Madroña Vineyards Blog
December 20, 2021
A Time for 'Thank You's'!
For those of you who have followed our winery's travels through 2020, you know there have been challenges along the way. It's been an interesting year, to say the least, and hopefully Paul's descriptions haven't been too depressing.
Our goal all along was to survive this year both in health and in business within the constantly changing conditions. To do this, though, took the whole Madroña Team, both in flexibility and in understanding.
So we need to do the 'Shout-Outs' to those who have helped us get through (so far) in one piece!
- Thank you to our Vineyard crew: José B., Carolina, Martin, Jesus, José A., Ryan, Dave and Sheila. With the start of the pandemic, we knew the vines would keep growing regardless of anything. Between absorbing the need for social distancing (even in the field), extra hours working, creative marketing of grapes, and more (like little smoke!), a difficult year ended up being a successful year (at least in terms of grapes!).
- Thank you to our Winemaking Team: Ryan, Tim, Douglas and John. With the uncertainties of money coming in, you helped balanced the work schedule to what we could honestly afford while making sure we took care of the wines.
- Thank you to our Upstairs Staff: Nicole and Nancy. Your flexibility in working hours as well as your drive to learn new systems (like Open Table and the Point of Sale software) made switching our tasting room to an outdoor tasting experience so much easier. Being able to delegate items to you made our lives far more palatable, and incorporating your suggestions on how to make for a better tasting experience, logistically (and Kelly too)!
- Thank you to our Tasting Room Staff: Nancy, Kelly, Grace, Jon, Kathy, Kathleen, Nicole, Ellen, Laurie, Tim, Hannah, Ann, Sharon, Steve, Tammy and Tessa. Thank you for your understanding as the job in the tasting room shifted to something entirely different, both more physical and demanding. And thank you for your patience as work hours shifted and got cut as we prepared for shutdowns and slower periods. Not all people would be so gracious!
- Thank you to our Outside Sales People: Tammy and Kim. Your upbeat and honest interpretations of the market and our approach continue to allow us to negotiate through this time even when we don't have a tasting room!
- Thank you to the Pop-Up Zoom Crew: This is the group of Madroña fans that join us for our Virtual Pop-Ups every other Tuesday night. The ideas that flow through here have helped us immensely while also providing us a bit of therapy too!
- Honorable Mentions (Important aspects that are not people): PPP loan, Crystal Range Zinfandel, Small Business Grant, El Tinto, Bulk Wine Sales, Grape Sales
- Thank you to All our Madroña Supporters: That means You! Without your encouragement, support, wine purchases, understanding, respect for our Covid requirements, and open-mindedness to new ways of doing things, this last year would have been impossible!
It really does take a village to make wine and enjoy it. And we appreciate our village more than you know! Here's to a more "normal" 2021 for everyone!
December 15, 2021
A first in 47 years!
What a year 2020 has been. We started the year with the passing of Paul's father in January and we now end in December with the passing of Maggie's mom. The in-between parts have been filled with Covid-19 lockdowns, virtual tastings, Zoom Pop-ups, Toasts of Thursdays, Home Delivery, the El Tinto Sale, and the Crystal Range Zinfandel. A year filled with sadness and innovation, struggle and creativity...a year full of ups and downs like no other we've experienced. With all that in mind, we have made the first ever decision for Madroña to close the winery completely the week between Christmas and New Years. A time to recuperate, reflect and heal.
What does this mean for you? It means that we won't be open for pick-ups from December 25th through January 1st. (We're open Christmas Eve until 3pm, then it's family-time!) We will re-open on January 2nd, 2021. So order your wines for the holidays now so we can get them out for you or you can pick- them up. We're also doing some local deliveries during the next week.
But don't worry. We're already planning for a great 2021, especially when the winter Covid Quarrantine Blues hit! We're all stronger together, and especially when we look at life being a glass half-full (or maybe just full, with Syrah or Malbec!).
Thank you for your support and all your understanding!