Carlo & Julian Winery

I drove into the parking area of Carlo & Julian Winery and spotted a man walking toward me. It was Felix Madrid, owner/winemaker of Carlo & Julian Winery. It was a Sunday, and he politely informed me that the winery was open to the public only on Saturdays. I must have had that “I’ve driven for hours to get to your winery” look on my face, because he took sympathy. He explained he had an appointment to get to in town, but he would be happy to give me a quick tour. With camera in hand, I jumped at the opportunity.

I thought I would get a big download of information about the winery, but such was not the case. Instead, Felix led me to his pride and joy — his organic garden. I managed to snap some pictures in the midday sun and crossed my fingers that I had captured his great smile and engaging eyes. In the background was an undulating vineyard and beyond the vineyard, a flock of sheep. There were several farm cats running around. It was picture-perfect idyllic.

Felix noted that he focuses on tempranillo, nebbiolo, and pinot noir, representing Spain, Italy, and France respectively. When he was 5 years old, his family moved to the U.S. from Argentina. Wine was always an important part of his family’s life while he was growing up. Little wonder that he went on to study winemaking in the enology graduate program at University of California, Davis, where he studied weather and soil. His first crush was in 1996 and it netted 600 gallons of pinot noir. That coincided with the launch of his winery, which he named after his two sons, Carlo and Julian.

He reminded me that he needed to scoot, but he allowed me to hang around by myself in the tasting room and encouraged me to walk around and check out the vineyard. The open bottles of wine in the tasting room beckoned me, but I showed amazing restraint in not sneaking a sample. I meandered around a bit and visited with the vineyard workers while they cut the bottom shoots off the vines. As I returned to my car, I thought to myself that Felix Madrid has created a truly remarkable setting to celebrate life.