Madsen Family Cellars

Open: Year-Round

You asked for a bit of information on our winery and how we got started . Well it is a somewhat unusual whimsical story. After making wine in 5 gallon carboys in the garage for a while my wife San and I spent a weekend in Oregon Wine Country touring and tasting. On our way home we looked across the car at each other and said "you know, we could do that." And so the dream was kindled. We did a good deal of planning, made several excursions to Eastern Washington, and talked to as many winemakers as we could get to stand still and talk with us. During these trips we made our first contact for a fruit source at the Seth Ryan Winery on Red Mountain.

Volumes of paper were then dispatched to the TTB in the licensing process. We chose to license our garage, having no other suitable space to start. One of the two car bays and the work rooms attached were prepared. Fortunately, in 2005, the federal license arrived two days before the grapes did! So we were off and running. Two barrels of Cabernet Sauvignon the first year, 6 barrels of Merlot, Cab Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon the second year, and then we decided we really had to get serious. I flew to UC Davis several times for classes on the technical aspects and lab work for wine-making, and attended sensory training with San and our oldest son Bjorn. We ordered 30 barrels, more macrobins and leased a 1500 SF warehouse for the 2007 crush. Then in 2008 we opened the tasting room in the front of our warehouse on Labor Day weekend. Just before the summer in 2010 we arranged with WSDOT to have our signs placed on the "Tourist Activity" freeway signs on I-5 in Lacey.