BALANCE & SUCCESS AT MADROÑA VINEYARDS

Madroña Vineyards
Location: El Dorado County
Established: Vineyards planted in 1973
Winery built in 1980
Owner: The Bush Family
Winemaker: Paul Bush
Annual Production: 12,000 cases
Website: www.MadronaVineyards.com
Our CWC Wines: Madroña 2006 Estate Grown Zinfandel; Madroña 2006 Cardanini Vineyards Syrah

AWARD-WINNING VARIETY
The little winery in the woods above Placerville in El Dorado County’s Gold Rush country founded by Dick and Leslie Bush in 1980 and featured by CWC several times since, has grown up. Madroña Vineyards, named for the majestic Madrone tree that dominates its vineyard, is still the tiny family winery hidden amid the cedar and Ponderosa pines. Set in the high-elevation foothills just 50+ miles from the ski runs of South Lake Tahoe, Madroña produces wines that express the amazing diversity of this region’s terroir, and judges are taking notice. “Our Gewürztraminer and Zinfandel are perfect examples,” says owner/winemaker Paul Bush. “In the past, Bon Appetit picked the Gewürztraminer as one of the “Top 25 White Wines of the World”, and it grows a mere 18 feet away from our Gold Medal-winning Zinfandel. Where else is this possible, growing both a warm and a cool climate grape literally side-by-side? That’s what’s so special about El Dorado County.”

Currently, Madroña produces 23 wines, covering Italian, French, German, and Portuguese varieties. “All are small-lot, hands-on productions, so our favorites change day to day,” says owner/manager Maggie Bush. “It really depends on what we’re having for dinner.” No matter what their choice,the wines are usually award-winners. Madrona’s Quintet (a Bordeaux blend), Merlot and Port have recently led the way with top kudos from prestigious competitions.

SOMETHING NEW
Madroña wines have also won the hearts of a loyal group of followers who are ever ready to experiment and try something different. They’ll certainly find it among the 23 wines Paul makes. New on the block are his sparkling Yellow Muscat aperitif, Viognier and new clones of Syrah and Zinfandel (our CWC selections) with which he’s always wanted to play. “We’ve been making Zin since 1979, but I haven’t used this clone before. It’s more fruit-oriented, with a great mid-palate. The Syrah is also different than our cool-climate standard; it has the great blueberry flavors in the forefront rather than our traditional spice characters.” Recently, Paul also added a “Black Label” line of bottlings selected from “special barrels.”

BALANCING ACT
Madrona has indeed matured, but it hasn’t come without effort. Paul and his wife, Maggie, are raising two small children as they operate the winery his parents built. They manage a staff of 13 and oversee 32 acres of vines around the winery; a 10-acre site next door; and 35 acres in Pleasant Valley
nearby. In 2002, Paul took over the winemaking, with former Madroña winemaker Hugh Chappelle consulting. “We wanted to get the winemaking back into the family so we could focus on the style that identifies our philosophy. And since we grow all of our own fruit, we are in the luxurious position of being able to craft a wine we truly believe in.”

With their success has come the pressure to expand Madroña’s 12,000-case production. They could easily do so, since they have only planted 35 acres of the 240-acre Pleasant Valley vineyard. “Yet, there is a sanity in remaining small. Just as there is a balance in the bottle, you have to have balance in the family too. We’d much rather have time for doing things with our kids while they still want to do things with us,” Paul laughs.

SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLE
Keeping the winery small sustains a lifestyle the Bush family treasures. Sustainability is also on their minds in the cellar and in the vineyard. Paul works to reduce the winery’s “carbon footprint” (the measure of how much carbon dioxide a business releases into the atmosphere) with fixes like converting to 100% solar power, electric forklifts and even planting avocado trees to absorb carbon dioxide. In addition, through careful planning, Madroña’s solar system not only produces electricity but also insulates the wine storage building from direct summer sun and harsh winter storms. This in turn saves even more electricity. Out in the vineyard, Madrona sets up owl nesting boxes, recycles wastewater for irrigation and relies on moisture probes. “This year, we had to water the vines only once,” states Paul. “It’s incredibly fulfilling to know that conservation makes great business sense as well.”

UNUSUAL WINE COUNTRY
While Madroña’s tasting room bustles, so do neighboring fruit and vegetable stands, Christmas tree farms and jam and jelly counters of this unusual wine country. “The strength of our region is its diversity,” Paul says. “Cherry lovers buy wine. Wine lovers buy apples. It’s an agricultural ecosystem of sorts that allows small, family farming to prosper in such a beautiful setting.”  The cornucopia of the land’s bounty continues to spill forth, making a harvest visit to Madroña a time for peaches and apple pie as well as Syrah and Zinfandel. The Bush family is ready to greet you, with a glass of outstanding wine, at 2560 High Hill Rd.,Camino,CA, (530.644.5948). Salud!