McFadden Farm

One word: LOVETHISPLACE! OK, a few more words. This is by far some of the best wines I have had in my life. I mean that. And better yet, they are affordable. The tasting room is small, with a few gifty items, the staff is very nice, and well, I can only say I really lovethisplace!

Overall their wines are consistently good. I finally found a Chardonnay that I liked as well as my family. What made our experience memorable was the great customer service and entertaining John Cesano. He is very knowledgeable about the wines, herbs and rice from McFadden Farms. We were sold and decided to join their wine club. We just received an additional case of Riesling we got in addition to the club membership we joined. No hard sale needed.

I’ve been a McFadden wine club member since 2010, but lived on the east coast for a while and never had the opportunity to visit the tasting room. On a trip up to Humboldt County I finally got to stop in with a friend, and experience one of the best wine tastings I’ve ever had with John Cesano. John gave some great insights into each of the grapes used, and the way the unique geography of the farm contributes to each grape’s development; particularly intriguing was the description of how the acid in the grapes works as a ‘clothes hanger’ for giving shape and full bodied flavor in the wines. I’ve been intimately engaged with the McFadden farm since my high school days, having attended Potter Valley High School and spent a great deal of time in my youth on the farm. John was able to bring to life some of my memories through his presentation of the wines. I walked out with a couple mixed cases of wines, herbs, and grass-​fed beef as gifts for loved ones. I have traveled all over the world, sampled wines from various well-​known regions, but my favorite wine to drink with food, family and friends are McFadden wines by far. Thank you and I look forward to my next visit!!!

Love this tasting room. All good wine with excellent servers who are knowledgable and love wine even more than I do! Great selection of herbs and oils as well. We always make this a stop during hopland passport. They never disappoint.

I’d been through Hopland countless times, and never considered stopping. We heard about McFadden through friends and decided to make it a point to go. WOW! John is amazing, a veritable fountain of information, very personable, obviously passionate about his product and it doesn’t hurt that his product is one of the most amazing array of wines I’ve ever tasted! We consume a lot of wine with our food (we have a chef in the family). I’ve been through countless tastings, some good some not so good — and I tend to be a little overly critical (some call me a wine snob), but THIS… was something truly special. I’m still going through the flavors in my mind. This single tasting has really turned my perception around of what wine should be. Not only food friendly, but this would be good just to sip and enjoy the flavors. If you have any interest in wine, this little hidden gem is one of he best kept secrets in the area!

Great wine and great service! Have a variety of delicious reislings which are very nice.

Great little place. Nice staff and great atmosphere. Will definitely be back in the future and would recommend it to everyone. We don’t know much about wine but we’re still treated well and given great information.

Oh, McFadden how you have ruined my cheap sparkling wine days with your apple crisp amazingness! Being a friend of John Cesano, I had to stop in and have a sip of their non-​vintage sparkling Brut! Very tropical, made with equal parts of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. I experienced hints of pineapple, grapefruit, and the most prominent; a finish of green apple! Delish! The pinpoint bubbles will surely leave you with a pep in your step and a smile on your face!

Stumbled upon this great wine and tasting room in a quaint town. I joined the wine club and fabulous shipments arrive through your the year with wine and fresh herbs. The communication is excellent and the newsletters contain good information and great recipes.

We came in on a lazy Sunday wine tasting afternoon, the lady behind the counter was really sweet and personable. She knew McFadden well and obviously thought they made great wines.
The wines themselves were OK, the ones I tried were pleasantly crisp but more tart and acidic than I care for. Their CORO Mendocino line is a cool idea in which the local zin growers compete to create a zin blend that tastes consummately «Mendocino» (if that sounds confusing ask the tasting room manager for a better explanation).
Overall it was a really good experience in the tasting room even if the wines themselves didn’t floor me.
Oh and the farm raised beef for sale looked incredible! (We wished we could’ve tasted that!)

Stopped for the Reisling that was a 99pointer. Yes. Friendly staff, interior looks comfy. Located in a building with other wineries so it’s easy to stop and taste quite a few different wines. They have lots of wines to try, all very good, but my favorite was the Reisling. Worth every penny. GO.

A super fun wine tasting experience! McFadden has all the ingredients of a great wine tasting experience:
a) Great wine! Gotta have that. I cannot get enough of their Old Vine Zinfandel. Forget everything you think you know about Zin. Their Zin is lower in alcohol and supremely food friendly with everything. All their wines are food-​friendly and easy-​drinking with a very friendly price point to boot.
b) Friendly and educational. John who poured for us made us feel special, taught us a lot about wine, really knows his stuff and has a real passion for what he does.
c) Cute tasting room! Nice gift items too made for fun browsing.
d) History and principles. Everything grown organically for over 40 years. Founded by one man (Guinness McFadden) who still runs the show. They grow organic herbs and raise organic cows for beef (all for sale at the tasting room!). This is an «old school» California winery at its very best!
Hopland is such a cute little community, you owe it to yourself to stop if you’re passing through. McFadden is right on the main drag through town.

I love that the McFadden family:
a) features members named Guinness and Jameson
b) sells grass fed beef
c) creates enough water energy to sell loads back to PG&E AND run the winery
d) sells herbs and garlic and honey and other general farm goods
e) makes pretty tasty wine
Our stop into this tasting room was a great one. We tried everything, even stuff that wasn’t open (though it was on the list — some wineries just tell you you’re out of luck when they don’t have stuff open rather than open another bottle). He let us jump around the list as we liked, told us about the wines and the farm and the family, and only seemed to roll his eyes a teeny tiny bit for our silly antics and bad jokes.
I’d definitely recommend them, especially if you don’t know anything about CORO and want an education!

I stopped into McFadden Farmstand and Tasting Room and was regaled with deliciously crisp and drinkable organic wines. The wine club offers a great value and conveniently delivers a perfect amount of wines every quarter. John told the fascinating story of the life of an interesting man named Guinness McFadden who pioneered organic grape growing techniques in a beautiful corner of the world.

If you’re in the area you really need to stop in, say HI to John, and let him pour you some of the amazing wines! John was an excellent host, he taught me some new things about Mendo County wines that were really interesting, and by this I mean the 2008 «Coro» .
Again, I can’t say enough about the wine, and the host!

MaFadden’s has a nice tasting room on Main Street in Hopland. Friendly server. We had a good time talking with him. After sampling several different wines, we ended up buying a bottle of a very mellow old vine Zinfandel. Took advantage of Unilocal check-​in offer and received a free bottle of one of their homegrown organic spices.

I was on my way to loving McFadden before I even got there. While researching my 30 hour weekend getaway (see list below) I came across McFadden Vineyard’s tasting room. I added it to my list of places to call and confirm location, hours, tasting fees, etc. Well, when I called McFadden, I had the good fortune to have John answer the phone. Ten minutes later, I had already learned some new things about wine, wine making, Hopland, Mendocino… John was so super in giving me suggestions.
Once my friends and I got there, we again lucked out and found ourselves to be the only ones in the tasting room! Whoo hoo for the private tasting! John was as warm and hospitable in person as he was on the phone. Funny too… «Remember, it’s pronounced Gris… rhymes with ‘WHEE! I’m drinking wine!’ if it rhymes with something else, don’t drink it.» ha! Also, when describing the sauvignon blanc… «no cat.»
Here are my notes on what I learned:
McFadden Vineyards has been growing grapes organically for over forty years.
Did you know the wind from the hills makes a difference to the way the grapes will taste? (I didn’t either… now I do!)
McFadden grows grapes in different ways to produce different results.
They’re winners and have the medals and ribbons to prove it.
Interestingly, a lot of the «famous» name-​brand wineries in Napa import grapes grown in Sonoma and Mendocino. Why? Because the Napa valley is best for only a few types of grapes. So, in order to round out their offering, they buy grapes from farms in Sonoma and Mendocino. Then, they charge a lot for it because it says «Napa» on the label.
Tasting notes:
chardonnay — excellent
sauvignon blanc — no cat, very delicate
pinot noir — without an edge
coro — super smooth, an educational/​branding endeavor for Mendocino. Smooth finish
gewurztraminer — so much fruit, in balance
brut — classic French style

This lovely little nook acquainted us with Mendocino county wines. We were totally charmed by the taste-​meister (not sure what to call him — bartender/​conisseur/​entertainer– haha!) and his unbridled willingness to explain the «lay of the land.» He recommended two additional wineries for us based on our preferences — this was the perfect beginning to a perfect trip.
Wonderful champagne!
They also have wonderful spice blends (grown organically on vineyard premises)!
Thanks, McFadden!

I love McFadden! They have some great wines and an awesome tasting room. John is the best. He makes your wine tasting experience so much fun and he is so knowledgeable about wine and what goes into growing great grapes to make great wine. I highly recommend stopping at McFadden, they not only sell their organic wines but also have their own organic dried herbs and pottery from a local artist. This is a must stop on any wine tour!

Sherrylynn is an awesome hostess in the tasting room. We live in Sonoma Valley and frequent many wineries in Sonoma/​Mendocino County. There is an ambiance about the Sonoma/​Mendo Valley wineries not found in the ‘other valley’. This weekend we visited 5 wineries and handsdown McFadden was the best. Awesome wine club with great opportunities for their other organic products to be included in the shipments as w ell as a nice selection of wines and the Coro was outstanding. Great job, can’t wait to come pick up my next wine club shipment.