Balancing Life and Work
While Elaborating the Wine
So much is now written about work/life balance, but it isn’t
always do-able. It takes effort, as
winemaker Paul Bush of Madroña Vineyards in Camino, near Placerville in El
Dorado County will frankly tell you.
Maggie and Paul Bush |
Paul reveres balance
in both life and his work, which is wine.
“Together with my wife Maggie, we find that our greatest challenge is
how to be business owners with all of those responsibilities while still
growing the grapes, making the wines, doing what’s required for marketing the
Madroña Vineyards brand, and at the same time raising two daughters,” he
says. “Any given day can be filled with
attending to the vineyards at daybreak, measuring the progress of wines in the
barrel in the wine before lunch, working in the tasting room in the afternoon –
and then throw in a swim meet or school play for spice.”
Balance is something that Paul believes is crucial in wine too. When you visit this winery you’ll understand how much he took to heart a statement from a winemaker friend in France: “One does not make wine. One elaborates wine!” With great fruit from the extended family’s own Madroña, Enyé and Sumu Kaw vineyards, Paul is quite content to be the elaborator. “Most often, I find that the wine knows best about how it should be made, and I’m just along for the ride,” he says modestly.
Lake Tahoe White Wine on the Madrona bottling line |
But more than anything else, the Madroña Vineyards wines are meant to be at a
table with food. They are balanced and
focused on the characteristics of the fruit.
Paul does not over-manipulate the wines, doesn’t like to add enzymes
during fermentation, and strives to show the character of what his Foothills
vineyards produce. “The quality of a
wine is determined predominately in the field,” Paul says. “By the time the grapes get to the winery,
it’s a lot of babysitting. The mantra
is: don’t screw it up!”
Madroña Vineyards
2560 High Hill Road
Camino, CA 95709
530-644-5948 or 800-230-7662
2560 High Hill Road
Camino, CA 95709
530-644-5948 or 800-230-7662
www.madronavineyards.com
You can read more about this winery and enjoy a recipe that pairs well with Madrona's Malbec in the soon-to-be-published book, Wineries of the Sierra Foothills.
Sign up to get an alert when it's published via a simple process at the book's website, www.wineriesofthesierrafoothills.com There will be loads of ongoing features on Sierra Foothills wineries, and notification of book-signing events near you.
The Madrona Malbec pairs well with food, but the book gives you a very special recipe straight from the Winemaker family kitchen... |
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