Meet the Wines and The Winemakers of California’s San Joaquin Valley By Wine Aficionado and Founder of California Corks John Krause
Meet the Wines and The Winemakers of California’s San Joaquin Valley By Wine Aficionado and Founder of California Corks John Krause
California Corks Visits – Quady Winery
Central Valley, also called the Great Central Valley, extending from Shasta County in the north of California to Kern County in the south, it parallels the Pacific coast for about 450 miles and is almost totally enclosed by mountains. The San Joaquin Valley in the south embraces more than three-fifths of the entire basin, and the Sacramento Valley in the north makes up the remainder. The development of ranching and agriculture in the valley progressed rapidly after the California Gold Rush in 1849. Today this part of California contains some of the richest farmland to be found in the United States. The San Joaquin Valley produces more than 300 crops, including cotton, wine, and table grapes. About 20 percent of all wine grapes grown in California are found on vines in Fresno County, right in the heart of the state. You will also find peaches, apricots, wheat, rice, pistachios, almonds, and vegetables. With about 300 growing days per year, the valley produces about one-fourth of the food consumed in the United States.
California is rich in so many ways and for those of us that enjoy her wines and the winery experience there are more than enough choices to choose from. With that in mind this article will be the beginning of highlighting wines, wineries, and winemakers from north to south of California’s Big Valley.
Let’s start by focusing on a winery that produces quality sweet wines in California’s Big Valley. Director of Winemaking and longtime winemaking veteran, Michael Blaylock, retired from Quady Winery in December of 2017. With more than a decade of experience making wine at Quady, Darin Peterson was promoted from assistant winemaker to the winery’s lead winemaker. Michael alongside Quady Founder and CEO, Andrew Quady are responsible for well-known brands that have helped shape Quady into the winery to visit if you are visiting the Madera Wine Trail – Quady’s Starboard, Essensia, Elysium, Electra Moscato, Vya Vermouth, Deviation and more. Michael spent over three decades at Quady Winery and helped lead the company from just a few thousand cases annually to the 100,000+ case producer it is today. In Michael’s final full year at Quady, the winery received eight 90+ point scores from Wine Enthusiast Magazine, nearly one for every wine they produce. Darin Peterson as head winemaker is diligent to carry on the Quady legacy and the quality wines produced.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Quady winemakers who continue the tradition of making delightful wines with the focus on the use of the Muscat grapes. It was great to spend some time with Quady’s head winemaker Darin Peterson and the winery’s more recent winemaker Crystal Weaver-Kiessling. Darin was kind enough to fit me into his busy schedule to do and interview as well as a video tasting review of Quady’s port-style wine, Starboard.
It was a pleasure to also sit in the barrel room with Crystal Weaver-Kiessling and review a delightful wine as well. You can click here to sit in with Crystal and I as we taste and discuss Electra Rosé that is produced with a blend of Canelli Muscat, Black Muscat, and Orange Muscat grapes.
I hope this article and videos as well as those to follow help readers to appreciate a little more the wines, wineries, and winemakers of California’s San Joaquin Valley.
About the Author: John Krause is wine enthusiast and the founder of the website California Corks, a directory of California wineries.
