Category: Events

Find us at Slow Wine USA Tour tastings

SMITH-MADRONE PARTICIPATES IN SLOW WINE USA TOUR

Tastings in San Francisco, Denver and New York City

Napa Valley, February 2019 —Smith-Madrone is participating in the Slow Wine USA tour this spring, at tastings in San Francisco, Denver and New York City.

The Slow Wine Guide chose a limited number of wineries to feature in its spring 2019 magazine, and Smith-Madrone’s wines were highlighted.

The 2015 Chardonnay was described as having “flavors of ripe yellow apples, lemon curd, and savory kitchen herbs lead to a luxurious, vivacious texture and a long, spirited finish.”

“Aromas of crunchy red fruits and vegetal and herbaceous undertones are enriched by juniper berries, incense, and earth. The palate reflects the complexity of the nose along with a savory umami character and polished mountain tannins” is how the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon was described.

The San Francisco tasting takes place on Monday, March 4, from 1:00 to 5:00 pm at Pier 27, The Embarcadero. This event is only for members of the trade.

The Denver tasting takes place on Thursday, March 7 from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. at The Source, 3350 Brighton Blvd. This event is only for the trade.

The New York tasting takes place on Monday, March 11 at Eataly Downtown, 4 World Trade Center, 101 Liberty Street, Floor 3. From 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. media and VIP trade will be welcomed; from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. trade will be welcome and from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. consumers are invited.

Smith-Madrone will be pouring its current releases—2016 Chardonnay, 2015 Riesling and 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon; as with all of its wines, these are entirely estate-grown in the vineyards surrounding the winery on the top of the Spring Mountain District in St. Helena,. Continue reading “Find us at Slow Wine USA Tour tastings”

Spring Mountain District Comes to SF

Join us (and 14 other Spring Mountain District wineries) on Sunday, November 18 from 4:00 until 7:00 p.m. for a celebration of harvest and walk-around tasting.
We will be at the Presidio Golden Gate Club, 135 Fisher Loop in San Francisco.
Tickets are $100/ person and must be purchased in advance at Eventbrite or through springmountaindistrict.org
This is an unusual opportunity to taste a number of wines from our appellation, all in one place, without having to get in your car!
All of the wineries will be pouring current releases, library wines and a surprise or two.
Look forward to seeing you in San Francisco.
Sincerely,
Stu, Charles, Sam
P.S. Keep up with the harvest on Spring Mountain.

About Spring Mountain District

View from Spring Mtn.

The Spring Mountain District appellation, established in 1993, lies above the town of St. Helena on the eastern slopes of the Mayacamas Mountains. Encompassed within its bounds are about 8,600 acres, of which about 1,000 are planted to vineyards.

Sam goes to The City of Riesling

Sam is the only Napa Valley Riesling producer participating in The City of Riesling in Traverse City, Michigan on June 10 and 11.

He will be a panelist on June 10 for Riesling & Red: Strange Bedfellows, along with wineries from the Willamette Valley, the Margaret River and the Finger Lakes.

The evening continues as The Night of 100 Rieslings, featuring international winemakers, live music and heavy appetizers.

More info at https://www.eventsquid.com/event.cfm?id=3122

Join Stu Smith at The San Francisco City Club on May 23

A few tickets are still available for an elegant and unusual “winemaker dinner” taking place Wednesday, May 23, from 6:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m., at The San Francisco City Club.

Stu will guide the dinner through current releases as well as library wines, including 2006 Riesling and 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon. The setting is one of the most breathtaking in San Francisco—the former Stock Exchange Tower, at 155 Sansome Street in the Financial District. A number of important artists were commissioned to contribute their works for the building’s interior, including Diego Rivera’s mural of Calafia, “the spirit of California.”

We are able to offer the City Club member price of $95.00 a person for this memorable event: tickets can be arranged here

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/winemaker-dinner-with-smith-madrone-tickets-46295332586

More about the building:

https://cityclubsf.com/about/history/

 

 

 

 

 

Join Sam Smith at Cucina Enoteca in Irvine

Join CUCINA enoteca Irvine for a special Winemaker Lunch with Sam Smith (Smith-Madrone + Curly St. James) and Josh Phelps (Grounded Wine Co. + Ad Vivum) on the patio on Saturday, April 14th. This will be a three-course family style lunch with two wines per course.

More info: https://www.urbankitchengroup.com/cucina-enoteca-irvine/happenings/ceirv-winemaker-lunch/

About Sam Smith
Before joining Smith-Madrone Sam traveled, alternating working harvests at wineries and working as a sommelier at distinguished restaurants around the world. He has worked in Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Washington, the Caribbean, and a few wineries around Napa Valley as well. Born and raised in the Napa Valley, Sam grew up playing football, tennis and golf. He is an avid outdoorsman and obtained his degree from UC Santa Barbara.

About Josh Phelphs 
Josh’s roots run deep, raised in a winemaking family, he was exposed to the industry from a young age. He continued to build his knowledge of the business through college, selling wine, working harvests, and creating wine for friends with his father, Chris Phelps. With Grounded Wine Co., Josh hopes to build on this legacy and make his own splash in the wine world while exposing wine drinkers of his own generation to his hometown in wine country. Working with trusted farmers and childhood friends, his company reflects his deep understanding of wine, one that can only be developed growing up around the vines.

Menu:

antipasti
wild watercress + beet cured salmon | radish + pickled onion + avocado + limoncello vinaigrette

smith-madrone | riesling | spring mountain district, napa valley
smith-madrone | chardonnay | spring mountain district, napa valley

pasta
mezzi rigatoni | lamb bolognese + mint pesto + ricotta salata

grounded wine co. | ‘collusion’ merlot blend | columbia valley, wa 
grounded wine co. | ‘steady state’ red blend | napa valley

piatti
rotisserie duck + chicken | market vegetables + ancient grain

ad vivum | ‘sleeping lady vineyard’ cabernet sauvignon | napa valley
curly st. james | red blend | napa valley

 

 

Sam Smith goes to City of Riesling

Sam Smith will be one of the vintners featured at City of Riesling, July 23 and 24, in Traverse City, Michigan.

On Monday, Sam is one of the panelists at A Tasting of California’s New Wave (and Some Delicious Old School) Riesling. The moderator is John Winthrop Hager and the panel/tasting takes place at The Franklin, 160 East Front Street.

On Sunday there will be a luncheon and tasting and in the evening, The Night of 100 Rieslings.

On Monday there will also be a Great Lakes Riesling Producers Winemakers’ Roundtable, a New York Finger Lakes Luncheon and several panel/tastings: Riesling Redux: Alternative Expressions of Riesling from Australia; Iconoclast Asylum, hosted by Stuart Pigott and Tangential Tasting, an unusual walk-around tasting.

 

 

All the details and ticket purchasing information can be found: https://www.eventsquid.com/event.cfm?id=2595

 

Come join us at Nimbash!

We are delighted to be participating in Nimbus Art’s Nimbash celebration, one of Napa Valley’s most wonderful and unusual events, a fundraiser for Nimbus Arts.

Festivities begin at 5:30 p.m. on May 13 at The Barn, 880 College Avenue, St. Helena.

There will be interactive art activities, live music and performances art, farm-to-table food, a rockin’ recycled art fashion show, wildly fabulous silent and live auctions and an after burner-dance party! The theme is STREET ART!

More details here: https://www.nimbusarts.org/events/nimbash/

Tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nimbash-2017-napa-valleys-arty-party-tickets-32499643308

Join us and 17 other Spring Mountain District wineries in San Francisco

Spring Mountain District Harvest Celebration

Presidio Golden Gate Club, San Francisco

Thursday, November 17, 2016 from 5:00 to 8:00 PM

Please join us and 17 of our neighbors and winemakers from Napa Valley’s Spring Mountain District for a tasting and celebration of some of the decade’s most exciting vintages, past, present and future.  Library wines, current releases and barrel samples will all be featured, with those most knowledgeable about them on hand for discussion.

Light hors d’oeuvres will be served.

Tickets can be purchased here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/spring-mountain-district-harvest-celebration-tickets-27285103479

The other participating wineries are:

Barnett Vineyards

Behrens Family Vineyard

Cain Vineyard & Winery

Fantesca Estate & Winery

Frias Family Vineyards

Keenan Winery

Luscher-Ballard Vineyard

Paloma Vineyard

Peacock Family Vineyard

Pride Mountain Vineyards

School House Vineyard

Schweiger Vineyards

Sherwin Family Vineyards

Spring Mountain Vineyard

Stony Hill Vineyard

Terra Valentine

Vineyard 7 & 8.

 

We’re honored to be one of several Rieslings offered at a book signing for John Winthrop Haeger’s newest book, Riesling Rediscovered: Bold, Bright and Dry. 

The event takes place in St. Helena on May 5 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at 750 Wines in St. Helena, located at 1224 Adams Avenue. There is no charge to attend, but RSVPs are requested or can be arranged by emailing Sep@750wines.com.

Haeger will speak about the book at the event and Napa Valley Rieslings from Smith-Madrone and Stony Hill will be poured, joined by bottles from Radio-Coteau from Sonoma County, Germany’s Weingut Dreissigacker and Austria’s Malat and Markus Huber. Copies of Riesling Rediscovered will be available for purchase. A portion of the evening’s book sales will benefit Jameson Animal Rescue Ranch’ emergency fund.

This is a must-attend event if you’re a student in any wine certification program (WSET, Master of Wine, Master Sommelier, Society of Wine Educators) or if you just want to find out why wine lovers are so enthusiastic about these wines.

Riesling is the world’s seventh most-planted white wine grape variety and among the fastest growing over the past twenty years. It is a personal favorite of many sommeliers, chefs, and other food and wine professionals for its appealing aromatics, finesse, and minerality; for its uncanny ability to reflect terroir; and for its impressive versatility with cuisines of all types. It is stylistically paradoxical, however. Now usually made dry in most of Europe and Australia, and assumed dry by most German consumers, Riesling is made mostly sweet or lightly sweet in North America and is believed sweet in the American marketplace irrespective of origin. Riesling is thus consequently—but mistakenly—shunned by the mainstream of American wine drinkers, whose tastes and habits have been overwhelmingly dry for two generations.

Riesling Rediscovered looks at the present state of dry Riesling across the Northern Hemisphere: where it is grown and made, what models and objectives vintners have in mind, and what parameters of grape growing and winemaking are essential when the goal is a delicious dry wine. John Winthrop Haeger explores the history of Riesling to illuminate how this variety emerged from a crowded field of grape varieties grown widely across northern Europe.

John Winthrop Haeger has written about wine since 1986. His articles have appeared in Connoisseur, Wine & Spirits Magazine, Sunset, Saveur, San Francisco Chronicle, Singapore-based Appetite and Japan’s Wine Kingdom. His first book about wine, North American Pinot Noir (University of California Press, 2004), was named Louis Roederer International Wine Book of the Year for 2005. The second, Pacific Pinot Noir: A Comprehensive Winery Guide for Consumers and Connoisseurs, was published in September 2008.