John Madden had grape connection with Fleming’s Los Gatos winery

While they both became commentators for the sports in which they excelled, what brought Olympic figure skater Peggy Fleming and NFL coach John Madden together was a shared love of winemaking.

Fleming, who with her husband Greg Jenkins ran the Fleming Jenkins tasting room in downtown Los Gatos from 2008-11, bonded with Madden, who died on Dec. 28, on a cross-country road trip that was necessitated by a national emergency more than 20 years ago.

On 9/11, Fleming was giving a breast cancer talk in Wilkes-Barre, PA, not far from where Flight 93 went down. She and Madden used the same talent agency to set up speaking engagements.

“I had no idea how I was going to get home, so I called my agent, Sue, who remembered that John Madden was in NYC and his game had just gotten canceled,” Fleming recalled from her home near Littleton, Colorado.

Madden, it turned out, was more than happy to pick up Fleming on his way back to California.

“John pulled up in front of the hotel in the bus, and I put my thumb out,” said Fleming. “I had just met him once and wondered how that was going to go, to be on that bus with him and his two drivers for 52 hours.”

Fleming said Madden was incredibly gracious and easy to talk to, and they got to know each other very well. And her commentating skills came in handy on the trip.

“I did his radio show wherever he was,” Fleming said. “I remember stops in Nebraska and Wyoming. We sat in the front seats and just chatted away.”

When she told Madden about the chardonnay vineyard she and Jenkins had planted at their home in the Los Gatos hills in 1999, Madden said, “I have some syrah grapes on my vineyard in Livermore; would you like some of those?”

The couple started buying Madden Syrah, which was made by winemaker Bill Brosseau at the Novitiate, as were all their Fleming Jenkins wines.

“The syrah from John’s vineyard was one of our best wines ever,” Fleming said. “It scored 93 points in Wine Enthusiast and Connoisseurs Guide. It was very successful. John said to me, ‘I want a great big bottle!’ So we made a few, and we both signed them at his office in Pleasanton. I still have one in our hallway.

“Such nice memories, and it was a fantastic wine. I wish we had made more!”

Fleming said she enjoyed her time in the wine industry, and especially having the tasting room in Los Gatos, where she and Jenkins lived for more than 35 years and raised their two sons.

“It was a beautiful space with a wonderful front window,” she recalled. “It was just perfect.”

Before relocating to Colorado, Fleming and Jenkins continued to enjoy Madden’s company. She last saw Madden with Al Michaels at a football game.

“He was so comfortable to be with and so sweet, so down to earth,” she said, adding that these qualities spilled over into his football commentary.

“He made it so real for everyone. He was educational as well as entertaining. Maybe art wasn’t his strong suit, but you could always figure out the point he was making from his crazy diagrams!”