Madroña Vineyards Blog

With temperatures in 90's last week, we've wanted to simplify with very little to no picking those days (both for the fruit and for our staff working outside). Actually, the cooler weather leading up to the heat (temps in the 60's and 70's) gave us some breathing room both in the vineyards and the winery. And luckily, things have cooled down once again (it was positively chilly this morning!)

First, let's clear something up. The extremely early harvest here, even in the higher elevations, was not due to a hot summer. Actually, the summer here has been relatively mild and pleasant. Instead...

So a few weeks ago, I wrote in the Shrub Report, "Is there still room for a winery that just wants to be a winery?" The background was there seems to be a push towards providing event venue spots for weddings and concerts as well as a focus on serving foods (and a full menu). Understanding that there is some of this shift driven by consumers, we don't really know the answer (as a winery that just wants to make wine!).

Well, the number of comments we received from you, our larger Madroña family, was amazing! Thank you all for sending in your thoughts, and I tried to answer everyone personally...

This week in the tasting room, I talked with some people who are amazed that we write the Shrub Report each week even during our long hours of harvest. Then the question arose, "Do we use AI (artificial intelligence) to do any of the writing for us?" I think we can all agree that there is no "AI" writing this, and in fact an argument could be made that there is actually no "I" in this writing either.

But it brought up a conversation that I had with our eldest daughter, Hanna, just a couple of weeks ago. The discussion started with AI being used in the medical industry and drifted (quickly) to...

Let's clear up a couple of things here from the get-go. I originally wanted to write something about AI today, but how is that possible on "International Pinot Noir Day"? OK, it's not possible. So instead we are releasing the 2024 Madroña Pinot Noir today in the tasting room, all 13 cases that we produced. (Wait, hold on, it's only 12 cases and 7 bottles now as Maggie and I have been enjoying it quite a bit over the last several days (please don't do the math on consumption there!)).

But first, there are some things you need to understand. Maggie's Pinot is not like Maggie's 'M-Series' of...

So imagine you told your kids that they were starting the school year 2 weeks earlier than previously scheduled. Or imagine if the IRS let you know in late March that tax day was being moved up to April 1st instead of April 15th. Can you imagine the reactions you might be getting?

Well, now you can imagine (without much difficulty) what us farmers are saying right now. For us, we will start the harvest of 2026 this coming Friday with a Marsanne pick (for another winery). Now, for a variety (Marsanne) that we used to pick often in late October or early November (in the 1990's), this is a bit...