of the early varieties. We are luckier than many regions who are in the midst of harvest now and will be greeted by intense heat this weekend. It will make for a mad-dash of picking.

As for us, the grapes are coming along with great acid and generally very nice uniformity. And hopefully temperatures will cool significantly next week, elongating our harvest here. And cross your fingers that smoke and fires continue to stay away!

So the takeaway? The harvest is coming, the fruit looks great, we've had more haze than smoke here, and we're in the Red Phase (hoping for Orange soon!).

And as business owners, we simply ask that people still wear their masks. Please!!!

August 25, 2020

So Let's Talk Smoke!

It's been smoky here this week (in case you've been living in a cave). Fires throughout California (especially down along the coast) caused by dry lightning strikes last week have brought challenges to many of the regions. Our thoughts go to friends and all those who are in the direct line of the fires or have been evacuated.

As for the Sierra Foothills in these higher elevations, we have been spared, but the smoke has been pushed up in our direction. So, what does all this mean?

Well, let's get into some of the details. Most of you know that I (Paul) am a glass half full person, but there isn't much to be positive about in all this. If I had to find one good thing, the hazy conditions masked the sun and cooled temperatures a bit on what were supposed to be some scorching days. That's it!

Now to the challenging aspects. Well, smoky conditions are downright depressing, not only for the loss of trees and wildlife, but mentally it's a damper. In addition, it is more difficult for working outside (remember, we're actually farmers first), and it means caring for the health of our staff and crew as almost all aspects of farming and now tasting room are done outdoors!

But the question we're getting most is the potential impact on the wines. Well, if you think of how plants work, they transpire through the leaves, taking in CO2 and putting out oxygen. While ripening fruit, they may even be working a bit harder. If you then add in smoky particulate matter, the vine may absorb this into its system (through transpiration, like breathing) and incorporate smoky characters into the cell wall of the grape. Thus when you ferment the harvested grapes (juice and grapes skins together for making red wines), you run the risk of leaching out some of these smoky characters. This is a simplified explanation, but basically shows my understanding.

Now, here's the hard part. How long does it need to be smoky before the grapes incorporate this character? I don't know, but it makes senses that fewer hours of smokiness would be better.

How smoky does it have to be to have the grapes incorporate this character I don't know, but less smokiness would be better.

Does the timing of the smoky conditions impact the amount picked up by the vine? Maybe, but I don't really know.

Is there anything we can do about it right now in the vineyards? Not really. I'm doing some overhead irrigation for the old vines here at Madroña, but there are limits to how this could help.

We will change up some of the fermentation practices by pressing off (separating the skins from the wine) earlier to give less time for leaching out smoky characters. We'll also do very distinct press cuts, separating the hard pressed portions away from the "free run". And we'll cross our fingers and pray a lot!

To be honest, the smoky conditions so far have not been as smoky as we've had in previous vintages (with little or no impact on the wines, i.e. 2013, 2017, 2019, etc.). But truly, we won't know for sure until the wines are in the barrel and aging, maybe during the winter. We'll keep you posted.

Two last little bits. We've just installed our PurpleAir sensor here at Madroña to look at air quality (should be running soon) as well as our one in the Sumu Kaw Vineyards in Pleasant Valley. Check outPurpleAir.com, for maps of the world with current air quality numbers. And if you're really a person who wants to understand more, check out thisNOAA Smoke Model(click on the "check mark" under "loop" on the "near-surface smoke") for California smoke models. Play around with the dates to find the model that shows what's been happening with smoke flows in California.

Farming has always been complicated, but we hope you enjoy this in-depth look at another aspect of the new normal as temperatures move upward. How about another glass of wine to take it all in?

August 18, 2020

Such a strange week of weather!

While you can't can't hear it, the picture to the right was when the wind was blowing, it was raining, and it was 90 degrees. Very strange indeed. And how does this impact the vines? Well, it's kind of complicated.

Think of it this way. Vines generally do well in the heat, and higher temperatures will generally speed up the ripening process. But at temperatures over 100 degrees, vines can shut down and go into a more protective state until temperatures drop. More worrisome is that nighttime temperatures are staying high, equating to a loss of acid in the grapes but no ripening at night.

Also, the grapes are mid-way to nearly finishingveraisonwhere the berries turn color and soften. They also start to accumulate sugar, and the berries can no longer get mildew!!! It's a pivotal period where we can breath a little easier about preventing mildew in the fields (it looks really good this year in the vineyard!).

So what does this heat really mean? Well, if we continue to have mid-90's temperatures for the next three or four weeks, it will speed up the start of picking and compress the harvest season. It will also reduce the amount of hangtime on the vine, taking some of the complexity from juice. Thus, more really ripe characters, lower acids, and very sleepy winemakers.

Realistically (and optimistically), though, these warmer temperatures will push the grapes cleanly throughveraison, then cool. Our higher elevation vineyards up here in the mountains are naturally behind (because we bud later), giving us more breathing room on the ripening sugars, and setting us up for an autumn of shorter days with longer hangtime on the vine. Thus full maturity, and complex characters.

The second scenario is much more the norm here than the first, but both have happened. The new few weeks, however, will be the deciding factor! At least we're not yet harvesting here like some regions!

Ironically for quality, what is of more concern right now is the potential for smoke from the number of fires that have started throughout California. This smoke can be picked up by the transpiration of the vines and put into berries and thus into the wines during fermentation. Interested in this aspect more, take a look atPurpleAir.com, you can see the air quality in our region (and in yours) - it's actually a very cool tool website.

So far, so good. But we'll keep you posted on how the season progresses!

August 11, 2020

We are back!!

We had a lovely break from Covid-19 this past week! Time for family, hiking, games, and of course wine. Oh, and sleep! and naps! and more sleep! It is amazing how much more creative and inspired you can be when you are rested. We recommend it for everyone!

While in Tahoe, we had beautiful weather, and we have to say that we have never seen the lake looking so beautiful.

August 3, 2020

Time to Relax!

We beg your forgiveness and understanding, but we are "taking the week off." With Hanna's birthday and a chance to spend a week in Tahoe, Paul has taken his first day off since March 15th and Maggie is only working during some of the vacation (before the kids wake up each morning). Ironically, we are mostly sleeping on vacation. But we're also hiking, playing games, cooking, and noting that there really isn't anything on TV at any time of the day.

So a truncated "weekly" update with just the Toast to Thursday below as we are on vacation!

And hopefully you can take some time to rejuvenate too! Cheers!

July 27, 2020

Time to Relax!

Club Member Appreciation week is off to a fabulous start! We have truly enjoyed visiting with so many long-time and new club members, and we are always honored by the number of people who say that this is their first venture out during Covid times. One of the nicest benefits that we enjoy with customers now seated at picnic tables, is that we have much more time to speak to everyone one-on-one, discussing how much we all miss travel, our community gatherings, and business. The topics never cease to tire us!

But in reflecting on how Covid-19 has become more "normal" now, both Paul and I find that we must remind ourselves that we cannot just plop down at the picnic table with you. The impulse can be so strong! It is easy to forget that we are in a pandemic as it just all feels so normal...but then we are jolted that this is all not normal, and we can't sit down with you! I remember the adage from when I was a skydiver that people are very careful during their first 1-100 jumps. But then between 100 and 1,000 jumps, people got much more relaxed in their safety precautions, and more accidents/deaths occurred. And then there were the skydivers over 1,000 jumps who were extremely cautious because they had all seen too many things happen. That's how I feel with Covid - the invisible enemy. It's too easy to relax, so let's all stay vigilant and kick this virus in the booty!

July 21, 2020

Time to Clear Some Things Up (and have some fun!)

For those of you who read last week's email, thank you so much! We never know how much people are interested in the day-to-day aspects of a small family winery.

First and foremost, we are still currently open for outdoor tastings at the winery, Friday through Sunday. El Dorado County is not on the governor's watch list, but we'll keep you posted if things change (as we do our part!).

However, our last email caused plenty of fun confusion over the release of our 2017 Crystal Range Zinfandel. I tried to give plentiful information as to what we were doing (including noting that there were no typos), but alas every person tasting this weekend seemed to want to know more.

So yes, the 2017 Crystal Range Zinfandel was released last Thursday.

Secondly, this Zin is from our vineyards (98% Zin, 1 % Petite Sirah, 1% Muscat)

Thirdly, yes we released it at the price of $1000/bottle.

Fourthly, yes currently we are doing a 99.3% discount on a case.

Fifthly, yes you read that correctly,99.3% discount on a case!

Now, let's start with the background (a story I've now told many times!).

In 2017, we had a great harvest from our 21 acres of Zinfandel. It produced great quality and great quantity at the same time. We make different tiers of Zinfandel (Single Vineyards, Signature Collection, Hillside Collection, Lake Tahoe, etc.) focused on the different vineyards and the characteristics of each wine, yet we still had some of the 2017 Zin still in the barrel!
I then worked with one of the grocery stores to make a wine that would fit for their palate, fruit-oriented with a rounded finish. This worked well, they took their wine, but I had some Zin still in barrel.
Now, 7 months later and more time aging, this 2017 Zinfandel is tasting pretty nice. Mountain red fruit, hints of black berry, and a bit more of the chocolatey-oak aspects coming through on the palate, it was time to put this wine in the bottle! We had already planned to pull out one of our oldest labels (Crystal Range) from way back in 1988 (thus the color scheme for those of you old enough to understand) to promote this Zin.
And then everything changed a week ago Monday. Our Governor made the decision to clamp down once again and get the Covid-19 pandemic under control. When this happened last time in March, we started out El Tinto sale to help people out. But alas, you all bought us out of that wine (and I can't just snap my fingers to get another in the bottle).
But Maggie and I both thought that, as a community winery, we had an opportunity to help out with what we had in stock...WINE!
The last bit to the story is that we saw the Crystal Range Zinfandel as a wine to fill the pantry for everyday use, letting people feel good about living the "good life" with a "good bottle" of wine during uncertain times. We wanted to price the wine to do the yeoman's duty ($84/cs), but not a bottle here or bottle there.
Thus I will reiterate something here. The 2019 Crystal Range Zinfandel is $1000/bottle, but on special during this phase of the pandemic at $84/cs! (This is not a typo!!!) Got it? Or better yet. Got Yours?Click hereto pick up at the winery or have it shipped!
And remember, have fun even during the most trying times. Zen helps! (Or is that Zin!)

July 14, 2020

We're Still Open! (and the 2017 Crystal Range Zinfandel)

As I'm writing this, Governor Newsome of California has issued a statewide closure to many things including indoor activities at wineries.

How does that impact us? At Madroña and Rucksack, we had already moved all tastings outside with the social distancing and sanitizing called for. For once it's a blessing to have the trees and the area to spread out to keep everything safe. So, in a few words, we are open as before and still focused on safety (reservations required, all outdoor, masks required to be seated, no live music, everything sterilized, individual glasses per taste, etc.).

But it's amazing how much can happen with just one week. We had expected to write a bit more about the "nuts and bolts" of the winery business in this mini Shrub Report, but instead we're taking a bit of a detour into a different part winery life.
A week ago, the nation hadn't anticipated such an increase in Covid-19 cases throughout the country. Even though El Dorado County is still flying under the radar in the number of Covid cases, the governor of California has made the call for safety.
Of course, we have respected the distancing with our outdoor tasting experience as well come up with creative ways to limit our/your exposure while still giving a sense of normalcy (which honestly has taken a heck of a lot of energy to figure out!!!).
But to a great degree, we feel like we are heading back to the earlier days of the pandemic in March and April when we all made great strides in controlling the spread. Knowing that people were going to be at home, looking for some aspect of life before, we had offered the El Tinto at an incredible price to not only get us through (as a winery) but to give people a chance to enjoy something great without breaking the bank.
Now to the other part of the story. In 2017, we had a great harvest from our 21 acres of Zinfandel. It produced great quality and great quantity at the same time. We make different tiers of Zinfandel (Single Vineyards, Signature Collection, Hillside Collection, Lake Tahoe, etc.) focused on the different vineyards and the characteristics of each wine, yet we still had some great Zin in the barrel!
This is where the lines intersect. We understand that life is challenging out there right now (as it is for us too). Not completely understanding where things are going yet still wanting to enjoy life, it's time to be more conservative both regarding finances and health (wear a mask!). On our side, we can't reinstate the El Tinto sale since you all did a great job of wiping out our inventory (and I can't just make El Tinto out of the blue whenever I want!).
But I had planned to bottle 1,230 cases of our2017 Crystal Range Zinfandel(our second label) for potential chain store clients. This Zinfandel (as you can see below in our new release section) is a super solid, rounded, sweet-fruit oriented Zinfandel that is fantastic for everyday enjoyment. We, however, had not intended to offer this to customers as, being honest, it runs the risk of cannibalizing sales from our other wines (and a single large sale to a grocery chain would be better).
But alas, this week is different than last week, and people may be in need once again of a great wine at an amazing price, just to get that semblance of normalcy.
So, we're releasing the 2017 Crystal Range Zinfandel on Friday this week at $1000/bottle or $84/cs (not a misprint). It's meant to get a good bottle of wine on your table through what could be a lengthy new reality! It's kind of crazy, but it's the little things that seem to get us over the bigger humps in life. It could be playing with the kids or the dog. Or watching a favorite movie 96 times. For us, it's our nightly walk through vineyards. And for the number of people who have enjoyed El Tinto as a staple over the last several months, we suspect a great glass of wine in the evening helps ground people to the day.
Now it's Zinfandel, and hopefully the price helps! Fate has a way of aligning things if we just give it a chance! Cheers!
To order your wine for pickup or shipping (as weather permits),click hereand go to Specialty Wines for the 2017 Crystal Range Zinfandel.

July 6, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week #4

Well, now that we have a few "tasting room" weekends behind us, we're starting to iron out the opportunities and the challenges with our the new Covid-19 tasting set-up. Add to this the chance to glean information from all of you who have come out for tastings, and there are probably some aspects of this new way to tasting Madroña wines that are here to stay.
But one thing we have learned from all of this is that trying to plan to far into the future (with Covid-19) is like throwing darts at a moving target. So instead, we take it day to day, ready to adjust but taking notes on things that work. So here's a bit of the inner thinking and nuts and bolts of the business parts.
=We knew and still know that providing a healthy and safe tasting experience is paramount. Both we and the tasters needed to feel comfortable with the experience, especially in order to focus on the wines! Thus the distancing of tables outside under the trees provided the opportunity for safety. Ironically, it has also made for a much more intimate setting with tasters settling into their tables as the breezes rustle through the trees (kind of romantic!).
Our first challenge, however, was to make sure we could sterilize the tables to the levels dictated by the state. Our solution was to essentially provide new tablecloths at each seating with sterilized clip and pens and notes and everything. It takes far more staff to ensure this, but it was the only way we felt we could comply with the safety needs.
The result is white butcher-block paper clipped down on our new picnic tables. People are encouraged to write down which flights they are tasting and to take notes on the wines. To our delight, most people take the chance to doodle while they taste, adding a level of relaxation that is not possible in a more frenetic atmosphere like a tasting room. And the artwork...there are some very talented artists tasting wine!
This slower paced tasting with the pleasant distraction of doodling gives an experience that we had not really anticipated. Instead, we were thinking predominantly about the safety and how we could still provide an opportunity to taste several different wines.
But the relaxed tasting is so "apples and oranges" compared to the previous style in our tasting room that the appreciation of the wines seems different as well. More time to savor, no need to "hold" your spot at the tasting bar, no need to get the attention of the server for your next taste, and copious amounts of room around you all just seem to add more value into experience.
But, how do we continue to give the information on the wines for which we at Madroña are so known? That is for the next installment of this business narrative (as we can see that to truly cover these topics with real information, this entry will be too long!).
And it will gives us another weekend to glean even more information and suggestions from tasters at our "wine tasting wine bar-like" experience! Come give us your thoughts too! Reservations are available on our website, just look in the upper right hand corner.

June 29, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week #3

We hope you had a fabulous week and are looking forward to the 4th of July weekend! As we have said before, in every challenge is opportunity. We have had tremendous feedback from our new flights tasting. The most common comment is that people enjoy the intimate experience and not having to "belly" up to the bar. As we move forward, we will probably find a way to make this a continuing part of our plans.
We are however, saddened to see the Covid-19 cases rising throughout the United State and especially in California. For us, this means that rather than loosening up our protocols, we need to continue keeping them tight, making sure that you, our guest, remain safe (as well as our staff). When you come to Madroña or Rucksack, you can expect that we have given thought about how to minimize the contact between customers and servers, as well as sanitizing protocols. We want you to feel comfortable visiting Madroña and Rucksack, thus freeing you up to enjoy the wine experience to its fullest!
May we all stay healthy and safe!

June 23, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week #2

It was a wonderful weekend of tasting rooms (or rather 'tasting areas') like we've never seen before. It's almost an intimate, non-intimate experience that borders on surreal, especially for a winery that has prided itself on direct involvement with the tasters and wines for the last 40 years! And we have to say, we're enjoying the experience.
Yes, tasting now takes an RSVP, and we do have to charge a bit more for the experience (basically because our labor costs are much higher with all the sterilizing of tables, pens, holders, information sheets, and everything). But the calmer spirit of tasting seems to make up for any other inconveniences customers may be tackling.
For us, it's more work in the back and less one-on-one explanations (although Paul seems to always be out there in his mask explaining some weird wine fact or another). But the collection of wine flights, Paul's 1-minute videos on each of the wines, the casual tasting schedule, and all the room provided by the social distancing of the tables outside seems to be providing a new experience for our wine lovers.
As a community winery, we're gleaning information from people's opinions in order to find the right fit. But ultimately, it's a much more relaxed wine tasting experience under the trees!
Who would have thunk it, but this license to try something new may just spark some real changes in the future. In any case, come up and experience it and give us your thoughts! Cheers.

Madroña'sOpen for Tasting - Friday-Sunday by RSVP, Last RSVP @ 3:30
Here are the details once again!
We have moved all of our tasting outside under the large cedar trees, and we have created wine flights featuring different wines. Each customer gets to select two of the flights seated at our new picnic tables (comfortably seating 2-6 people). The wine flights change every few weeks to include different wines! You may bring your own picnic foods, but we do need you to respect the 1 hour reservation spot. Arrive without a reservations? Not a problem please just check with us to see if we have one available. We do ask that you wear masks from your car to the table, and then if you get up from the table. Flight tastings cost $15/person and we give $5.00 back when you purchase a bottle.Of course, each club membership receives two complimentary tastings per day (for the club members!). This is a new way of tasting for us, but it has been well received. We hope that will join us as we head down this new adventure.
(P.S. We will be open for curb-side pick-ups every day from 11-4. And need to reserve a time? Just head towww.MadronaVineyards.comand click on reservations in the upper right-hand corner!)

June 15, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week #1

So...are you wondering what we are thinking this week? Well, it's novel, it's new...and its a result of Covid-19! On June 20th (here on the west coast) - at approximately 1:26 pm Pacific Time, we will be summer the first ever live broadcast of the Summer Solstice Celebration from Stonehenge! We are busy thinking what very special glass of wine we should use to toast this spiritual occasion. If you want to join the celebration. check out the English Heritage Facebook Page! And then let us know what worthy Madroñawine you are going to sip!

Madroña'sOpen for Tasting - Friday-Sunday by Reservations
We are officially welcoming in Phase 3 of the Covid Re-openings! We have moved all of our tasting outside under the large cedar trees, and we have created wine flights featuring different wines. Each customer gets to select two of the flights seated at our new picnic tables (comfortably seating 2-6 people). You may bring your own picnic foods, but we do need you to respect the 1 hour reservation spot. Arrive without a reservations? Not a problem please just check with us to see if we have one available. We do ask that you wear masks from your car to the table, and then if you get up from the table. Flight tastings cost $15/person and we give $5.00 back when you purchase a bottle. Of course, each club membership receives two complimentary tastings per day (for the club members!). This is a new way of tasting for us, but it has been well received. We hope that will join us as we head down this new adventure.
(P.S. We will be open for curb-side pick-ups every day from 11-4. And need to reserve a time? Just head towww.MadronaVineyards.comand click on reservations in the upper right-hand corner!)

In the past 7 days, the world has changed. We have gone from despair to finally hope. Hope with the number of people standing up for social justice that real change came come. We thank you for understanding why we took the past week away from social media and marketing. We posted the following message on our social media channels yesterday. And while we are moving forward again with promoting our goings-on, we will continue to stay focused on doing more to promote a healthier and equitable world.

June 9, 2020

Phase 2 - Week #4

"Last Tuesday, June 2ndwe paused. We paused our social media feed, we took a break from our weekly marketing, and we cancelled upcoming events. We took this past week off from these things to give us space for reflection. We spent hours listening to stories and talking late into the night. We participated in thoughtful and insightful conversations with our children about topics from Black Lives Matter, to social injustice, and to media bias. We realized that not everyone is comfortable with social media posts or promoting their philanthropy in times such as these, and that we all need to find our own authentic way to share our responses. We began to read to educate ourselves more fully. The more we read, the more we listened, the more we talked, the clearer it became that there is no way for us to truly understand what it means to grow up black in our country AND we unequivocally understand that racism has no place in our business, our community or our world.

As we go forward, we're committed to listening and continuing to educate ourselves. As a business and as a family we will continue to have respectful conversations, even if they are uncomfortable. We will continue to generously support our community. And we continue to be dedicated to inclusivity and social justice reform. We will do more and work to not let this moment fade."

June 2, 2020

Phase 2 - Week #3

With the nation's focus on the Corona virus, social justice and a general unease in our country, we're going to take a break from marketing this week.

We had already paired our Toast to Thursday and have listed it if you are interested in supporting Dedrick's Cheese shop as well as picking up a nice pairing for that night. And as always, the virtual tastings are listed below for a different kind of get-away.

Thank you for understanding, and we hope you are all staying safe and doing well

May 25, 2020

Phase 2 - Week #2

t's amazing how much can change in a week! So we look at the vines outside, and they've grown a foot or more since our last email. But we could argue that our business has changed even more than that as we try to negotiate the constantly dynamic changes of the new Phase 2 reality.
It is true that we will be hosting our Annual Open House this weekend, but completely within the guidelines and restrictions given to us by the state and our county's environmental health department. First and foremost, this requires reservations to attend as well as a litany of requirements to insure public safety.
We appreciate your patience as we all try to figure out how this new style of "tasting" can work and how sustainable it really is. We know it means fewer attendees, less personal interaction from our staff, more focus perhaps on the wines, and an understanding that we are all trying to incorporate new ways of doing things that were pretty simple...in the past.
We've thought out each aspect of this year's Open House from so many different angles, but alas the end user, our family of Madroña lovers, is the last bit of information we need. Honest feedback on this entirely different approach will be what we hope to get.
So, your job is to get reservations and follow all the requirements (including wearing your mask from the car to the table) to a "T". Be patience and understanding that we are trying something new. Try not to compare things to the way "it used to be" since that isn't possible now. And give constructive feedback (email) when you get home.

May 22, 2020

Rumors and Reality

Ah yes, the rumor! While we are most grateful to our local television station for promoting our re-opening on Memorial Day Weekend, this unfortunately is not true.We will not be open for tasting this coming weekend (May 23rd & 24th). Under the Phase II rules, we are only able to open for seated tastings when we are serving a meal. While this would be our normal Open House weekend, we just did not feel we could meet the protocols necessary to keep you and our staff safe on such short notice.

And Now...the reality! We will be opening on May 30th and May 31st for a slimmed down version of our 40th Open House. Capital Sierra Catering will be onsite serving up those fabulous gourmet hamburgers, and piping hot sweet potato fries. We will be showcasing wine flights of which you will have the choice of two different selections!

We can take reservations for up to 6 people at one table (although the tables are most comfortable with 4).

Reservations for this event are $20/person and each reservation will include one of Capital Sierra Catering's gourmet hamburgers, home-fried sweet potato fries and your choice of two flights of wine. Reservations can be made fromMadronaVineyards.comor by going directly toOpen Table.

In order for us to open during Phase II, we all must follow certain guidelines. This is what you can expect.

1. We will be following all state and county regulations to ensure your safety and the safety of our employees.

2. All dining will be outside.

3. We will be serving the gourmet burgers that you have come to expect along with sweet potato fries! If you need a vegetarian option, please make your reservation, but note your preference in the comments. Each meal will include a choice of 2 flights of wine chosen from several available flights. Tickets are $20/person and will be charged at the end of the meal.

4. Reservations can be made atMadronaVineyards.comor by calling the winery. Please note - we are unable to extend your reservation if you do not arrive at your scheduled time.

5. Reservations are for a one hour time period only. Our tables can accommodate groups from 2-6, although 4 is the most comfortable. During this time, we are unable to accommodate animals traveling with you (unless a designated service animal) or children who are not able to stay seated at the table.

6. Please do not attend if you have traveled in the past 14 days, have a fever, or feel sick in any way.

7. You are required to wear a mask from your car until you are seated, where it can be removed.

And most importantly, you may order wine while you are here to take home with you! Just let your server know!

And More Reality...This Sunday (May 24th) at 4pm sharp will mark the end of our El Tinto, Lot 39 sale ($101/cs) that we have held for the entirety of the Phase 1, Shelter in Place mandate. On Monday, it goes back up to $14/bottle. So if you need El Tinto stocked up, you might want to stop by the winery this weekend for some curbside pickup!(Order Here!)

Thank you for working with us on these adjustments during the Phased Re-Opening, and we look forward to hopefully seeing you soon!

On our side, we'll continue to make awesome wines, be creative, and listen. We won't sacrifice safety for ease, but we'll all celebrate this beautiful area we get to call home. We hope to see you up here this weekend!

May 18, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week 10 – Phase II

As we enter week #10, things have changed quite a bit, once again. California has entered Phase 2 with El Dorado County being on the forefront of the reopening. Restaurants are allowed to do some indoor dining, and more retailers have been allowed to do curbside pickup.
For wineries, our tasting rooms have a glimpse of being able to reopen, but more along the lines of restaurants rather than traditional tasting rooms. The major requirement (besides all the sterilizing and social distancing protocols) is that wine can only be served with a meal. Most wineries don't have that ability.
We weighed out trying to open for some tasting this coming weekend, but we decided that this was something we couldn't and shouldn't rush into. For once in our winery's life, we don't aspire to be first at something.
Madroña's Open House, Phase 2 Style
Most of you know that Madroña's Annual Open House is El Dorado County's oldest consecutively celebrated winery event. Every year for the past 40 years, we have held our Open House in May, celebrating our new (and old) wines with hamburgers, French fries and friendship. Wanting to keep the tradition running, we are moving towards celebrating our Open House on Saturday, May 30th and Sunday, May 31st. With this, though, comes a slew of new regulations for safety reasons.
1. All tastings will be done by reservation only and paid for on the same ticket. We are currently setting up this system as we speak.
2. Tastings will be served with a meal. This works for Open House nicely.
3. Tastings will be held outside, with tables set a fare distance apart.
4. We will be serving a choice of flights of wine with the "meal".
5. Tastings will last up to an hour, at which point we need to prepare (sterilize the table) for the next guests.
6. Tastings are for 2-6 people per table, and tasters must arrive at the same time. (Tables cannot be moved together to host more than 6 people.)
7. Our employees will be wearing masks to serve you, practicing social distancing.
8. We're sure there will be other limitations and rules as everything seems to change daily.
We appreciate your patience as we try to figure out the new "normal". Your safety and our employees' safety is of our utmost concern, and thus the precautions we take will be strictly adhered to. (Plus they are required by the state of California and ABC.) Ultimately, it will be different yet memorable experience of wine tasting.
We will be sending out more information this week as we solidify all our plans. Be warned, however, that we are limited in the number of tables we have. So when we start taking reservations and you are hoping to come out, you'd better sign up quickly as we won't have much flexibility after reservations fill up!
Hopefully June will be different, and we will continue to do the curbside pickups for all who need some great wine!

May 9, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week 9

As we enter week #9 of Shelter in Place, it's all coming down to planning for, hopefully, a reopening of some sort at the tasting room. This planning is a little like throwing darts at a moving target as we really don't know what's going to be possible. We know our employees' safety is paramount, and we want the "tasting" experience to be as engaging as ever, but we know that what was "normal" will no longer be normal. But we're blessed with an understanding community who has supported our business (and others) in amazing ways over the last couple months (and 40+ years). It makes "out-of-the-box" ideas seem possible and even reasonable, knowing that we are all in this together. Keep your ideas coming, and we'll keep thinking (while working in the vineyards and the beautiful weather (or rain like tomorrow)). Thank you and Cheers!

May 4, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week 8

As we enter week #8 of Shelter in Place, I find myself continually running mantra's through my head..."Focus on what you can do, not what you can't do", "In difficulty lies opportunity" and "Life's not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning how to dance in the rain." Currently, we are planning on what re-opening will look like, how to keep our customers and our staff safe and how to utilize all the fabulous ideas we gleaned from our most recent pop-up Zoom call. We hope that you continue to enjoy our offerings, and please know that we welcome all feedback and suggestions.

April 27, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week 7

As we enter week #7 of Shelter in Place, there are inklings from the governor that we may be progressing towards some sort of loosening of the restrictions, at some point. As a small business, we are trying to take hints wherever we can find them as we try to prepare for the next step in our community's battle with containing Covid-19. What this means for tastings here at the winery, we do not know. We just know it's going to be different than before. But in any case, we do want to be cautiously ready for whatever form the new experiences take.
As for the vineyards, it's business as usual. The sun comes up, the weather warms, and the vines just keep growing (and the weeds too). We're spending more time out in the vineyards working with the vines, and mowing many mornings and evenings. If we push hard now, it will pay off in spades later (and saved time).
We hope you all are continuing to do well during these difficult times. Although life is far more complicated than wine releases, vineyard updates and visions from a small business, we hope our little slice of "normal" helps get you through the day. Your support of our winery most certainly has helped us get through the days! Thank you again.

So, here's what's going on this week here at Madroña!

April 20, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week 6

As we enter week Six of Shelter in Place in El Dorado County, it's been an interesting few days. The vines are finally starting to unfurl their young leaves as temperatures rise and the sun shines a bit more. We did bottle two days the end of last week as wines like the Chenin Blanc and the Grenache Rosé are finally in the bottle. We did our best to work with some of the Small Business Association loans, but alas the money has already run out.

But all in all, we continue to do well. We all have our health (as does Leslie), and we're making connections with friends and family (via Zoom) which helps us get through the less sane hours. And of course we have all of you, which we appreciate more than you know. Thank you!

So, here's what's going on this week here at Madroña!

April 14, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week 5

As we enter week Five of Shelter in Place in El Dorado County, the sun has finally come out and the vines are just starting to bud. It helps remind us that we are lucky to live in such a beautiful area, and while surrounded by family, we are truly blessed! We hope that you, too, are healthy with a roof over your head and food in fridge as we all get through this together (and think of those who need a bit more help).

The vines continue to grow, the wines need attention, and here's what's going on this week at Madroña!

April 8, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week 4

As we enter week four of Shelter in Place in El Dorado County, we are reminded that each of us is experiencing a different part of this experience. If you are in New York, the appex may be this week, in other parts of the nation, the appex is predicted to be April 15th. Alas here in California, it is predicted to be April 26th. No matter where you are, we look forward to a day when we will all be on the same footing.

So what's new for this week at Madroña?

April 2, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week 3

As we enter this third week of quarantine, we are counting our blessings. We are thankful for friends, family and our fabulous customers. Our vineyards survived (mostly) the first frost of the year, and we are thankful that you all love El Tinto! And finally, we are very, very thankful for all the notes, texts, emails, and Facebook/Instagram posts of encouragement. They keep us going each day.

March 23, 2020

Shelter in Place – Week 2

We sincerely hope that this email finds you well and safe in these very unusual times. We have received a tremendous number of upbeat, heartfelt, and encouraging notes from our customers and we are most appreciative. They keep us going each day! While we believe this will be a long haul, we will all get through this together.

March 19, 2020

The Long Term Game Plan

It's been a wild few days here at Madrona. It started with strong winds Saturday night and a power outage. Sunday, we held Session #3 of our Quintet tasting by candlelight, and by Sunday afternoon, not only were we shoveling our way out of 9" of snow, we were closing our tasting room per the directive of the Governor's office. Thankfully, we received electricity back at the winery last night at 5:39. And we are grateful!

As with all small wineries, and businesses in general, the long-term effects of the tasting room closure will create significant challenges for our business. The closure of restaurants will also effect our business. We are currently in planning mode of how to successfully make it through 8-12 weeks. Almost all of our employees have been with us for more than 10 years and we consider them family. Our planning not only includes how to stay in business, but how to protect our employees as best as we are able while supporting our community.

With our tastings and events cancelled for the foreseeable future, our major challenge is how do we bring our authentic, family style, educational tasting room environment to you? So we are embracing our creative side, assessing our strengths, and putting together some fun opportunities for you. Stay tuned as we roll these out, and you won't be disappointed!

But what are we doing immediately?

First, our tasting room is open for pick-up orders, club orders, and shipping orders. We have implemented all the necessary and increased sanitation requirements to keep you and our staff healthy. If you would like us to run orders out to your car, please call ahead and we will have them ready!

Secondly, our largest event of the year, The El Dorado Winery Association Passport Weekend has been postponed until July.Each year, during Passport only, we offer our amazing fruit-forward blend, El Tinto, at the incredible price of $100/case. This year we are beginning this sale now. Enjoy a case of El Tinto by the case for $101/case. (We raised it $1.00 so it would qualify for the shipping deal below!). We will run this special until we are allowed to open for tastings again! It's a bargain on a great wine! Perfect for enjoying with friends via Facetime or Skype!

Thirdly, we are offering $5.00 shipping on any orders over $100.00, not including club shipments. Just because we have been asked to "Shelter in Place", does not mean that you should not enjoy our wonderful sustainable farmed, well-balanced wines.

Finally, we have been transitioning our on-line shopping cart. We have released it earlier than anticipated, but you can order wines for pick-up and to be shipped through the site. Because we have moved up the release, there still may be a few bugs, but rest assured, we will ensure each order is correctly calculated before it ships!

Thank you for all the support, and may we all learn something from this experience. (And take care of yourselves and your neighbors...we're all in this together!).

March 16, 2020

Important Customer Information

To Our Valued Madrona Customers,

Like so many of you, we have spent the last several days and weeks learning about the Corona virus, and how it is impacting the world. For us, that means understanding how it affects our employees, guests, and community, and then making the necessary adjustments to our winery operations. In light of the most recent recommendations from California state officials, we have made the decision to exercise caution and temporarily close our tasting room starting today.

During the tasting room closer, we will remain open for shipping orders and any pick-up/drive-up orders that areemailedor called in (530-644-5948). However, in additional to being closed for the corona virus today, we are also closed due to snow and lack of electricity. We have been without electricity since 2am Sunday morning, and there is no anticipated restoration time but we are hopeful it will be soon! However, we do have email and electricity from home, so we will get your emails.

Our situation is constantly changing, as we know yours are as well. We will keep you informed of changes through ourFacebookandInstagramaccounts.

We hope that you take the necessary precautions to keep yourself, family and community safe and health. This will be a time of great challenge for all of us, but we are strong.

March 29, 2020

The New Challenges of the Times

As business owners and farmers, Maggie and I have sat down over the years and talked out scenarios that might be impacting the wine industry. You know, things we needed to take seriously even if the issues seemed farfetched.

To be honest, we did discuss the possibility of a wide disruption from a pandemic, but alas we didn’t include the “Shelter in Place” concept within this.

So I thought an honest portrayal of owning a small winery could be some “light” reading, while you most certainly have the time (and probably looking for something to do). Insight into our romantic wine industry could be very enlightening.

When we first heard about the Covid-19 virus in China and their approach to containment, we started talking to our fulltime staff as to being prepared. This was more on a personal level, but the idea was to be ready for a slowdown in sales and wages. In other words, be prepared by holding off on certain repairs or purchases. For the winery, we had already bought the glass, corks and labels for bottlings in February and March. So some things would just move forward as planned.

The week before the “Shelter in Place” directive from California’s Governor, we had two winemaker dinners in Reno (with wonderful wine sales) followed by our Quintet tastings at the winery. At the end of our last Quintet tasting, the Governor was making his speech regarding new restrictions with the Covid-19 virus.

That Sunday afternoon, we shut our tasting room to the public as we understood the directive to dictate and waited to see what other wineries in the state would do. Slowly, most wineries closed their tasting rooms to the public and the wine industry part of California’s agricultural economy started to squeeze in upon itself.

We know that as a family business, Maggie and I can cover every single task and job the winery has for us. But we also have 9 fulltime employees as well as some part-time positions too that we need to think about.

So, one blessing about being in the Ag industry is that we, unlike many businesses, are considered to be an essential part of the supply chain. In other words, wine is an important part of a person’s daily life.

That’s the glorious and romantic way to look at it. Instead, I think it falls more into the fact that the vineyards don’t care that the Covid-19 virus is out there. And so the vines just keep growing with the sun and rain, needing our pruning, tying and managing. Similarly, the wines in barrel and tank take our care even if the rest of the world stops.

In any case, we (as a winery) are allowed to continue working in the vineyards and the winery as long as we respect the 6-foot separation and have cleaning and sterilizing supplies available.

But I imagine you can see the writing on the wall. We can continue to incur all the costs of production, but we don’t have the wine sales to pay for these jobs. And it’s even a little worse than that. For our winery, we are about 70% direct to consumer (meaning selling directly through the tasting room or shipping to people’s houses). The other 30% of our wine is sold primarily to restaurants and stores.

Well, with the “Shelter in Place”, many of the restaurants have closed their doors and some have stayed open on a skeleton staff doing take-out only. Our hearts go out to the restaurants as we know their job is even more difficult than ours. But from a purely winery-focused point of view, we could see wine sales from restaurants were going to tank.
And add to this that wine already sold and delivered to a restaurant may not be paid for promptly if the restaurant were very slow or closed.
Amazingly, the ABC (Alcoholic Beverage Control) of California suspended some of its rules governing wine, allowing restaurants to sell bottles of wine with dinners being picked up at the restaurants (which is generally illegal from a normal restaurant and its licensing). This provided an additional opportunity for restaurants, but truly would not materialize into sales for the winery in the timeframe to pay our staff.

So, it was time to think out of the box. The Passport Weekend from the El Dorado Winery Association, which makes up 10% of our revenue per year, was not going to happen this April. In addition, events scheduled for May and maybe June are quite possibly not going to happen.

And this is where you all come in.

The out-pouring of support from the local community and Madroña fans across the country has been immense. We knew that we had a responsibility to put good wine out there at an even more attractive price than normal, and it coincided with when we traditionally do our spring El Tinto sale. Thus, a case of El Tinto at $101 with $5 shipping has spurred hundreds of cases of wine going out over the last four days. (From a purely dollars and cents point of view, cases shipped to the east coast at this price actually lose money, but it is cash flow for the winery).

Although not a long-term sustainable business plan, this special on the El Tinto puts great wine into the hands (or mouths) of the people who are also going through their own challenges caused by the Covid-19 virus. For us, it brings in cash to help pay our staff and keep our vineyard crew with a constant paycheck. It’s a win-win situation!
And now comes the business parts of the plan. We can hold off bottling a bit, but eventually there will be grapes coming in at harvest. Do we try to sell wine in bulk like other wineries (where there is already a glut) or do we wait it out and let fate take over?

That’s not really our way. So Maggie and I are sitting down, working through the budget with assumptions of no money coming in or some small amounts of money coming in. How do we make our payments to the bank or leases or other outstanding liabilities? And how long can we survive with each scenario?
All wineries, breweries, restaurants and businesses are doing the same thing. We are lucky that by thinking outside of the box, we can come up with ideas to engage our wine consumers. And thus get the wine into their hands by shipping it or providing the opportunity to pick the wine up at the winery (something we are still allowed to do). And with such a wide range of varieties and vintages aging in bottle here at the winery, we have choices from our inventory. Not all wineries are so lucky.

And to some degree, the 8,000 cases of wine we have aging in inventory can be thought of like having money saved in the bank. It’s a “liquid” asset even though it isn’t really thought of as fiscally a “liquid” asset. But it’s close, and each day we think of how we can get this wine into people’s glasses when a taste of something special might make the day brighter.

So we continue the work in the vineyards as well as brainstorm with our great and amazingly understanding staff in the winery and cellar. And then there’s our great local (and not so local) community who keep us going!

And when it comes down to it, we’re all in this together. Sometimes it’s the dire situations that bring the best out in people. We’re seeing it every day through this Covid-19 pandemic, and our winery can give back just as we are getting. Life is still good and worth the fight!

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