We’re honored to share this recent newsletter from Storyteller Wine Company in Portland:
Mountain Men and their Wines
After a recent newsletter about the “new California” I received a one sentence reply from a long time customer in California. It read “that’s all well and good, but don’t forget the old timers.” He is absolutely right. There are folks in California who have been doing their own thing and defying trends for a very long time when it comes to wine making. My favorites of the highly skilled curmudgeon crowd are two brothers who quietly ply their craft up on Spring Mountain, seemingly oblivious to wine critics and what their neighbors are doing.
The brothers in question are Stu and Charlie Smith and I first stumbled across them back in 2005. I was waiting for a dentist appointment when I picked up a dog eared copy of House & Garden Magazine to pass the time. I was quite surprised to find a wine column in House & Garden, and even more surprised to discover it was written by noted fiction author Jay McInerney.
The article was about two brothers who, in their overalls and gigantic beards, looked more like a ZZ Top cover band than serious winemakers. Their winery up on the Mayacamas Ridge was strictly “no frills,” with tractor and truck parts strewn all over the place. Heck, their idea of a tasting room was a 2×4 piece of wood stretched between two old barrels in front of an even older barn.
That article sent me looking for their Riesling, which Jay McInerney described as “like an Austrian Riesling from the Wachau.” Along the way I discovered their other wines were also pretty nice. Stu Smith is the vineyard manager and Charlie Smith makes the wines. They set up shop up on Spring Mountain in 1971 and by 1977 they had their first commercial vintage. Those first own rooted vines were dry farmed from the “get go” and today Stu only uses water in the first two years of a vine’s life, after which it’s all up to nature.
Folks, when it comes to honest, balanced wines from California, these guys might as well be listed among the Founding Fathers. I’ve been drinking these wines for the last 10 years and I’m happy to report that after a long hiatus, they are finally back in the Portland market. They make three wines (Riesling, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon) and all are worth trying.
2012 Smith-Madrone Spring Mountain District Riesling
This is the wine that started it all for me. I thought “how could an Old World style Riesling be made in California?” It turns out you need to go high up in the mountains. It also helps if the two guys making it are Riesling fanatics of the first order. Stu and Charlie are so committed to Riesling in 1983 they petitioned the federal government to remove the words “Johannisberg” and “White” from their wine labels. Stu thought they were silly words and Charlie deployed sterner language to describe them. Their Riesling is perhaps the very best on the entire West Coast and it can age gracefully for 15-20 years.
Sadly, phylloxera has reduced the size of their Riesling block so there’s not much to go around. Fortunately, the vines that remain are now 40 years old. The other good news is the 2012 vintage was almost picture perfect and the Smiths ended up with a bumper crop of beautifully ripened Riesling grapes. The color of this wine is picture perfect as well, with a light gold color and tiny emerald flecks floating about if you hold your glass to the light.
As you pour this wine you will pick up the first scents of orchard fruit from a foot away. White peaches and quince dominate that first aromatic wave, followed by beeswax, tart Granny Smith apples and a burst of tonic water complete with a slice of lime. The acidity is in perfect balance with all that stone fruit and at 12.5% alcohol and a mere 0.41% residual sugar the wine comes across as dry and refreshing. Overall, this is a superb Riesling with only one major shortcoming: its limited supply.
2010 Smith-Madrone Spring Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon
Old school Cali cab lovers rejoice, the Smith-Madrone Cabernet Sauvignon is here to light up your life. 2010 was a cool growing season in the Napa Valley, especially 1,800 feet up on Spring Mountain where the Smiths grow these 38-year old vines. The 2010 version of this wine is 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc. Charlie aged the juice in a combination of French and American oak and bottled it unfiltered and unfined after 21 months. It clocks in at a shade over 14% alcohol and boy is this a nice cab!
The ruby-red color is darker than Dorothy’s shoes but not quite as dark as Gene Simmons’ helmet hair. The nose is classic cab with crushed blackberries and cedar, along with tiny notes of damp cellar floor earth, blueberries and star anise. As California wine writer Dan Berger once wrote about Smith-Madrone Cabernet Sauvignons, they are “a throwback to an earlier era when Cabernets smelled like the variety!”
The palate is focused and sinewy, with surprisingly brisk acidity and a firm tannic backbone. Once again, “balance” is the key word here as the tannins and acidity do a nice job keeping all that black fruit flavor in line. My guess is this wine has a nice long life ahead of it.
2012 Smith-Madrone Spring Mountain District Chardonnay
2012 was a pretty nice vintage for Chardonnay up at Smith-Madrone. After a cooler growing season in 2010 and 2011 Stu Smith says “2012 came as a welcome relief. Spring and summer passed with nearly ideal growing conditions and sure enough, when September came around the Chardonnay ripened right on time. Harvest began on September 4th under balmy blue skies and continued that way right through the end of the month. It was a harvest made memorable by the fact that everything went just right.”
These Chardonnay vines are now 40 years old and Charlie Smith uses 100% new French oak barrels for his barrel fermentation, but he cuts the juice’s stay in the barrel to eight months. The result is a beautiful example of California Chardonnay that’s rich in texture without crossing over into the opulent zone.
The wine’s color is a nice golden harvest moonbeam and the aromas that drift up out of the glass are potentially addicting. We’re talking no excuses, no apologies Chardonnay scents of Granny Smith green apples, Bosc pears, clarified butter and a totally appropriate touch of toasty oak inspired hazelnuts and spice.
The palate is smooth and creamy, with a lush mouthfeel and flavors like Meyer lemon, honeycomb, toasted hazelnuts and a trace of Honeydew melon. If I was at the beach and tending to a big boiling pot of water filled with Dungeness crabs, this is the wine I’d like to have at my side.
I adore the Smith brothers’ wines and I truly hope you will give them a try.
Cheers,
Michael Alberty
Head Storyteller
Storyteller Wine Company, Portland, Oregon
PS Some of you may be asking yourself, “OK I get the Smith part of the winery’s name, but who is Madrone?” In an interview conducted for his “Gray Report” blog, W. Blake Gray asked that very question. Here is Charlie Smith’s response: “I think the reason we added the Madrone — it’s a local tree — is that we were totally crazy for hyphenated French names like Lafite-Rothschild and Romanee-Conti. We’re going to call it Chateau Smith? A friend suggested Smith-Madrone and it’s worked out OK. There’s been one problem: I’ve had to give this explanation for the last 35 years.”) and all are worth trying.
2012 Smith-Madrone Spring Mountain District Riesling
This is the wine that started it all for me. I thought “how could an Old World style Riesling be made in California?” It turns out you need to go high up in the mountains. It also helps if the two guys making it are Riesling fanatics of the first order. Stu and Charlie are so committed to Riesling in 1983 they petitioned the federal government to remove the words “Johannisberg” and “White” from their wine labels. Stu thought they were silly words and Charlie deployed sterner language to describe them. Their Riesling is perhaps the very best on the entire West Coast and it can age gracefully for 15-20 years.
Sadly, phylloxera has reduced the size of their Riesling block so there’s not much to go around. Fortunately, the vines that remain are now 40 years old. The other good news is the 2012 vintage was almost picture perfect and the Smiths ended up with a bumper crop of beautifully ripened Riesling grapes. The color of this wine is picture perfect as well, with a light gold color and tiny emerald flecks floating about if you hold your glass to the light.
As you pour this wine you will pick up the first scents of orchard fruit from a foot away. White peaches and quince dominate that first aromatic wave, followed by beeswax, tart Granny Smith apples and a burst of tonic water complete with a slice of lime. The acidity is in perfect balance with all that stone fruit and at 12.5% alcohol and a mere 0.41% residual sugar the wine comes across as dry and refreshing. Overall, this is a superb Riesling with only one major shortcoming: its limited supply.
2010 Smith-Madrone Spring Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon
Old school Cali cab lovers rejoice, the Smith-Madrone Cabernet Sauvignon is here to light up your life. 2010 was a cool growing season in the Napa Valley, especially 1,800 feet up on Spring Mountain where the Smiths grow these 38-year old vines. The 2010 version of this wine is 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc. Charlie aged the juice in a combination of French and American oak and bottled it unfiltered and unfined after 21 months. It clocks in at a shade over 14% alcohol and boy is this a nice cab!
The ruby-red color is darker than Dorothy’s shoes but not quite as dark as Gene Simmons’ helmet hair. The nose is classic cab with crushed blackberries and cedar, along with tiny notes of damp cellar floor earth, blueberries and star anise. As California wine writer Dan Berger once wrote about Smith-Madrone Cabernet Sauvignons, they are “a throwback to an earlier era when Cabernets smelled like the variety!”
The palate is focused and sinewy, with surprisingly brisk acidity and a firm tannic backbone. Once again, “balance” is the key word here as the tannins and acidity do a nice job keeping all that black fruit flavor in line. My guess is this wine has a nice long life ahead of it.
2012 Smith-Madrone Spring Mountain District Chardonnay
2012 was a pretty nice vintage for Chardonnay up at Smith-Madrone. After a cooler growing season in 2010 and 2011 Stu Smith says “2012 came as a welcome relief. Spring and summer passed with nearly ideal growing conditions and sure enough, when September came around the Chardonnay ripened right on time. Harvest began on September 4th under balmy blue skies and continued that way right through the end of the month. It was a harvest made memorable by the fact that everything went just right.”
These Chardonnay vines are now 40 years old and Charlie Smith uses 100% new French oak barrels for his barrel fermentation, but he cuts the juice’s stay in the barrel to eight months. The result is a beautiful example of California Chardonnay that’s rich in texture without crossing over into the opulent zone.
The wine’s color is a nice golden harvest moonbeam and the aromas that drift up out of the glass are potentially addicting. We’re talking no excuses, no apologies Chardonnay scents of Granny Smith green apples, Bosc pears, clarified butter and a totally appropriate touch of toasty oak inspired hazelnuts and spice.
The palate is smooth and creamy, with a lush mouthfeel and flavors like Meyer lemon, honeycomb, toasted hazelnuts and a trace of Honeydew melon. If I was at the beach and tending to a big boiling pot of water filled with Dungeness crabs, this is the wine I’d like to have at my side.
I adore the Smith brothers’ wines and I truly hope you will give them a try.
Cheers,
Michael Alberty
Head Storyteller
Storyteller Wine Company, Portland, Oregon
PS Some of you may be asking yourself, “OK I get the Smith part of the winery’s name, but who is Madrone?” In an interview conducted for his “Gray Report” blog, W. Blake Gray asked that very question. Here is Charlie Smith’s response: “I think the reason we added the Madrone — it’s a local tree — is that we were totally crazy for hyphenated French names like Lafite-Rothschild and Romanee-Conti. We’re going to call it Chateau Smith? A friend suggested Smith-Madrone and it’s worked out OK. There’s been one problem: I’ve had to give this explanation for the last 35 years.”
Smith-Madrone News 