Madrona Vineyards

Camino (Placerville), CA

In all the years we have tasted wine around the sierra foothills for some reason we had never been to Madrona Vineyards.  Madrona is just up the road from the areas most popular winery Boeger which we have been to countless times and have now stopped going there because it has become too popular.  Madrona has remained in the same family since it opened in 1973.  Today it is run by the husband and wife team of Paul and Maggie Bush.  We had stopped at our favorite Camino (5 miles east of Placerville) winery, Bumgarner, and were headed back to Placerville and then on to volunteer at our friend Rob Swain’s Motherlode Century, a 100 mile annual bike ride.  I passed by the entrance to Madrona, and then knowing that we were going to be pouring some of their wine at the post-ride party the next day figured we would go back and learn a bit about their wine. 

We drove down their long driveway past many different businesses (christmas tree farm, pumpkin patch, apple business) and arrived at the 1970’s era wood sided winery tasting room surrounded by Madrona and other trees.  The facility is built into the hill with the winery on the lower level and offices and the tasting room up top.  The tasting room probably looks somewhat similar to what it looked 30+ years ago.  Matt, a long time club member and one year employee of the tasting room was our host.  There is a complimentary tasting and an enhanced $5.00 tasting.  We said we wanted to taste everything.  Everything appeared to be about a dozen wines and they were arranged from Red to White.  Matt said the style of their wines really led to that order of tasting.  It seems a bit odd but when starting to taste the red wines which in general were very restrained it made sense I guess.  Reds are generally what we drink so this worked in our favor.   

Zinfandel and Chardonnay seem to be there specialty and the wines are grouped into the Hillside and Signature lines with some additional Single Vineyard bottlings.  The list starts with the Hillside which are the more standard, mixed vineyard and vineyard appellation wines.  They were at first taste very light but I think well balanced and easy drinkers.  I think the grapes may be picked a bit earlier or at lower brix than many of the wines we are used to.  We had the Zinfandel, Shiraz/Cab, Merlot, and Nebbiola from the Hillside line and then we had the Zinfandel, Cab Franc, Cab, Malbec and Quintet (five wine blend) from the Signature line.  I liked all the wines other than the Nebbiola and no doubt the Signature wine packed a bit more punch than the Hillside group.  They were appropriately priced with the Hillside wines below $20 and the Signature wines in the mid $20 range.  We also tried the $12 El Tinto- Lot 34 Red Blend and it certainly has its place with us.

While we were tasting we did meet the owners Paul and Maggie, who had been meeting with a couple of members of a local wine related marketing organization and had come out to pour a special ‘not on the list’ wine.  We too tasted the refreshing Rose and chatted with the group.  We did not taste any of white wines because we had really had enough.  My guess though is that Red wines are what Madrona does best. 

Over the course of the next couple of days we have revisited the Hillside Zinfandel and I think it is a pretty nice $18 (or cheaper at a local wine shop maybe) bottle.  We did pour the Hillside Zin and Chardonnay after the bike ride and unfortunately not enough people got to taste it.  For some reason people riding 100 miles, or 66 in the case of a metric century, prefer to drink a cold beer which was also being poured.

I think if you are in the area or want to stop at one or two wineries right off of Highway 50 on your way up to Tahoe that Madrona should be a stop.  They have been there a long time which says something and the wines are pretty good.  There are many wineries within 5 to 7 miles of Madrona so you can certainly make a day out of it.  I think it is also great to support wineries that support local events, such as the Motherlode Century bike ride.  By the way the beer had been donated by Sierra Nevada of Chico which we also support.

What we liked- Low key, fairly priced wines, a nice area.  It is also always nice to meet the owners.

What we bought- The Quintet at $28 and the El Tinto at $12.  The El Tinto is in the ‘drink now’ pile and won’t be around long.

Madrona Vineyards

2560 High Hill Road

Camino, CA  95709

(530) 644-5948

www.madronavineyards.com

Sequoia Grove Winery

In the back of our car we carry a box which is full of winery stuff.  Amongst the maps and brochures we have a collection of Two for One Winery coupons.  Some of them may be five years old or older but they all seem to work no matter what their vintage is.  Last Saturday we were driving up Highway 29 from Napa on our way to find an establishment to watch the Kentucky Derby.  We are not big horse racing fans but we have always looked for a spot to watch the Derby dating back to a couple of back to back years maybe fifteen years ago when we watched it at the Naughty Dog Saloon in Tahoe City at the end of the ski season.  I had put the box in the back seat so Maureen could grab it and I asked her to start looking for some coupons.  Since we take this route a lot our prime Napa Valley coupons are kind of thin.  She found a coupon for Sequoia Grove and we thought, why not?  

Sequoia Grove is located in Rutherford and is the winey just past Cakebread while driving north on 29.  It is actually set amongst a small grove of towering sequoia trees.  The winery has been here for over 30 years making it older than many wineries in the area.  The tasting room is housed in a refurbished 150 year old barn.  The tasting room includes two bar areas, a small amount of retail and I did see one private room for sit down tastings.  Outside were about a dozen tables and tastings were also available here surrounded by the trees, fountains and gardens.  It is really a very nice setting. 

 Our host was Matt, the Operations and Sales Manager.  He treated us like we were club members or maybe prospective club members.  It was a busy spot but they were well staffed with three or four hosts inside and a couple of additional outside.  Matt never had more than us and maybe one other party to take care of so we chatted quite a bit.  We wondered why we had never stopped here.  We were curious of the ownership as so many of these Highway 29 facilities are owned by large organization.  Sequoia Grove is part of a larger group of wineries.  Sister wineries include Domaine Carneros, St. Francis and Benzinger.  A bit of internet research did not turn up a lot of information.  They are all associated with the French ‘Cobrand’ group although my guess is that Cobrand has the distribution rights for all these wineries and the individual ownerships are more complex.  Matt said there were three Gos (or Goss) sisters with ownership and there is a Gos/Goss street sign near the property along 29. 

The tasting fees were either $20 for four of their current releases and there was a $40 Cabernet only option.  We opted for the $20 version and of course worked him for an expanded list.  There were four whites (Rose, Gervurts, Sauv Blanc and a Chardonnay) and we tried the Sauv Blanc.  Of course it was very good.  We then went down the list of reds which included the Cab Franc, Merlot, Syrah and NV Cab.  The Franc was the priciest at $48 and the Syrah and Cab were both $38.  Yes only $38 for a Napa Valley Cab which is a pretty good bargain.  The Napa Valley Merlot was a big wine and a favorite along with the Syrah which was from Stagecoach Vineyard on Atlas Peak.  The Cabernet was typical of a NV blended Cab with good rounded flavors.  We also tasted a premium single vineyard Cab that was not on the list, so the name escapes me.  It too was good but I see the balance of the single vineyard wine on the list are all in the $100 range so the NV Cab will do the trick for us.  Matt poured us healthy tastes in premium stemware so by the end of our tasting we could feel that we had had some wine. 

We were pleasantly surprised by our stop at Sequoia Grove.  We thought the wines were excellent, the prices were pretty darn good, the grounds and facilities were very nice and out host Matt was excellent.  We would recommend the winery to anyone.

Our tasting ended up lasting longer than anticipated and although we had planned one more stop before the Derby we went straight into St. Helena which allowed us 20 minutes of pregame before the race.  Ana’s Cantina, one of St. Helena’s finest bars was a great spot to watch the Derbry.  Although some may describe Ana’s as just a ‘joint’ it was hopping with race fans.  We got the best seats in the house and the bartender, much to his chagrin, was cranking out Mint Juleps and of course the race was great with a California horse winning.  Everyone in the bar was cheering.  Don’t go to Ana’s for wine though as they only stock the Sutter Home in the mini bottles. 

What we liked (about Sequoia Grove)- Everything

What we bought- A Merlot and a Syrah (and I think we were comped the tasting fees).

Sequoia Grove Winery

8338 St. Helena Highway

Napa, CA  94558

(707) 944-2945

www.sequoiagrove.com