Madson Wines -- Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay

Wine Club Alert! This is the fancy medium-bodied white in the Late Summer Release 2026 box! Add more of this for nicer dinners as we move into the fall... pro tip: this wine is not oaky! Chardonnay lovers and haters alike will ADORE this wine, I promise!

It is important to me not to have blinders on when it comes to great wines from our side of the Atlantic. It’s easy for wine pros to defer to European wine, and often for good reasons: lower alcohol, higher acidity, more minerality, and light oak usage can make wines incredibly food-friendly, which is what we’re all about at Mineralista. But good reasons, without leaving room for surprises, can still get in the way of being open to really exciting projects stateside.

Madson is a great example of a winery I was always hoping to find—and was still shocked when I did. Founded by Cole Thomas, this project is based in the coastal California town of Santa Cruz. They have a unique model where Cole actually leases vineyards from farmers and helps educate them in the process of converting their land to organic farming.

So while Madson doesn’t own the vineyards outright, Cole works the land himself and is helping convert more of the best vineyards in California to organic farming. But as I’ve also been saying for years, they know it doesn’t stop with organics. They believe we have to look beyond organic farming to improve the health of our soils and surrounding ecosystems, and are working toward regenerative agriculture and a carbon-neutral business.

Grapes: Chardonnay 100%

Region: Santa Cruz Mountains, California, USA

Good to Know: Organic, zero synthetics, foot & gentle pneumatic press, spontaneous ambient yeast ferment in barrels, aged on lees for 9 months, racked & rested in stainless before bottling, unfined / minimal filtration, ultra low SO2