Maddalena Wines From The San Antonio Winery

Since 1917, The San Antonio Winery has added flair and flavor to celebrations of friends and families throughout Los Angeles and the West.

Today, it is the last of more than one hundred producing wineries that once lined the Los Angeles River Basin. It is a popular restaurant and legendary banquet location, a comprehensive tasting room, and an international wine shop with hundreds of domestic and imported labels.

The winery is an oasis of good living in the heart of the city.

Family matriarch, Maddalena Riboli, has inspired both a restaurant and a brand of high quality varietal wines from California’s Central Coast. Grapes are grown in renowned viticultural regions that include Monterey and Paso Robles. Maddalena Vineyard features balanced wines with ripe fruit flavors and an elegant finish. They include Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio, Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Muscat Canelli and White Zinfandel.

Living in Central Pennsylvania and having never visited LA, I don’t get a lot of chances to try this winery’s fine selection of wines but the nice people at San Antonio Winery sent my a couple samples to try.

Also, being a home winemaker my style of evaluations are completely different than those done by more “experienced” wine tasters. You won’t find that it has such and such a nose, or nice legs, etc. My rating scale is this: I’d spend my money on it, Maybe, Not worth it. Plain and simple, no numbers, no in-depth descriptions.

The two wines that I sampled are:

Maddalenna Sauvignon Blanc 2006

Maddalenna Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

The first one that I tried was the Sauvignon Blanc. Honestly, I am not a white wine drinker because white wines are usally too light for my palette. I would not purchase a white wine for my own consumption, but if I had to buy one this would me the one that I would buy. Biggest reason is that it did not have that “yucky” white wine taste.

Maddalenna Sauvignon Blanc 2006 - rating - I’d spend my money on it.

The second one, Cabernet Sauvignon, all I can say is WOW!!! I haven’t tasted a wine that good since Valentine’s Day 2002 when I took my late wife out to a very nice resturant. This is a definite spend your money on it if your a red wine drinker. Hey, winery guys, could you send a case of this for me sample.

Maddalenna Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 - rating - A definite spend my money on it.

Overall, I was impressed with the quality of both wines. Seems like the family takes pride in making an excellent product. Too bad that it is a special order here in Pennsylvania because I could drink massive quantities of these wines while waiting for my wines to mature. Good job San Antonio.