El Tinto, Lot 43
Tasting notes
El Tinto
Within the wine world of sustainability, every winery produces a “Table Wine.” Although not necessarily the most prestigious of products in most consumers eyes, table wines are a necessary part of producing quality wine. In all honesty, when we blend our Zinfandel or Cabernet Sauvignon or any varietal wine, we invariably end up with a barrel here and a barrel there that don’t quite fit into the blend. Over a year’s time, we collect these components (all quality wines) and blend them together to make a base wine with structure. The challenge is now to balance this wine, both texturally as well as with youthful fruitiness. Surprisingly, our El Tinto requires the most time and effort of any of our wines to blend perfectly. The result, however, gives us a wine often more impressive than many other wineries’ varietals.
Lot 43
Do you like your El Tinto’s big and bold? This fruit-oriented blend makes the Lot 43 the one of choice. With 77% Zinfandel and 23% Barbera, the characters are a seamless mélange of dark berry fruit and fresh and bright red fruit (basically the Zin and the Barbera, respectively). The nose has this light sweet vanilla (French oak) and smoked meats note that starts off the voyage into the valley of fruit. Luscious on the entry, the blackberry begins the tour, enveloping your senses like a warm cozy blanket. Sweet cherry then turns to raspberry and then to plum/red cherry as the Zinfandel heeds the needs of the Barbera to take over. This richness, soften tannins, and lingering intense fruit finishes up the experience as one gravitates towards another journey for the tastebuds. It’s the perfect blend for your cool evenings and classic barbecues!
Paul Bush, Owner/Winemaker
Madroña Vineyards
Camino, California.
We are a family-owned and operated winery focusing on terroir-driven, Estate-Grown fruit.
Annual Case Production: 12,000 cases
Planted Acres: 70 acres planted at the 2,850 to 3,000 foot elevation.
Career Background: Having helped plant the family vineyards as a kid in 1973, I grew up working in our winery what seemed like every day after school. I had no intention of “winding up” in the wine industry and graduated from U.C. Davis in 1989 with a degree in Economics. However, with an interest in traveling abroad, our winery offered a flexible schedule and an opportunity to work with inspiring winemakers such as Mark Foster and Hugh Chappelle. I began managing the vineyards and business in 1991 and making the wines in late 2002.
Biggest Professional Challenge: Balance! Working with my wife, Maggie, we find our greatest challenge is how to be business owners with all of its responsibilities while making the wines, growing the grapes, marketing the brand and raising two daughters. Any given day can be filled with dusting the vineyards at daybreak, acid trials before lunch, working in the tasting room in the afternoon—and then throw in a swim meet or school play for spice. Undoubtedly, every small, family winery tackles the same aspect of wearing so many hats, but the challenge and excitement is unique to each one.
Varietals that Madroña is Known for: In total, we grow 27 varieties in our El Dorado vineyards. From within these plantings, however, I believe that Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel, Riesling and the seven Portuguese varieties (for our New-World Port) are consistently outstanding.
Short Testimonial: I truly can’t imagine doing anything else but growing grapes and enjoying wine. I believe the terroir of our region is unique with overall cool-climate aspects, peppered with warm summer days and a slightly shorter growing season. So finding the true expression of each variety for our vineyards ends up being an exciting and challenging adventure every vintage. The wines have more backbone and structure than most regions of California while showcasing the intense varietal character of mountain fruit. Most often, I find that the wine knows best in how it should be “made,” and I’m just along for the ride. As we once heard in France, “One does not make wine. One elaborates wine!” And with our Estate-grown grapes, I am quite content to be the “elaborator.”
