Madera Wine Trail

Cloudy and showers today so this is the perfect day to do the Madera Wine Trail! Down Rte 99 S. I haven’t talked much about this route but in it’s heyday Rte 99 was known as ‘California’s Main Street’. It provides all the pleasures of a back road. Clustered alongside 99 like cherries on a tree are dozens of cities and towns. This offers hundreds of spots to pull off and enjoy the special experience of discovering a new place.

Turning onto Rte 145 wee drove through blooming almond orchards and then onto Rte 41 N which is a main route to Yosemite National Park. Madera County is one of the oldest wine growing regions in California. In the mid 1800’s settlers from Italy, Armenia, Spain, France and many other countries settled here. They planted grapes on their family farms traditional to their homelands. Before the turn of the century “Madera” labeled wines were being shipped worldwide. The county has been known for producing internationally acclaimed dessert wines for a long time.

We checked out the wine trail map before heading out to identify the route we wanted to take. (Note - several wineries only offer tastings by appointment.) Our 1st stop was Vineyard 208. The vineyard sits at the doorstop of the Sierra Foothills. They offer fine Italian wines. Unfortunately they were closed today…. Oh well next!

Back down Rte 41 S to Road 36 (all the road names are numbers here…) the next stop was Birdstone Winery. Birdstone had a really pretty patio and garden set up with a tasting bar outside, but it was raining so we went into the cask tasting room. Kimberly greeted us and explained about the wines they were offering. We tasted several, but were more interested in the Port. Their Tinta Port was clear and tawny colored and perfect. Ken’s eyes lit up just at the aroma! As we were tasting another group of folks joined us. They had been to Alaska and they told us about several places we should visit. This is how we learn about all the places that are ‘off the beaten track’. The owner of the winery joined us and explained about the history of the winery and local crops. He was the one that told us the pink and white blooming trees were almonds and not cherries. He brought out an Orange Muscat wine they are working on so we could give him some feedback. We had never had a Muscat before and it was really good very smooth. We took a business card so we could order some later. Naturally we purchased a bottle of Port.

Sitting unobtrusively on a back road is the home of Ficklin Tinta Port. Rolling up the vineyard road the vines looked really narly and interesting as they stretched for miles. We learned here that the wine cannot be called a Port unless it is created in the Portuguese tradition. The family has raised grapes since 1918. First growing fruit and raisin grapes they decided to grow wine grapes in the 1940's. They continued to add acreage and test and grow fine Portuguese Grape varieties. In the early 50's they marketed their first few hundred cases. Today they have 35 acres planted and the winery is still run by family members. We tasted two ports and they were very good. However, the lady giving the tasting introduced something new and the best part was yet to come. They also make a desert wine called a Passport. They can't call these ports as they are not made in the Portuguese tradition. First we tasted Rasberry, Black Rasberry, Hazelnut, and Chocolate Passports. They are smooth and just sweet enough. Now she mixed the Rasberry with the Chocolate and the Hazelnut with the Chocolate.....oohh... they were fantastic. We bought a bottle of each! This was fun and we learned a lot.

Next the nationally acclaimed Quady Winery. they specialize in dessert and aperitif wines. David was our host and he was very excited we were from the East as he grew up in Portland, Maine. He explained about their wines and suggested recipies and explained how these wines would complement them. We learned he was a chef. We tasted several wines and the new wine here was the Vya Aperitif Vermouth. We never expected to drink Vermouth, but this is a fortified wine made with botanicals. It is made with a blend of the Colombard and Orange Muscat grapes with a selection of whole dried herbs from above ground plants. Lavender, rose petals, citrus are a few of the herbs infused into Vya. There is both a dry and sweet Vya and when combined in a cocktail it's wonderful. It was close to closing time and we were the only ones in the tasting room so after the tasting he gave us a tour of the winery. It was very interesting.

Back on the road we decided we were hungry. Finding ourselves at the crossroads of Rte 145 and Rte 41 we were 10 minutes from the Table Mountain Casino. We turned right onto Rte 41 and headed to the casino for dinner. Naturally we visited more than the dinner table. Later we headed home.

It was a really sweet day and now we have to figure out where to store all these bottles!