Great piece on the Santa Cruz Mountains and viticulturist Ken Swegles, a partner in Madson Wines:
Swegles represents another modern model, with experience and vision across dozens of extreme sites and a focus on implementing regenerative, holistic farming practices in order to let these vineyards truly speak. Working under each of them is a team — “more like a family,” as Swegles calls it — of workers who’ve spent years learning the sites, the vines and how they respond to the unique conditions of the region. “In recent years, everyone has really started to dial in organic viticulture. The soils are more alive. The whole ecosystem is more alive,” he said. That environmental synergy is crystal-clear in the glass, but more on that later.
You can read the entire article Santa Cruz Mountains 2023 and 2024 article.