“What’s amazing…” says The Washington Post about the 2019 Riesling

Dave McIntyre in The Washington Post on May 16, 2024 reviewed the 2019 Estate Riesling:

Fans of old-style Napa Valley wines know Smith-Madrone, and fans of riesling know this winery perched high on the slopes of Spring Mountain in the northern stretch of Napa Valley, makes one of this country’s best. Citrus — orange, pomelo, grapefruit — floats from the glass and dances around your palate. What’s amazing about this wine, though, is the structure: It made me sit up straight and pay attention. It seemed to be pulling its essence from the depths of Spring Mountain and pouring it into my glass. Smith-Madrone also makes compelling chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon. If you find them, snap them up — the winery did not release any 2020 wines because of the Glass Fire that ravaged Spring Mountain and threatened their vineyards right at harvest.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2024/05/16/low-calorie-low-alcohol-wine-malbec/

“Gorgeous” and more—Decanter looks at three current releases

Our current releases have been reviewed by Decanter Magazine.

“Stellar,” “a classic,” “over-delivers,” “one of the finest Napa wines in existence,” “gorgeous in its depth yet with ample elegance and finesse,” “old school Napa authenticity” and more.

Decanter is one of the world’s most respected wine magazines. Founded in London in 1975, Decanter is the oldest consumer wine publication in the United Kingdom.

2019 Estate Riesling

94 points.

By Clive Pursehouse

Drinking Window: 2024-2035

A stellar Riesling from one of the top producers in Napa for this now rare variety. From a high elevation, dry-farmed vines are high on Spring Mountain. This Riesling offers beautiful aromas of white flowers, dried ginger and just the slightest kiss of petrol alongside a note of nectarine skin. The palate is vibrant with tangy lime pith, juicy Meyer lemon pulp and seaspray salinity throughout—a classic.

2019 Estate Chardonnay

95 points.

By Clive Pursehouse

Drinking Window: 2023-2033

The Smith-Madrone Chardonnay over-delivers again with the 2019 bottling. This is one of the finest Napa wines in existence for $45. Rich, showy aromas of honeyed pear, candied ginger and a rich lemon cream eschew oak for purity of fruit. The palate is mouthwatering in its depth of flavour and flashes complexity and refinement. Rich lemon curd, beeswax and lanolin are accented against notes of nutmeg, cardamom pod and petrichor. It is gorgeous in its depth yet with ample elegance and finesse. A joyous wine that promises to develop further complexity with bottle age.

2019 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

By Jonathan Cristaldi

93 points.

Drinking Window: 2024-2050

Brothers Stu and Charles Smith craft some of the most structured, classic expressions of the Spring Mountain AVA, and the 2019 is no exception. Subtle dark berry fruit, wild mountain herbs and a pretty capsicum nose. Full-bodied, the palate has ample acidity and freshness, revealing green tobacco, blackcurrant, earth and crushed stone minerality.

By Clive Pursehouse

95 points

Drinking Window: 2024-2044

The classic Cabernet from Smith-Madrone may be the best value in the entire Napa Valley at $65. Old World elegance is ever present, along with a generosity of fruit balanced with great savoury herbs and streaking graphite minerality. Aromas of wild anise, pine bough and dried sage rise in the glass, framing dark mountain blueberries and a touch of pomegranate pulp. The palate is classically cool, medium-weight, and lively with an old-school Napa authenticity. Alpine berry fruits, spearmint and earthen umami elements combine with smoky clove and wild mountain scrub, framing a sense of place and mountain terroir from the dry-farmed vines at Smith-Madrone.

https://www.decanter.com/wine-reviews/usa/california/smith-madrone-cabernet-sauvignon-napa-valley-spring-61723

https://www.decanter.com/wine-reviews/usa/california/smith-madrone-riesling-napa-valley-spring-mountain-2019-82472

https://www.decanter.com/wine-reviews/usa/california/smith-madrone-chardonnay-napa-valley-spring-mountain-74182

Riesling for Mother’s Day!

Rupal Shankar recommends the 2019 Riesling for Mother’s Day in Sante Magazine:

This elegant Napa Valley Riesling is sure to impress your mom. The wine is made from mountain-grown grapes, honoring the international tradition of Riesling which thrives on steep hillsides. The Smith-Madrone Riesling is racy and beautifully balanced with a backbone of juicy fruit acidity. Wonderfully stylish and delicious and built to last. Drink now, or twenty years from now. Seriously!  This is perfect for the mom who is a wine connoisseur and appreciates wines that can be drunk now or aged gracefully in the cellar.

10 Wines To Celebrate Mother’s Day

and Isaac James Baker similarly endorses it for Mother’s Day:

Mother’s Day is right around the corner and Summer is on the way, too. So, I wanted to share some bright and joy-giving selections I think would fit perfectly for this season….If you’re looking for very high-quality Riesling, and like saving money, Smith-Madrone’s new release (the 2019) continues with their streak of excellence. It’s one of the best, not just from California, but from anywhere in the U.S. – my humble opinion, of course. It drinks great now since it’s been aged a bit, but don’t hesitate to lay some down for five to eight years, as this will improve in the long run.

Medium yellow color. The nose is so vibrant and sings with these harmonies of white peach, lime, papaya, backed up with white flowers, honey, almond skin, and hints of white pepper and celery seed. On the palate, this is racy and tangy but sports significant depth, and the balance is on-point. The papaya, white peach, banana, and lime fruit blend well with elements of chalk dust, limestone, honey, sea salt, and these deep nuances that need years to develop. Beautiful to drink now (due to its later release), and this will age for so many years. Another win for the Smith-Madrone team!

https://isaacjamesbaker.blogspot.com/2024/05/wines-for-mothers-day-and-beyond.html

“Terrific expression of mountain-grown Cabernet Sauvignon”

TheFermentedFruit tastes the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon:

A breath of fresh air in a sea of overoaked and over ripe Napa Cabs – the 2019 Smith-Madrone Cabernet Sauvignon is another terrific expression of mountain-grown Cabernet Sauvignon. Intense and lengthy with gorgeous purity of fruit and that mineral backbone we all long for. A superb effort and a really sold value proposition at $65 a bottle.

https://www.instagram.com/stories/thefermentedfruit/3363070781749787779/

2023 Estate Rosé is here

Dear Friends:

May is full of days to celebrate, including May 1. We’re delighted to announce the release of our 2023 Estate Rosé.

Only every couple of years do all the conditions come together in exactly the right way for us to make a Rosé. 2023 was such a year. Because we like to make a blend of Cabernet Franc and Merlot, those two varietals have to ripen at the same time…which happened on October 9 and 10 in 2023.

The wine is a blend of 50% Merlot and 50% Cabernet Franc and is “a delightful shade of pink and truly delicious,” to quote winemaker Charlie Smith.

He describes it for us: 

“This is a Rosé with a piercing pink color, full flavor and still a delicate acidity. It opens with a delightful aroma of strawberries, rhubarb and white pepper. That nose rolls over into white peaches and orange blossoms. On the palate, the wine is intensely flavorful and packed with bright red fruit, to a degree unusual in a rosé. It is as though red currants, rhubarb and red cherries all merged into a fourth flavor called Smith-Madrone Rosé. This is a lovely glass of wine with a very high fun quotient that happens to be pink. Simply put, the wine is just delicious!”

Try Baked Gruyère & Rosé!

Recent visitors to the winery who’ve enjoyed a ‘sneak peek’ of the wine have told us that it’s “a red wine drinker’s Rosé for the summer,” that people who like “bigger” wine will like this, that it’s “bold and beautiful and full of flavor!”

This is a wine which is a very easy partner to almost any spring or summer food you can imagine: we’ve given you some ideas here.

This wine will only be available on our website and at the winery.

We only made 131 cases.

Buy: $30.00 /750ml

The Spring Lineup

Our current releases:

  • 2019 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
  • 2019 Estate Chardonnay
    • 2019 Estate Riesling
  • 2019 Cook’s Flat Reserve
  • 2023 Estate Rosé
Order Wines

Here are some wonderful reviews of our wines:

2019 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

Anatoli Levine at Talk-a-Vino reviewed it:

Cabernet Sauvignon, varietally correct and incredibly enticing, even coercing you into the nirvana state – yes, this is how good this wine is.

Label of Cabernet Sauvignon

Buy: $65.00/ 750ml

2019 Estate Chardonnay

Jeff Kralik at Drunken Cyclist has these notes:

Certainly yellow and on its way to golden in the glass with boatloads of lemon curd and a bit of an herbal note (sweet basil) on the nose. The palate is rich and luxurious with plenty of lemon creme pie balanced with an incredibly zingy tartness and more than a hint of oak. … What else could one want?

Label of Chardonnay

Buy: $45.00 /750ml

2019 Estate Riesling

AttorneySomm John Jackson wrote:

The 2019 Smith-Madrone Estate Riesling is impressive! A magnificent mix of flavors that included lemon, lime, grapefruit, Valencia orange, and petrol. These flavors were balanced with ample acidity. This wine is very food friendly, but can also be enjoyed on its own!

Buy: $40.00 /750ml

2019 Cook’s Flat Reserve

This wine is a blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc.

Bin 412 wrote:
A crowning jewel in Smith-Madrone’s portfolio, it’s a symphony of blackberry, plum, black currant and all the other dark fruits you can imagine. This wine epitomizes the meticulous approach to blending, resulting in a wine of depth, complexity, and exceptional aging potential.

Buy: $225.00 /750ml

As always we hope you can include a visit to the winery if your travels bring you to Napa Valley.

We send our best wishes,

Stu, Charlie and François

Order Wines

If you’re in San Francisco on June 10, please come find us at KQED’s Check, Please! Taste and Sip event at The Galleria.

P.S. We’re honored to be one of the wineries supporting Nimbus Arts at its annual Nimbash on May 11 in St. Helena: it’s a great shindig and a wonderful cause.

To rock with your Rosé!

Here are some ideas for delicious partners to the 2023 Estate Rosé!

Whether it’s rich and unctuous like this super-easy baked Gruyere or tangy and smooth like a smoked salmon dip have fun with our new Rosé!

Baked Gruyère

1 sheet of puff pastry (thawed if purchased frozen)
1/3 cup apricot preserves
5 ounces of Gruyère cheese, cut into 1/2” cubes
1/3 cup toasted walnuts, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
3 tbsp honey
Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water)

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a bowl, combine the Gruyère cheese cubes, garlic, walnuts and rosemary. Toss to combine and set aside.
On a cutting board sprinkle flour and roll out the sheet of puff pastry into a square. Spoon the apricot preserves in a circle in the center of the square. Pour the seasoned cheese cubes into a pile on top of the preserves in the center of the pastry.
Drizzle with the honey. Fold the four sides up around the Gruyère cheese cubes making sure that it is sealed well. Brush with the egg wash.
Transfer to the baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before baking.
Bake for 25 minutes or until the pastry is completely golden.
Serve on a cheese board with fruit, crackers or toasted baguette or in slices cut like pie as a first course.

Salmon Cream Cheese Dip

6 ounces smoked salmon
1 tbsp chopped red onion
8 ounces room temperature cream cheese
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced fresh dill
1 teaspoon prepared horseradish
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and whir until smooth and well combined. Chill for at least three hours and serve with toasted bread or crackers or sliced vegetables.

“Don’t miss out on one of California’s greats”

Rich Cook at WineReviewOnline tastes the 2019 Riesling:

96 points: What to say that hasn’t already been said about the Smith brothers’ Riesling commitment? Many thought they should have been “committed” (likely more than once) for not grafting it over to something more market friendly — but thank your lucky stars that they persevered, as I do every time I open one. This continues a long line of age-worthy, drink any time over the next 20 years or so wines that you need to have in your cellar. I say this not as a seller, just as a fellow aficionado that wants to make sure you don’t miss out on one of California’s greats.

https://winereviewonline.com/wine_reviews.cfm

2019 Riesling is “exceptional”

Fredric Koeppel tastes the 2019 Riesling:

A superior Riesling from Napa Valley….not just Napa Valley but specifically from the Spring Mountain District and a seven-acre vineyard that slopes at 34-degrees and lies between 1,300- and 1,900-feet elevation. In other words, the Smith-Madrone Riesling 2019, Spring Mountain, is a mountainside wine whose environment pushes the vines — you could say, stresses them — to send their roots deep through the rocks and into the soil and subsoil for nutrients. In human beings, we would call this process “character-building.”

The color is very pale straw-gold; the bouquet offers intense, penetrating aromas of green apple and pear, tangerine and grapefruit, with beguiling notes of quince, green tea and lychee; a few moments in the glass elicit hints of jasmine and honeysuckle, damp limestone and flint; zinging acidity courses through this riesling like an electrical charge, lending tremendous vivacity and tone and tying together all the elements of ripe peach and pomelo, traces of dried sage and thyme and crystalline limestone minerality; the wine finishes with a high, wild note of slightly bitter grapefruit, bringing a perfect sense of balance. 13.3% alcohol. Now through 2030 to ‘34. Brothers Charles Smith and Stuart Smith produced 1,087 cases. Exceptional.

https://biggerthanyourhead.substack.com/p/wine-of-the-day-no-826

Stu is quoted in The San Francisco Chronicle in a discussion about 1970s-style wines and whether they’re back in vogue

Esther Mobley in the April 10 San Francisco Chronicle:

“It isn’t just flared jeans and Fleetwood Mac. There’s another relic of the 1970s experiencing a comeback: the decade’s Napa Valley wines. Younger California vintners these days routinely cite “Napa from the 1970s” as their inspiration. Lately, the subject has come up almost weekly in my interviews with winemakers, including many who aren’t making wine in Napa Valley at all. They describe their intended style as “retro.” What these ’70s worshipers are trying to emulate, broadly, is Cabernet Sauvignon that was low in alcohol, with chewy tannins and plenty of vegetal flavors — a style that fell out of favor in the ’80s and ’90s when Napa Valley wines got riper, fruitier and more polished.……..

“Nobody who’s lived through the ’70s wants to go back to that equipment,” said Stu Smith, who co-founded Smith-Madrone Vineyards in 1974. Those green, herbal flavors? Those are due to compounds called pyrazines, which can be mitigated by increasing the sun exposure on the vine. But “we didn’t know anything about that until the late ’70s,” said Smith. The flavors appeared whether the winemakers wanted them or not.…………….

The winemakers who lived through those decades believe that the new technology, knowledge exchange with other global regions and improved farming techniques all have changed their wines for the better….”

The complete article: https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/wine/article/napa-1970s-19325647.php