SF CHRON SNIP

Carey Sweet visited my tasting room, and then wrote up that visit for a San Francisco Chronicle tasting room review. In five years of writing tasting room reviews, Carey has handed out only a small handful, maybe six in all,  3 and a half star ratings, and McFadden seems to be the first to receive such an honor in over a year. Needless to say, I’m pretty thrilled for my tasting room, but I am equally pleased that Carey had so many nice things to say about how I do what I do. I’m not ordinary, and probably not for everyone, but for folks who are looking for a wine experience, without pretension, just a whole bunch of good wines with some humor mixed in, well, Carey pretty much captured what I do.

To read what Carey does, write great reviews, hit the link and enjoy her complete piece:

http://www.sfgate.com/travel/tastingroom/article/McFadden-Farm-Stand-amp-Tasting-Room-overflows-4850041.php

For those too lazy to follow the link, here is a taste of the most richly complimentary prose dedicated to your’s truly:

Nothing is ordinary when wine tasting at McFadden Farm Stand & Tasting Room in Hopland (Mendocino County). The space looks like a cute little clapboard house painted in lemon curd yellow, rust red and white trim, set in the Vintage Marketplace center on the town’s main street. But step inside, and if tasting room manager John Cesano is in the house – which he almost always is on weekdays – look out. You’re in for a party.

Cesano has an encyclopedic knowledge of wines, it’s immediately obvious, and such descriptions are how he teasingly separates his product from the mass-produced “often lifeless” competition. McFadden wines are limited production, usually just a few hundred cases each, and the grapes are estate grown, he says, pausing to raise his hands in the air, do a little dance, and sing, “Wooo! We’re making wine!”