Press Release – Matchbook Wines

Category: Press Release

 

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November 29th, 2022

Matchbook is Certified Green

by: Lane Giguiere

Maybe you’ve noticed the sheep. Or you’ve seen the carpet of green grass, peas and flowers blanketing the vineyard floor.

Both are evidence of Matchbook’s conversion from conventional farming to regenerative and organic. Three years into this project, our sustainable efforts have been recognized by Project Harvest’s California Rules Sustainable Winegrowing certification on the 400 acres of estate vineyards.

The California Rules Certified Green seal signifies a third-party audited commitment to farming that is environmentally and socially responsible while also being economically viable. This credential is just the first step in our mission to become certified organic and regenerative.

While the winery’s initial goal of improving vine health through regenerative farming was to increase the quality of our Estate Bottled wines, “The environmental benefits are now as big a focus,” says John Giguiere, owner of Matchbook Wine Company. The prolonged drought and rising costs make the move to regenerative agriculture more important. Cover crops, grazing sheep and compost teas have eliminated the need for synthetic fertilizers, created a carbon sink and increased the water-holding capacity of the soil.

“It’s been invigorating to take on this large and very important project at this stage of our careers,” Giguiere continues. “Reversing 40 years of farming philosophy is not easy, but we see the need to reduce our farming inputs and water usage while increasing quality and profitability. Sustainable and regenerative agriculture is a win for both the farmer and the environment.”

The California Rules Certified Green Sustainable Winegrowing seal will be added to Matchbook’s estate grown wines beginning with the 2022 vintage.


March 23rd, 2015

Donating to KVIE Uncorked

by: Senica Gonzalez

Screen Shot 2015-03-23 at 2.55.30 PMWe likely don’t mention it as often as we should, but Matchbook Wine Company does its best to donate to nonprofits and fundraisers in the greater Sacramento/Davis/Woodland region. This month, for instance, we’ve donated a mixed case of Matchbook wines to Sacramento’s public television affiliate KVIE for their annual Uncorked event on Thursday, March 26.

According to the event’s website, Uncorked “supports the non-profit mission of KVIE Public Television – offering a world of ideas, arts and adventures to everyone in our region.”

With that in mind, we’re happy to know that attendees will be enjoying Matchbook wines while auctioning items and listening to live music by Frankie Moreno.

Cheers!

 


November 6th, 2014

From Crew to Matchbook

by: Senica Gonzalez

Matchbook TwitterIn recent years, we’ve noticed our customers increasingly referring to us not by our business name, Crew Wine Company, but by our flagship label’s title, Matchbook Wines. In turn, you may have noted us referring to ourselves as Matchbook Wine Company in conversation, emails and even on our business cards. That’s our way of telling you that we’ve taken the hint, and will continue to increase use of the Matchbook name in our correspondence.

Starting today, we have changed our Twitter handle to @MatchbookWines. You can expect the same to follow with the rest of our social media accounts, although some, like our Facebook page, require an extra bit of authorization [edit: the Facebook name change has gone through!]. In time, we also hope to change the url of our website to reflect the Matchbook name–though that may take some time as well.

So what about Crew?

Well, we’re still Crew Wine Company. You’ll note that on all of our official documents. But given the affection for the Matchbook label, we’re honored to call ourselves Matchbook Wine Company for the sake of our customers.


October 27th, 2014

Tasting room open now!

by: Senica Gonzalez

It’s finally happening, and we could not be more excited.Tasting Room Entrance

After years of planning and hard work, Matchbook Wine Company opens our tasting room this weekend. Come on out to Zamora and discover your favorite wine from our Matchbook, Mossback, Chasing Venus and Sawbuck labels, all while taking in the fall scenery at our comfortable Dunnigan Hills estate.

Designed by Woodland architect Bill McCandless, this 2,160-square-foot space is quite a sight. We’ve got a welcoming wine bar made with wood salvaged from an old barn in nearby Esparto, photographic artwork by Ivan Sohrakoff, and a 400-square-foot covered patio on the west side of the building where guests can watch the sun set beyond the golden, rolling Dunnigan Hills landscape.

Beginning today, our tasting room will be open from 11:00 AM to 4:30 PM daily. We are located in Yolo County, just 25 miles northwest of Sacramento and Davis. You can find directions to the winery here.

   Meeting roomA photograph looking out a window etched with the Matchbook logo. Beyond the logo there is a vineyard.


August 22nd, 2014

Game Change

by: Lane Giguiere

At 2:00 am on an August Saturday, a grape harvester slowly moved into place over a row of chardonnay vines, revved up the picker rods and began harvesting the first crop off this Dunnigan Hills property in 50 years. In what could be called the ultimate makeover, 1120 dry, barren acres have been transformed into an economically viable agricultural enterprise. Chardonnay was the first fruit to be picked from the new vineyard and the grape clusters were beautiful and uniform, the flavors intense and the fruit chemistry off the charts.

Three years ago, we purchased an old sheep ranch across the road from Matchbook winery and literally started ripping it apart. We chiseled the soil six feet deep and worked in a homemade mixture of ash, lime and compost. We plowed it north to south, east to west, and then diagonally. Just for good measure, we added a ribbon of the mix down the vine row before planting. All those natural ingredients were a tonic for the sluggish soil.

A photograph of a grape harvester in a large dirt area.
August 2012
An image of a grape harvester among green vineyard foliage.
August 2014

The combination of ash, lime and compost acted like a super vitamin, making the soil healthier. Bringing the soil chemistry into balance helped break down years of compacted dirt making it easier for water to infiltrate a deeper and wider area. This set off a domino effect of benefits. Changing the calcium/magnesium ratio increased the absorption rate of potassium, which lowered pH and raised the total acidity (TA). And that’s every winemaker’s end game. Low pH and high TA stabilizes color in red wines and enhances flavor in white wines.

We saw the effects of all that good earth in the first bin of chardonnay fruit we crushed mid-August. The berries were uniformly golden, small and intensely flavored. The pH checked in at a near-perfect 3.76 to 3.78 with TA at or above 6 grams/L. Those are numbers a wine lover loves without realizing it; bright flavors balanced by crisp acidity. Numbers like these are easy to achieve in a cool region like the Russian River Valley, but are seldom seen in a warm weather growing region. This dramatically raises the quality bar for our Matchbook and Arsonist Chardonnay.

Three days later, the pattern was repeated when we harvested the Tinta de Toro clone of tempranillo from the same vineyard. Small, uniform berries with deep color and intense flavor. To quote Winemaker Dan Cederquist, “This is a game changer”.