In Photos: McFadden Wine Club (and Public) Party

The 2013 McFadden Wine Club (and open to the public) Party was again a wonderful event at one of my favorite vineyards.  While the tasting room is open all the time, in Hopland, the vineyard is only open this one day of the year.

This was my second year attending - and this time I stuck around for the overnight camping followed by picnicking in the grass and swimming in the river (with a bunch of enthusiastic SF hipsters) on Sunday. 

What a great way to enjoy this beautiful spot - 200 acres of organic grapes. Many of McFadden's grapes go into famous fine wines - including Napa's. (For instance, the Chateau Montelena Riesling comes 100% from McFadden Vineyards.) But at such prices. If you want to find a way to indulge your organic hedonistic side while not breaking the bank, you can do no better than McFadden's:

Everyday White

• If you're looking for everyday wine, must trys include the 2011 Chardonnay (Double Gold winner in SF Chronicle Wine Competition) - currently $16 a bottle for wine club members. (The other Double Golds are way more than that.)

Dessert or Aperitif Wine

• For dessert or a sweet aperitif sipper, get your hands on their Late Harvest Riesling. (And be glad that there is still some left!)

Celebrate

• For bubbleheads, celebrate every day with Bruts - where else can you get local, organically grown top quality sparkling wine for $16-7 a bottle (wine club sale prices) or $25 list? (It ties with Roederer Estate in competitions). McFadden also now has a Reserve Brut, too.

Break your convenient-but-bad-voting-with-your-dollars addiction to TJ's and support great organic viticulture and vintners in California.

Join this wine club and consider it your "wine box" - like the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm box - only it's your wine farmer/maker.

And like McFadden on Facebook, Yelp and Trip Advisor to spread the news.

(And forgive the strange irregular white background in the photo display below - God only knows what Google's Blogger thinks it's doing.)

Tasting Room Manager and Wine Club Director John Cesano at the registration
table armed with a bunch of lottery goodies for the giveaway

The wine table...and when they say Welcome to the Farm, they mean it:
McFadden's really IS a farm complete with grass fed cattle, organic herbs, corn and other veggies.

A selection of McFadden's white wines
ranged from the original Pinot Gris to
their 2011 Chardonnay - which won
Double Gold at the SF Wine Competition

Fontaine McFadden, Guinnness' daughter, catered the
dinner. Fontaine runs StrongTableSF.com catering in SF,
a paleo food service serving 6 SF gyms.

Kelly McFarling and her band provided entertainment.

Proprietor (and New York native) Guinness McFadden celebrated his 75th birthday
in June; he's grown wine grapes organically here for 41 years,
settling in Potter Valley after returning from Vietnam.
To the crowd's delight, he blew his mess whistle to announce dinner.

Sipping the McFadden Brut before the main meal

Fontaine's spicy slaw

The 2011 Chardonnay

After dinner, dancing under the stars to the beat of DJ Hal Wagenet
(formerly in the band It's a Beautiful Day)
That's the Magruders (lady in the orange dress dancing with partner), who
raise grass fed beef and lamb, as well as a unique breed of pig
on their nearby 5,000 acre Potter Valley farm. You may see the Magruder
name on your next trip to Chez Panisse or Oliveto as they have long been a
staple supplier there and at Berkeley's Local Butcher Shop.

Here's what it's all about...

Forbes Wine of the Week Pick: Barra's Port

In addition to the Big Sale on its regular wines, here's a shout out to Barra for its Petite Sirah Dessert Wine, a port from Northern California, which was a recent pick as Wine of the Week from Forbes.

Read about the wine's success in a recent tasting or order it online here.

Buying Now: Because Botrytis Doesn't Happen Every Year

I have to admit, I'm partial to organic growers turned vintners - Guinness McFadden, Volker Eisele, Charlie Barra. So it's no surprise I'm raving about a few more incredible wines from McFadden Vineyards - again.

I've often mentioned their sparkling Brut here - a house wine in my house. And with good reason. As everyday wines go, organic bubblies are not that affordable, but if you're a wine club member and you shop the sales, you can get this beauty for 40% off - which makes it a mere $14.

And it's not just me who thinks it's great - it won a Double Gold in the 2012 Mendocino Wine  Competition (and the year before).

This past year McFadden's had two breakthrough wines - a 2011 botrytis beauty, Late Harvest Riesling, which took a Best of Class award in the dessert wine category in the SF Chronicle Wine Competition and their 2011 Chardonnay which won a Double Gold.

While other botrytis dessert wines in 375 ml bottles (Far Niente's Dolce, for example) go for $55 and up (I just tasted another winery's $80 one today), the McFadden retails for $24 for a 750 ml (full size) bottle (with a 25% discount for wine club members putting it at $18). And it's so lovely.

Smaller bottles - 375 ml - will be available soon.

I've just placed my order for five cases of each of the dessert wines so this can be my new house dessert wine.

And now that I've made my purchases of this soon-to-be-completely-sold-out wine, you should get on the phone and get yours right away. There will be no Groupon coupon - you don't need one at these prices/quality.

And botrytis, the lovely sweetening agent of late harvest grapes (that gives birth to the historically desired Sauternes and Tokay's), doesn't come every year.

I might be able to give some of the little bottles away (birthdays, Christmas), since I find that dessert wines make good gifts that pretty much everyone likes, but then again - I might not. It's really, really good.

For Chardonnay lovers, you better get on the phone, too, as the supply of this unoaked, superstar Chard is about to run out.

Winery number is 707.744.8463.

Also a reminder: Hopland Passport, with the best deals on the most organically grown wines (at everyday prices) is coming up - the first weekend in May. To prepare, read my perennial post on Hopland Passport here. And - book the hotel, and empty the trunk. And tell all your friends to come, too. It's partying without the pesticides!

McFadden Wine Sale! As Low as $11 a Bottle (25-30% Off)

Guinness McFadden is having a St. Patrick's Day Sale 

Free shipping and discounts of 25-30% off on some of my favorite everyday wines - jump on this one.

One of my pet peeves is people who buy their wine at Trader Joe's. Not only is 99.9% of it not organically grown, it's also mostly imported. It is not locally grown and if it is, it usually represents some poor grower's near bankruptcy.

Support your native ecosystem - buy wine from wineries that don't dump toxic chemicals into local lands and wine that doesn't require massive infusions of carbon to ship halfway around the globe.

The feel good alternative is buying great local organically grown wine - like these - when they're on sale (like now).

McFadden is one of my go-to wineries for fantastic affordable wines. This year they've done extremely well in the Chronicle wine competition for their Chardonnay as well a new wine - a Late Harvest Riesling (dessert wine). And a wine that I've bought at least 6-8 cases of is also on sale - their NV Sparkling Brut.

From Monday March 11 through Sunday, March 17 (St. Patrick's Day), order a minimum of 6 bottles and receive free shipping and 25% off the normal prices. Order 12 bottles and receive 30% off.

WHITE WINES

• 2011 Chardonnay (Double Gold winner in Chronicle competition)
Regular price: $16
Sale price: $11.20-12

McFadden is one of the few organic sources for these two German varietals:

• 2011 Riesling (dry)
Regular price: $18
Sale price: $12.60-13.50

• 2011 Gewurztraminer
Regular price: $16
Sale price: $11.20-12

Organically grown dessert wines are also hard to find. Here's theirs, a new entry in the field:

• Late Harvest Riesling (Best of Class in Chronicle competition)
Regular price: $24
Sale price: $16.80-18.00

BRUT

My go to Brut (and my friends all love it when I serve it to them) also makes a great birthday gift. (Friend turning 50? 60? At these prices you can afford to gift them their decades in bottles - i.e. 5 or 6 bottles - one for each decade).

• NV Sparkling Brut
Regular price: $25
Sale price: $17.50-18.75

RED WINES

And if you're looking for a red, here's the one:

• 2010 Old Vine Zinfandel
Regular price: $24
Sale price: $16.80-$18

Or get a sampler of all the wines.

Free shipping just makes this an unbeatable deal.

If you are in the area, stop by on St. Patrick's Day to enjoy some good old-fashioned Corned Beef and Cabbage and a free tasting.

Order some cases and tell your friends. And A Happy-A-Saving-of-the-Green to You. Sales like this don't come very often, so don't hold back, don't be shy, and don't wait too long.

You can reach their sales/tasting room maven extraordinaire John 10-5 daily (707.744.8463)
or 24/7 via email to john@mcfaddenfarm.com.

Dessert Wine for Your Valentine - Part 2

Since this is the season of sweets and sweeties, I covered the topic of dessert wines from organic vintners in a recent post - or so I thought. In the interim, I've remember some I forgot to mention in my earlier post...but I neglected them because of their price point, I think.

Here they are

1. Grgich Hills - Violetta ($85)

Named for the daughter of vintner Mike Grgich, this biodynamically grown, oaked white dessert wine is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Gewurztraminer, and ages 18 months in French oak barrels (75% of which are new).









2. Hawk and Horse Latigo (Cabernet) ($35)

From Lake County high end Cab producer in prestigious Red Hills comes a port style dessert wine made with Cabernet. Fortified with brandy, it is aged for 26 months in new French oak.

Dessert Wine for Your Valentine - Part 1

Got dessert wine? I've just returned from Europe where they are so much more common, and am trying to get into thinking about them as part of a meal once a week.

Surprisingly, there are quite of few of them out there from the organic vintners. Here are some of my favorites:

1. For the Lover Who Likes Pretty Labels with Grapes 
*Frey Vineyards - Late Harvest Zinfandel ($24)

I don't write that much about Frey Vineyards' wine as they are no added sulfite, a category that is not of very much interest to me as the wines can be unstable. On the other hand, when it comes to dessert wines (where stability is not such an issue), Frey Vineyards has a lovely Late Harvest Zinfandel that is a sweet dessert wine.

It's grown in beautiful Redwood Valley (Mendocino County).

It comes in an elegant bottle and I think any Valentine would be happy to receive this along with some chocolate.







2. For the Lover Who Likes Strange Bottle Art
Bonny Doon - Vinferno ($20/$216)

Zinferno is a white dessert wine from Bonny Doon's biodynamic vineyards in Arroyo Seco. Made from grenache blanc and roussanne (two white Rhone varietals) it's certified biodynamic.











3. For the Lover Who Has Everything or For the Wine Geek
Wilridge Winery Estate Vintage Dessert Red ($20/$216)




For something really different, varietal wise, turn to Northwest producer Wilridge for a port made from Portuguese varietals Zweigeist, Tourega Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Cao and Souzao.









4. Ceago Soul of Syrah Port ($28)

This is a combination of Syrah, Colombard, and Viognier from a biodynamic vintner in Lake County who is one of the Fetzer clan.

Ceago sits on the shores of Clear Lake. It's a beautiful destination winery with a gorgeous tasting area, beautiful estate, and stunning lakeside views - well worth a visit.

They used to also have a Late Harvest Semillon dessert wine but I couldn't find it any more.

5. Yorkville Cellars Sweet Malbec ($22)

This was invented in Mendocino by this iconoclastic, wonderful winery where they grow all seven of the noble varieties of Bordeaux, including Malbec, and sell them as Bordeaux blends but also as single varietals, so you can get to know each one.

This is a semi sweet effervescent rose and should be served chilled. (Personally I think it's sweet.) Previous vintages won Double Gold at the Mendocino Wine Competition.

6. Bonterra Muscat ($14)

Mendo organic powerhouse Bonterra makes a pretty sweet Muscat which can serve as an aperitif or with dessert. It's not a dessert wine per se, so it's not in the "contemplation wine" category, but it is a sweet way to end a meal.

*7. McFadden Vineyard is coming out with a new dessert wine this year - a late harvest Riesling which did very well at the SF Chronicle Competition, getting Best in Class last month. I'll post more about it when I receive a bottle (coming soon). If you want to go ahead and order it yourself, get in touch with McFadden Vineyards where John Cesano will get you all connected.

* = Pam's picks

New Wines From McFadden: A Dessert Riesling and a SuperBrut! On Sale Friday Only!

Sneak Preview of New Wines from McFadden - And Everything Is 20% Off This Friday Night

I'm happy to pass along news of the McFadden Wines Toys for Tots event this Friday from 4-7 pm at their Hopland tasting room. The winery will be collecting toys and offering raffle tickets for toy donors for a great assortment of their wines. Best of all - they will be pouring 2011 wines not yet on the market, and two brand new wines.

The two new wines are a Late Harvest Dessert Riesling and a Reserve Brut - which differs from their regular award-winning Brut (my regular go-to bubbly! We drink it by the case here) in that it sits on yeast for 18 extra months. As a diehard sparkling lover, I am looking forward to trying it! Alas, the price is not the same incredibly affordable deal for the regular Brut. The "SuperBrut" will retail for $40 and the dessert wine for $24, with the usual wine club discounts applying for wine club members.

This is one winery where I definitely recommend becoming a wine club member. If you ask nicely, it's very likely you can pick which wines you want in your club membership if you want to opt out of the winery's picks. But the best reason to join are the fabulous price points for members on what is already very affordable wine. And you're supporting a vineyard that has been organically certified for 40 years, making it one of the oldest in the country.

Their famous grass fed beef and herb products as well as all tasting room merchandise will also be on sale during the event for 20% off. If I were you, I would hotfoot it over there or see if you can place an order on the phone.

Perusing the Supermarket Aisle OR Why You Should Join a Wine Club

You know the feeling - it's 4 pm or 5 or 7 or 9 pm (or whatever) and you've got to run to the store to pick up something for dinner and you think you just might take a little amble down the wine aisle, just to see, if, perhaps, perchance, some miracle has occurred and there's more to choose from than 50 kinds of Gallo (labeled Barefoot, or whatever) or something more than Mondavi Woodbridge or something else you might even later be ashamed to cook with. All that lies before you at every single level of shelving is a vote with your dollars for a huge corporation that practices total monoculture, uses pesticides, isn't known to take good care of field workers, uses precious water resources to grow crops where they normally wouldn't grow, and denudes the landscape of any remaining biodiversity.

Aside from this bleak set of hundreds of "choices," there may be the occasional Italian Pinot Grigio or other European import (organic status unknown but unlikely to be organic in any way) in a heavy glass bottle that traveled on a ship halfway around the globe to arrive at your neighborhood market.

Is it time to consider stocking up on a supply of good "house wine"? Join a local wine club from an organic and biodynamic winery and you can drink fabulously well for as little as $12 a bottle.

Keeping it simple, here are two wine club suggestions to get you started: Yorkville Cellars (all organic) and Ceago (all biodynamic). Both feature nothing but organic or biodynamic wines so there's no confusion over which bottle to get. Both have been in business for 20 years or more and both are unlikely to be found on your supermarket's shelves (alas). So just go direct.

I visited both this weekend and I have to say you can't go wrong with the full lineup of either of these wineries. Both are set amidst landscapes of biodiversity in exceptionally scenic spots, too, so you could definitely skip the shipping by visiting and buying in person.

Best of all, prices are a steal for wine club members.

Yorkville Cellars


• Located at the southern end of Anderson Valley
• Run by an English woman and her American husband (they both lived in France and their brand is heavily oriented to Bordeaux, er, Aquitaine, one and the same place, the latter name being the one the English gave to the area when they ruled it).
• Hillside and flatland vineyards
• 100% organically grown; CCOF certified since 1986


Yorkville Cellars Wine Club: 3 bottles per quarter. About $60 to $75 per shipment, including shipping and applicable sales taxes. Annual costs = $180-225 at the minimum wine club level. 20% off on all wines for the case a year club; 30% for case a quarter members.

So for the same price that you would spend on a stupid supermarket wine (if you succumbed), you could get (all prices at the 30% off price):

• A Sauvignon Blanc raised on a beautiful hillside surrounded by biodiversity, birds, wild grasses, and trees for $12.60
• A Rose (just in time for summer) of Cabernet Franc (unique) for $12.60
• A Cabernet Sauvignon rated as a Best Buy by Wine & Spirits magazine for $19.60
• A Bordeaux blend of all six noble grapes (called Richard the Lion Heart) for $26.60.
• List of all wines here

They also make a lovely white Graves blend of Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc called Eleanor of Aquitaine.

While I am not in love with the way Yorkshire Cellars markets its wines (the list of awards on its web site is not my cuppa), just get beyond the web site and marketing and get your nose into a glass of their wine.

I do like the product - see if you do, too.

Ceago


• Located in Lake County in the small lakefront town of Nice (Route 20)

• A gorgeous Spanish style estate with scenic grounds and lakefront boat dock

• Elegant tasting area with umbrellas in a picture perfect courtyard

• Vineyards in Mendocino and Lake County

• Started and run by Jim Fetzer in 1993

• Demeter (biodynamic) certified since 1996

Ceago Wine Club: 4 bottles three times a year. About $115 per shipment, all inclusive. Annual costs = $345 at the minimum wine club level. 20% off on all wines for all wine club members.

While Ceago's wines are priced very reasonably without any discounts, but with a club membership you could get (all prices at the 20% off price):

• A Sauvignon Blanc from Kathleen's Vineyard (named for Jim Fetzer's famous mom) for $12.80 (it was on special at the winery this week for an additional 10% off)
• A lovely Lake County Chardonnay for $12.80
• A Muscat Canelli (a little on the sweet side) rated People's Choice in Lake County for $12.80
• A Syrah for $20.60
• A white dessert wine (I'm a sucker for a biodynamic dessert wine, of which there are very few) of late harvest Semillon for $17.60
• List of all wines here

All this - and these wineries are farming at the highest levels of viticultural practices, with experienced hands in the cellars, and exuding natural goodness - all without pesticides, herbicides, or other odious practices - and in settings of lush biodiversity and surrounding intact landscapes. Not to mention the wines' myriad beautiful flavors.

So tonight - don't go for the Italian Pinot Grigio at the supermarket. Get online (or in the car) and toodle over to these web sites to check out the wares and order yourself up some house wine that properly honors the grapes and the land on which they were grown. At everyday prices.