Ken Swegles & Abbey Chrystal
Viticulturists/Partners

​Abbey and Ken have devoted their lives to farming, crafting and tasting the best wines of the world.

Abbey found wine while attending grad school at UCSC. Working for Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyards and farming at Branciforte Creek Vineyard, Abbey dove deep into the local wine community. Abbey was brought on under Randall Grahm at Bonny Doon Vineyards where she worked in the cellar and the laboratory. Abbey currently is farming Ascona Vineyard with Ken while also selling wine for Vintage 59 Imports.

For Ken, the world of wine began as a harvest intern at Byington Winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains in 2007. He later began working at a small family vineyard in Zayante, gaining experience that provided a foundation in pruning and canopy management. In 2008, he worked harvest for David Bruce before studying Viticulture at UC Davis. He eventually became a vineyard foreman for David Bruce and learned from viticulturist, Mark Greenspan. He branched out to experience other terroirs of California by spending two years working for Williams Selyem in the Russian River Valley. He returned to the Santa Cruz Mountains at Rhys Vineyards in 2012. After completing 5 seasons of viticultural work, Ken was hired on as Assistant Winemaker to Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard. With two years of cellar time at SCMV, Ken joined Coastal Range Vineyards- managing over 100 vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains and Santa Clara Valley. Passion as a driving force, Ken manages vineyards for Madson and started Rhizos Vineyard Consulting.

Tino Paccione
Assistant Winemaker

Tino is a lover of life, travel, cooking meals for friends and of course finding waves in tropical places. In his younger years, Tino worked as a line cook before attending UC Santa Cruz. Upon graduating college, Tino spent the next 10 years surf guiding in the Mentawais Islands of Indonesia while also managing the Avila Surfboard factory in San Diego. In 2017, Tino worked under Nathan Kandler at Thomas Fogarty Winery where he learned the foundation of wine cellar management. Tino joined Madson for harvest beginning for its 2nd vintage, in 2018 and has journeyed back to Santa Cruz for the grape harvest ever since. Tino is inspired by the wines of the Northern Rhone Valley, specifically the Syrahs produced by Thierry Allemand and Jean Michel Stephan.

Malena Sweers
Office, Sales, Catch - All

Malena Sweers grew up in the Santa Cruz Mountains and is still that child with skinned knees and an appetite for wonder - usually brought about by rambling around outside. Malena appreciates the diversity of tasks involved in caring for small businesses and her excitement for wine sprung from a background in agriculture. Despite numerous challenges, farming work impressed her with the resilience of perennials and the grit of people tending to them. While she may miss cultivating acres of vegetables, “How cool is it that the aroma, then a sip of wine, will take you to a specific time and terroir? I can’t quite say the same for a carrot.” Malena started as a part-time harvest assistant and quickly picked up plenty of odds and ends. She facilitates Tasting Room operations and events, writes your creative email offerings, tends to customer inquiries and wine club shenanigans, and just takes care of business. Malena loves learning alongside the crew, getting into the vineyards, and assisting with winemaking during harvest.