1995 was a very good year.. We’ve just finished celebrating our 20th anniversary at the winery and I’m having as much fun and love the winery as much, if not more than when we first started making wine in 1995. Many things happened in that magical year, things that defined me, my family and our place in the Napa Valley wine world.
I had been working for my father’s vineyard management company for 9 years and our client list included wineries like Duckhorn, Shafer and Clos Pegase. Every harvest we delivered grapes to these great wineries and these grapes always became the genius of the winery. In my mind, at the time, these great wines were 90% vineyard and 10% winery. All these years later, I thought I would assess it more like 50 - 50, but in fact, I have upped the importance of the grapes and vineyard to 95%.
Still in the risk taking mode and just arrogant enough to take a chance, we jumped into the wine business. That first year Bobbie Barberis, my dad's best friend, gave us 5 tons of Petite Sirah and my Uncle John Peterson (Switchback Ridge) sold us another 5 tons of Petite Sirah. We delivered the grapes to Napa Wine Company and a very generous winemaker, Jack Ryno, made the wine for free. We asked him to help us make a soft, round Petite Sirah. That original wine is still tannic.
Newly wed in 1995, I found out that I would be a father, the first of three. We closed escrow on a 40 acre former Duckhorn Vineyard called Alluvial and in 1995 we started replanting the vineyard and making it our own. It was also the first year that Napa Valley grasped the California style realizing that we weren’t France, and that we needed to further ripen our grapes for more concentration and up front fruit. There was no turning back and the cult wine movement was in full swing.
20 years have gone by so fast and I am excited about the future and the next 20 years as a winegrower in Napa Valley. Many thanks for all of the mentors and fans throughout the years, we couldn’t have done it without you.
Petite Sirah is what started it all for us in 1995 and and we’re sticking with it 20 years later. If you haven’t tried our Petite Sirah lately or would like to become re-acquainted with it, thru January 20th we are offering the 2012 Napa Valley Petite Sirah for $32.00 per bottle plus free shipping. Enter coupon code: ORIGINAL
From the Madrigal Family I would love to wish all of you a happy and healthy New Year, 2016 is going to be a great year!