Muscardini Cellars
Winemaker Michael Muscardini
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Michael Muscardini came to winemaking relatively late in life. Just nine years ago he was taking classes at U.C. Davis and Sonoma State. But he obviously was paying attention, as his Muscardini Cellars stable of wines have hauled down numerous awards in recent years in various competitions – Best of Class, Best Red Wine, Best Micro Winery, Judge’s Choice, Gold Medals and Silver Medals.
Not that winemaking was totally absent from Muscardini’s DNA. His grandfather, Emilio Alchera, an immigrant from just outside the Italian city of Asti, owned corner grocery stores and poured his homemade wine into his customers’ jugs. His grandfather’s business eventually became the St. Helena Napa Valley Wine Company.
Before catching the winemaking bug, Muscardini spent 27 years as a general contractor, owning and managing a residential construction business, Creative Spaces. He planted his first Sangiovese vines on property in Agua Caliente in 1999, and then ventured into home winemaking.
The wine gig started to really take off in 2005 when Muscardini began custom crushes at Wellington Vineyards in Glen Ellen. The last three years, he’s crushed at Deerfield Winery in Kenwood.
Now, Muscardini is up to a production of 3,000 cases, and he pours his wine out of a tasting room he shares with fellow winemaker Ty Caton, located in the courtyard of the Kenwood Shopping Center. In September, they will have been there three years, and things have worked out quite well – Muscardini sells 70 percent of his wine out of the tasting room.
His wines for sale include a 2009 Rosato di Sangiovese from Sonoma Valley’s Monte Rosso Vineyards, 2008 Barbera from Pauli Ranch in Ukiah Valley, as well as a Barbera, Syrah, traditional Sangiovese, and Tesoro, which is a proprietary blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Sangiovese.
The tasting room is open seven days a week, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Call 933-0526 for more information, or go to www.muscardinicellars.com. The Muscardini/Ty Caton tasting room is located at 8910 Sonoma Highway in Kenwood.
