Toca Madera Winery is a vineyard-inspired wine bar and event venue at 36140 Ave 9, Madera, CA 93636, USA. The tasting room offers a relaxed, vine-side experience in the Madera AVA, with hosts sharing insights into winemaking and natural wines. Notable pours include the 2023 Unico, Mirame Rose, and Zinfandel. Reviews praise the atmosphere and knowledgeable hosts, while some service experiences vary.
The place is really nice, but the service was poor. We arrived at 4 pm and they close at 5 pm. The place was already half empty, yet the staff refused to move us to a table with heating because we were walk-ins, saying the other tables were reserved, even though no one was there and no one came, especially since they were closing soon. A bottle of wine was placed on our table for us to pour ourselves, which would have been fine if they treated everyone the same, but they were pouring wine into glasses for other guests. That was our experience
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Siroun Harutyunyan
via Google
· 8 months ago
Toca Madera in Fresno is such a lovely spot. Sitting among the vines with a glass of wine felt peaceful and intimate, like a quiet little escape. The atmosphere was relaxed, the wine was delicious, and the whole experience felt effortless. A perfect place to slow down and enjoy the moment.
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B. Morris
via Google
· 10 months ago
Came in on a rainy Sat afternoon. Did a tasting. Nice venue and winery. Give them a try 😉 you should find something here you like.
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Alexis Klein
via Google
· 11 months ago
We had a wonderful experience for our first California wine tasting. For the price, definitely worth it for 2! Unsure how well it is for larger groups, but it seemed good for the price. It was a toasty day but they have misters & fans that kept us mostly comfortable. A beautiful place. Wine was good but not the best we’ve had
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Georg Lehmann
via Google
· 1 year ago
UPDATED 8/17/25 - "Dry wines in the Madera AVA"
As promised, we gave this winery a fair chance and booked a tasting, on a Saturday afternoon at 3 PM. In contrast with the previous attempt, the room was now as good as empty.
We were greeted at the counter by our host and sat down for a tasting inside. As opposed to some Google reviews, our tasting experience was a pleasant one, and took more than an hour. The samples were initially accompanied by only a brief explanation, but when we asked questions we ended up getting a lot more information on the wine making process and the particular wines, but also chatted about things like wine making countries in Europe. We walked into Toca Madera, not aware of their wine making process. Maybe we should have done our homework, but it would have been nice when the intro to the tasting had talked about that, and what that means for the resulting wines. The story came out after tasting the first couple of wines however, and poked our curiosity. Our host appeared to be studying Enology at UC Fresno, well aware of the wine making process at Toca Madera, and having wine favorites of her own. Good job!
The wines included in the tasting:
- 2023 Unico - a dry white natural unfiltered wine made from 100% Moscato grapes through native fermentation. This wine got us to ask many questions :) Fresh citrus buttery taste, much like a sour ale. Certainly a unique wine, with many applications.
- 2023 Mirame Rose - a rose from co-fermented Tempranillo, Mourvedre and Malbec, with a refreshing dry-ness and acidity I had not expected in the Madera AVA. One can be proven wrong, and yay to natural wine making! This is our favorite, as it will pair well with any fish and most meats, and will certainly compete with the Rose de Provence we tend to drink.
- The following 2 wines, the red Grenashe/Tempranillo and the red Tempranillo Reserve, are light red wines and, purely in my personal opinion, the acidity that results form the natural wine making process did not do justice to the grapes.
- Driven by curiosity, we ventured beyond the standard tasting and had a sample of the Malbec and the 2021 Zinfandel. Glad we did. Particularly the Zinfandel actually benefited from the natural process, and here the acidity did not have the overtone, but complemented the full body of the Zinfandel. Part (15%) of the grapes are retained for whole cluster fermentation. I don't know if they use carbonic maceration, but in any case it may explain the complexity of this wine and maybe how they avoided sweetness while keeping the alcohol levels acceptable (15%)? Questions for my next visit :) My suggestion: do not think of this, or drink this, as a classic Zinfandel, as it is not. But see it as a completely new taste profile, and an interesting variation on the Zinfandel theme.
We took home bottles of The Unico, Mirame Rose and Zinfandel, to further explore these very unique wines.
INITIAL REVIEW 8/10/25 - "No tasting"
Well, what can I say. As a Google local guide I go to many places, with each their own approach to customer service. Toca Madera hit the very low end of the spectrum. We arrived hours before closing time, but were refused a tasting.
via Google
