10/12/2026
Last weekend we celebrated 10 years of making w**e at Madson. Although it went by in a flash, so much has happened, evolved and we’ve grown along the way. Here are photos of the journey starting with our first w**e in 2016… just a few barrels of Chardonnay from PM Staiger Vineyard.
In 2017, Ken took over the farming at Ascona and used his garden to propagate Aligoté cuttings.
In 2018, we began farming the Toyon Vineyard to make the Pinot Noir & Chardonnay. Our production more than quadrupled.
In 2019, we moved our w**emaking from Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard to a tiny barn in the woods. The same year, we made our first trip to NYC, which changed everything. Suddenly we had 5 distributors, just before the global pandemic.
In 2020, we took over the farming at Legan Vineyard, an iconic, heritage-clone site, planted in 1974. We were lucky to harvest this despite the CZU fire and this would be the last vintage of Legan ever. The property was sold in 2021 and the new owners ripped out the vineyard for a dirtbike track.
Life continues, and in 2021 we welcomed our first Gamay from freshly grafted vines.
We also began experimenting with biodynamic preparations (collecting nettle from the forrest and fermenting cow manure).
Quickly, we ran out of space in the barn and it was time to find a place where we could make our w**e and host w**e tastings. In 2022 we moved to Bonny Doon Vineyards old tank room.
Abbey started hosting tastings as we built out the space.
By 2023, we began hosting our chef friends for dinner gatherings and pop ups.
That winter we were greeted with 2 ft of snow at Ascona Vineyard and we snowboarded through the vines!
In 2024, Jeff Emery passed the w**emaking torch for Luchessi Vineyard. He had been making the iconic Cabernet Sauvignon for 25 years.
We also harvested our first Serene Clone Syrah, grafted 2 years prior.
In 2025, we took on the farming at Leboeuf Vineyard, 55 year old vines at 1000 ft in Bonny Doon.
In 2026 we held the course. We farmed our vines in a bizarre year with minuscule yields.
Thank you all for being a part of the journey and we are excited for what the future holds!
