On our Wine Fest trip to Napa earlier this month, Debi and I spent some time with Chris and Pauline Tilley from V Madrone Winery, who are returning this year to provide their wines at the dinner hosted by Daryl and Teri Isaacs in Miromar Lakes.

The newly renovated barn and tasting room

The news is good.  First, they’ve completed renovations on the rambling old barn on their vineyard property south of Calistoga, and it’s now a picturesque barrel storage facility and tasting room.

V Madrone tasting room...and boy, did we taste!

Second, they’ve expanded their winemaking abilities, and are now producing not only a killer Cabernet Sauvignon, but also a dense, inky Petite Sirah, and a wonderfully vibrant Chardonnay, all of which we tasted during a 2-hour session at their long table in the barn.

Pauline and Chris Tilley in the V Madrone vineyard

There was still fruit on the vine when we visited in early October, and we heard from other winemakers just last weekend that harvest hadn’t been completed even then, but it’s certainly all in the tank by now.

Debi tastes some V Madrone cabernet on the vine

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