Thanks for another great annual McFadden Farm Party

Thanks. I usually write a newspaper wine column giving thanks around the end of November, and sometimes another piece for the paper when my need to thank people is overwhelming and the list of people deserving of thanks is so long that it can’t wait until Thanksgiving’s column.

Today, I’m writing a long note of thanks, not for the paper, but for my website, because I have many people to thank, and instead of folks throughout the Mendocino wine scene – my normal ‘beat’ – this is a piece all about the annual party at McFadden Farm, just held over the weekend, on Saturday, July 11, 2015.

I manage the McFadden Farm Stand & Tasting Room in Hopland for Guinness McFadden and his family; I am the tasting room manager, wine club manager, marketing manager, and event manager. There is no way that someone can wear so many hats and not rely on a team of folks to help make things happen. I am blessed to have several teams who do an amazing job, helping me provide great products and service to the folks who visit and become customers.

Each year, we have a party at McFadden farm on the second Saturday of July. The name of the party is malleable; some call it the Wine Club Party, others the annual McFadden Farm BBQ Dance Party, while many others simply call it Fontaine’s party. It is all of those things and more.

McFadden Farm is a 550 acre organic and bio diverse family farm located at the very north end of Potter Valley in Mendocino County. The Russian River begins on McFadden Farm. In addition to highly prized organically grown grapes, McFadden Farm raises organic grass fed beef, organic air dried herbs, and many more organic farm fresh and healthy goods. McFadden Farm has a hydroelectric plant and over 300 solar panels and is far beyond energy independent, providing excess energy to power much of Potter Valley. McFadden Farm has an artist in residence who throws culinary pottery at the farm. McFadden Farm is an amazing place, and breathtakingly gorgeous, but it is located 45 minutes northeast of the tasting room in Hopland (Oh, how I wish the farm and vineyard were right out my back door in Hopland for daily tours).

Once each year, all of the folks who visit the tasting room and buy wine and other farm goods, and the folks who join our wine club to get the best savings on wine (15-35% discounts and 1 penny shipping on cases), get a chance to see the Farm. This second Saturday of July party is our version of a Wine Club Dinner, and our Wine Club members get a $15 discount on tickets to the party. Guinness has many friends and they want to come too, so the party isn’t a wine club exclusive event, and the public buys tickets too. I wrote about the event for a column in the newspaper and my readers bought tickets; all that said, Guinness’ daughter Anne-Fontaine has a ton of friends who buy tickets and come to the party.

And so the thanks start with Fontaine. The measure of a person’s wonderfulness isn’t how many good things they say about themselves, but how many people say good things about them. Even then, words are cheap. Fontaine is such a spectacular person that about 100 people pay $85 each and then drive over two hours from San Francisco, Oakland, and elsewhere in the Bay Area, to come to what could fairly be called the Fontaine Party at McFadden Farm.

Fontaine brings a team of chef friends from San Francisco to cook all of the farm fresh vegetable, salad, and dessert dishes. Thanks to chefs Anne Olson and Kristene Loyaza. Fontaine arranges for all of the tables, linen, plates, glasses, and silverware, and gets it all set up. Fontaine arranges with local food growers for organic whole pork and lambs. Fontaine takes care of the music. Fontaine is a dynamo. The ultimate reflection on how terrific Fontaine is, is how nice all of her friends are. It is said that you are judged by the company you keep, and if applied to Fontaine then this would be the ultimate compliment, because everyone of her friends is friendly, cheerful, helpful, happy, and kind.

Fontaine brought the Kelly MacFarling band back to play again this year, and a band I already loved was even better this year, and all who attended loved her, getting up and dancing, and applauding each terrifically rendered song. When Kelly and her band finished their last song, the dance mix piped through the sound system was well chosen to keep the fun going, and the fun and dancing continued late into the night. Great music! Thank you Kelly.

Adam Gaska provided the pork from Mendocino Organics, and it was opened, the bones were removed, it was stuffed full of fresh McFadden herbs, closed up again, and cooked whole by Mac Magruder. Mac also provided the whole lambs which were marinated and cooked by McFadden’s own grill masters, Benny Alvarez and Isidoro Gonzalez. Thanks to team meat!

Thanks to Ernesto Medina, who ordinarily packs a lot of wine for shipment throughout the year, but was your tractor driver, pulling a flatbed trailer with blanket covered straw bales, shuttling you from parking up by the farm office down to the party site next to the river, for the event. Guinness, himself, gave folks rides back to their cars later as the party wore down.

Wine. When I left the party, we had poured 276 bottles, and Fontaine was going in for more. I handle wine, but not alone, and have some folks on my team to thank. Thanks first to Ann Beauchamp. Ann worked in the tasting room Saturday, and then raced up to the Farm and was beside me as we poured a line up that included our 2014 Chardonnay, 2014 Sauvignon Blanc, 2014 Pinot Gris, 2013 Gewurztraminer, 2012 Old Vine Zinfandel, 2013 Pinot Noir, and NV Sparkling Cuvee Brut. My date for the night, and former McFadden bookkeeper, Heather Shafer, and our gal Monday at the tasting room, Amanda Bewley-Clark, also poured. Thank you Heather and Amanda.

When it came time to sit for dinner, I had two new wines that had to hit 20 tables at once, our new 2012 Coro Mendocino and 2014 (dry) Riesling, plus our 2011 Late Harvest Riesling for dessert, and a random assortment of other current release bottles. I pointed fingers and ‘volunteered’ folks to help me, among them Gracia Brown. Thanks to all of you.

The wine didn’t show up at the party by magic. Shana Estes is my counterpart at the farm, the McFadden Farm office manager, and like me wears many hats. I would not be able to do my job without Shana and I adore her. Shana and I went over and over inventory, making sure we were stocked at the tasting room to meet post-party wine sale needs, and ensuring that all of the night’s wine would be on hand and stored in our giant walk in cooler beneath the power plant. Shana is assisted by Shannon Smith, who helped before and during the event, and Andrea Caldwell, our bookkeeper, who took care of payments for all of the increased spending a party like this entails. Thanks Shana, Shannon, and Andrea.

Anthony Bewley and Cody Simpson are my muscle. Together, they bring the weekly resupply from the farm to the tasting room, and for the party they moved all of the wine to the coolers and then to the tables where we would pour from. Anthony and Cody also iced the white wines and bubbly, and helped me remove 108 corks from bottles before the guests arrived so service could be seamless and timely. No one knows how much I rely on you two, well they didn’t until now. Thank you Anthony and Cody!

Thank you, Guinness McFadden. I started working for Guinness in March 2011. Each year, each month, each week, each day, we find new things for me to do. Whatever the job description may have been when I first chatted with you has certainly changed. Today, my job defies description, but I love working for you. You are a man of vision, having created the most amazing business, place to live, and farm from pure imagination and hard work. We work well together, you a former Navy officer and me a former Army Sergeant; you tell me what – not how – you want, and I execute, usually with help from other members of your team. I thank you for the freedom to do my job well for you. I respect you, like you, and want to see your business continue to succeed and grow. Cheers!

Thanks also to your better half, Judith Bailey, for making you a happy man, which certainly makes my job easier than if you were a grumpy man. Judith’s love and wise counsel makes McFadden Farm a better place.

To the 200 people who came to our party to enjoy wine and appetizers, to tour of the farm with Guinness, to sit down for a family style dinner of local organic farm fresh food and more wine, to get up and dance – fueled by more wine, and finally to crawl into your tents for overnight camping at party’s end sometime early Sunday morning, THANK YOU. We couldn’t have a party if you didn’t buy tickets.

This year’s party sold out. Next year’s party will sell out sooner, so I will thank you for picking up your tickets for the best party thrown in the wine industry earlier next year than you did this year so you won’t be one of the people I have to tell that all the tickets are gone next year.

Fontaine said after it was over that this was the best farm party yet, and we all agree, but we took notes and there will be improvements next year because we believe in making it better and better for you.

Open up your calendar app, or open your day planner, and circle Saturday, July 9, 2016 on your calendar and write, “McFadden Farm Party” on the date, so you remember to come join us next year. We’ll open up the online ticket sales for next year in about a week.

Thanks all for reading, and for attending our annual farm party at McFadden Farm…or for considering attending one in the future.

 

John gives thanks

John On Wine – John gives thanks

Originally published in the Ukiah Daily Journal newspaper on Wednesday, November 26, 2014 by John Cesano

Hi, and welcome to a special Wine Wednesday edition of John on Wine. Regularly, this column runs on Thursday, but tomorrow there will be no newspaper so folks that work for the Ukiah Daily Journal can spend Thanksgiving with their families.

Today, I get to give thanks and I am thrilled to be able to do so, and so publicly. I am blessed, and I am wholly aware of it at this moment.

First, I have to thank you, the readers. You are incredibly kind, and you spring your kindness on me, often catching me unaware and surprising me with it. I have been target shooting at the Ukiah Gun Club and shopping for milk at the supermarket, lost in my own mundane thoughts when you stop me, introduce yourself and tell me that you like my column, and then share a specific favorite column. I have had the phone ring and in-person visits at my work from you, my readers, and that just knocks me out. You have sent me messages on Facebook, by email, by letter, and your input has made the column better. It will likely always freak me out a little to be recognized as a writer. I started the column from the relative anonymity of the Internet, and although my blog is well read, those readers come from all over the world; where the pieces I write for the newspaper push me a little more directly into the awareness of the community I live in. I didn’t anticipate your direct and personal feedback, but I have come to be very appreciative of it.

I have to thank the paper, and my editor Kelly Hancock. Kelly extends an extraordinary amount of freedom to me, undoubtedly fixes countless flaws in my writing, and is terrific about making last minute changes to pieces when events change after a piece is written for deadline but before it is published.

I have to thank all of the folks that work in the wine industry for being incredibly supportive of the column and for putting up with the reality that I mention where I work with some frequency. The column was born of a blog and I write about what I know, what I do, so the work I do often allows me to pivot to some pieces with a handy frame of reference that is easily understood. Where some could question a seeming conflict of interest, my pieces are almost universally positive in tone, supportive of my subject — the wine industry as a whole, and intended to move readers to visit winery tasting rooms, or winemaker dinners, taste wines, and hopefully buy some; ideally here in inland Mendocino County along Highway 101, but in the Anderson Valley, or Sonoma County, or wherever my readers might find themselves. I want to increase wine enjoyment and tourism for the area I work and those aims are shared by the folks who work in vineyards or tasting rooms other than the one owned by my boss as well.

Speaking of my boss: Thanks to Guinness McFadden for allowing me to do what I do in the tasting room. I know I am not ordinary, and the write ups for the tasting room come in nearly as fast as the attention your grapes and the wines made from those grapes receive. I love giving folks a show, an experience, a touch of education built around your wines and the farm they come from, and I am thrilled that you let me do so with – here’s those words again – incredible freedom.

Thanks to my tasting room team. This year, Eugene, Ann, Juanita, Amanda, Ashley, and Gary kept the wine pouring on my days off and much of our reputation is owed to each of you. Thanks also to everyone at the farm; we could not do what we do unless you did what you do.

I would like to thank my partners, Visit Mendocino County (VMC) and Mendocino Winegrowers, Inc. (MWI) in spreading the good word about Mendocino County as a tourism destination and about the quality of our grapes and wine.

VMC has been in the news lately, but they should be in the news every day for all of the good work they do getting the many stories of Mendocino County told to a wider audience.

On a macro level, VMC puts on the Mendocino County Mushroom Wine & Beer Fest in November and the Mendocino County Crab Wine & Beer Fest in January.

On the micro level, VMC’s Gracia Brown convinces Crush Italian Steakhouse to host what will go down as “the premier event of the 2015 Mendocino County Crab, Wine & Beer Festival” by pairing with McFadden Farm for a Dungeness crab and wine extravaganza. Perhaps eight to 10 mind-blowingly delicious crab dishes and bubbly from the California State Fair Wine Competition’s Best of Show Sparkling wine producer. Oh, and three Wine Enthusiast 90 Point Whites and a 95 Point Wine X/Just wine points Old Vine Zinfandel. Did I forget to mention the three time Double Gold or better Dessert Wine?

Seriously, this sort of thing should just happen, but it takes work, and specifically it was the work of Gracia and VMC that will result in possibly the best dinner 70 lucky patrons will experience the whole year. First come, first served, $75 for wine and food, with tax and tip included, and it will sell out through the McFadden Farm tasting room long before the Jan. 21 event date. Thank you VMC, thank you Gracia, from both my boss and I. We love Visit Mendocino County.

Similarly, huge thanks to MWI and both Aubrey Rawlins and Amelia Weir who do so much work to benefit Mendocino County’s prestige in the eyes of the wine world. I had the opportunity to pour for my wine writing counterpart at the Village Voice, and she wants to tour the farm with Guinness on a return visit, leading to a high visibility piece that will benefit all of the county’s winegrowers. Amelia Weir made that happen. Aubrey is responsible for bringing a group of wine writers here, and I got to pour for them all. That tasting this year led to more positive press for all of the county’s growers. Thanks Aubrey. Thanks Amelia.

Readers, I started off thanking you, but I want to bring it back around and thank you last too. Without you, my words are pointless. Thank you for giving my writing meaning, life.

Happy Thanksgiving; please pair wine with your dinner. Thanks.