Refillable Beauty From Madson Wines

May 18. 2021 – Winegrower Cole Thomas and his friend, potter Drake Bialecki, were roommates in college at UC Santa Cruz before both went their separate ways to apprentice in their respective fields: Thomas to Australia to work in the vineyards, and Bialecki to England, where he apprenticed at The Leach Pottery in St Ives, Cornwall U.K. But the two are back together again, collaborating on a series of handsome ceramic bottles that contain wines that Thomas makes under the Madson Cellars label. 

Not that Bialecki doesn’t have chops in the wine biz, too: in addition to his interest in pottery and the fact that he is a Farm Certification Service Specialist at CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers), he worked as a cellar hand at Bonny Doon Vineyard. His most formative time was an apprenticeship/production potter position at Dark Horse Pottery in Davenport, where he worked with the legendary Joel Magen—whose artisan fig jars are still available for purchase from Bonny Doon Farm. 

Thomas recalls visiting Bialecki while he worked with Magen. “The Davenport studio was really cool, overlooking the ocean,” he says. “I’d surf up there and then go see Drake and Joel, working on the wheel, throwing pottery over the ocean. Joel would crack open a Corona for us and hang out. It was such a fun time.” 

Magen passed away in early 2016, after which Bialecki became a studio potter and pottery teacher at Good Life Ceramics in Santa Cruz. He then founded Pacific Stone Pottery in 2017, where his time at the wheel is a form of meditation, enabling him to produce functional pieces rendered from the earth for people who appreciate the aesthetic of hand-thrown art as practical every day utensils.

Thomas and Bialecki, both with their hands in the dirt at different levels, started thinking about how they could collaborate. “At first, we thought of making really pretty amphora, as in full-sized ones, glazed. But they take too long to make, and the kiln is in such high demand, it wasn’t feasible. So, we thought about a small-scale amphora that would hold a bottle of wine. They are glazed inside and out. We did lots of trials to get corks to fit into the necks!” says Thomas.

The fact that these mini-amphora are reusable, whether as a vase or to put more wine in (Thomas is contemplating making refills available at the winery), fits with their deep love of the land and their desire to live lightly upon it. To that end, Thomas only works with organically farmed vineyards for his just under 2,000 case brand. “No small feat,” he admits, as the Santa Cruz Mountains is bar none, one of the most difficult places to grow organically-farmed Chardonnay, due to the intense mildew pressure from the marine influence. 

The pair decided to make limited edition runs of these amphora, two dozen each time, to coincide with Madson Wine releases, which occur twice a year. The first ceramic bottles came out last fall and immediately sold out, as did all three wines in the fall release.

Each edition has a motif. For the spring release on May 25, the theme is plants and the color theme is speckled celadon. Thomas says the next edition will be candy apple red and a bright blue version will happen some time in the future.

Each of these limited edition ceramic bottles runs $180 each. The spring release ceramic amphora will contain the 2019 Toyon Pinot Noir. “This was a three-barrel lot,” says Thomas. “Only one barrel was new. It’s Austrian oak from a family named Stockinger. We love these barrels because they are seriously tight-grained and light toast, which means they have very little impact on the wine. It’s expensive, but it’s worth it! The Toyon fruit would not stand up to a Ramon or Billon barrel, for example, as they are a bit too brash.”

He used 100% whole cluster on this vintage, describing his production method as “steeping” the grapes, rather than punching down frequently, deliberately extracting tannins and color. “We’re careful not to move the grapes too much in the fermentor. We want to avoid phenolic bitterness, so we do no punchdowns in the beginning. We might do some towards the end of fermentation,” he adds.

Madson Wines only bottled 60 cases of this wine. The bottle price is $49.99. Additional wines in the spring release include the 2019 Arey Chardonnay ($29.99) from a one-acre vineyard in Los Altos Hills owned by Lorene Arey, who planted it in 1999. “It’s lovely,” says Thomas, “All Wente Clone. Some fog wraps around the vineyard, and it definitely gets hotter than Toyon. We barrel-ferment in neutral oak for a fresh, bright and minerally textured wine.” 

The third wine in the spring release is their 2019 Red Tail Syrah ($39.99), from a one-acre vineyard at the top of Eureka Canyon. “This is such a steep vineyard! It produces amazing Syrah. You’d think it was from Cote Rotie! There are stairs in the vineyard. It was planted in 2008, I think to an Australia clone of Syrah and the Alban clone. The bright red, stony soils make for a meaty and textural Syrah. Again, we do 100% whole cluster. We only got two and half barrels.”

Thomas hints at more exciting varieties to come, including a Chenin Blanc from an older vineyard in Santa Barbara, planted in pure sand in 1972. “There was a windstorm last year that literally buried the vines about half way up the trunks at the end of the rows!” 

He also hints of a Gamay Noir, a variety he loves for its distinctively sanguine, iron filing embued nature. “It’s like Pinot Noir, but bigger boned, with more depth and roundness.” We can see this going into a very dark red ceramic bottle. 

To access the Madson wines, Thomas suggests joining their mailing list, which can be found here. Tastings can also be arranged by appointment at the winery at Little Ridge Vineyards in Aptos. 

Here’s to collaborations of the heart, from the earth.