Madera Wine Trail: Member Wineries

The husband and wife team of Tony and Kimberly Kirk established Birdstone Winery with the goal of producing world-class wines from Madera-appellation grapes. Each vintage presents a new challenge and Tony is more than willing to constantly and creatively experiment. This on-going research is only one of the things that ensures they meet their goal.

Birdstone Winery has always been a friends and family effort. The winemaking team team includes Tony, Kimberly, Travis and Conner. Together they discuss and decide how they want to handle each variety.

"There's a lot less romance in the every day wine world than appears from the outside," Tony explains. "Our winery isn't a showplace, we don't have big stone pillars and art collections, but we have everything we need to make great wine." Establishing their own winery in Madera and being able to produce and sell their wines in one place as opposed to producing different wines in different locations, still ranks as one of Tonys' most gratifying experiences.

Tony, born and raised in Madera, California, got a taste of the wine business while studying at California State University, Fresno. After visiting over 100 wineries he became intrigued by the field and went to work. He completed courses at UC Davis and California Polytechnical University, San Luis Obispo and began meeting with other winemakers and winery owners to understand the" real" side of the business. Tony would be the first to tell you that it is those individuals that he credits for any success he has experienced in the industry.

In the span of a few years, Tony and Kimberly have gone from making a few barrels of wine for family and friends to opening and operating a profitable working winery

Birdstone Winery currently buys 100 percent of their fruit from a number of local vineyards. "There is such a wealth of quality growers in our area. They are talented and driven by the history of the local industry. They really care about the quality of their product and the community. Buying grapes from these existing vineyards has given me great flexibility in producing a consistently good product each year," says Tony. However, "with more and more vineyard owners in Madera establishing their own wineries, and who could blame them, there’s a lot less fruit to go around." As a result, the Kirk’s have embarked on their own vineyard development program.

The winery phone number is (559) 645-1825.

The tasting courtyard is located at 9400 Road 36 - Madera, which is located halfway between Freeway 41 and Highway 99, west of the Valley Childrens Hospital. Birdstone Winery is a great place to begin your journey on the Madera Wine Trail.