#ChampagneWishes #KeepingAmericaOnTop 2018 Estate Riesling by Mover and Shaker Stu Smith Is Highly Recommended and the Perfect Celebration of Spring in America!
At Whom You Know, we have simple taste.
We like the best.
So, we drink Smith-Madrone wine crafted by Mover and Shaker Stu Smith in California's storied Napa Valley! Let it be the sunshine in your life this spring and today we are delighted to introduce you to the superlative 2018 Estate Riesling.
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Previously recently on Whom You Know, we told you about their 50 year Anniversary, and the 2018 Estate Grown Chardonnay and the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon each respectively earned laudable reviews by our discriminating panel. What did we love most about the Riesling? We unanimously all detected notes of PEACH and it doesn't get better than that. If you aren't reading Peachy you can drink peachy notes in a bottle or perhaps do both concurrently! The minerality is distinguished and the earthiness and citrus accentuation reminiscent of our love for Meyer Lemons by Sunkist (personally Peachy eats one a day to keep her health in shape!) characterized this winner of a wine. We like dry wines and this is one spectacular rendition.
Smith-Madrone shares, confirming what we found: aromatically, the wine opens with Meyer lemons, pomelo, orange flowers, and just a dab of mandarin orange hiding shyly behind a rose bush. This is all backed up with a solid dose of minerality. On the palate the wine 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 wine is made from mountain grown grapes, honoring the international tradition of Riesling which thrives on steep hillsides. At Smith-Madrone our goal is to make artisanal wines which are distinctive and are an expression of both the vintage and us as vintners, but above all else, are wines which bring pleasure to the senses. Every year our wine is made from the same vineyards, pruned by the same people in the same way, cultivated in exactly the same manner and harvested at similar levels of maturity, yet Mother Nature stamps each vintage with a unique set of flavors, senses and character. Vintage dating is a celebration of that uniqueness and diversity.
The stats on this winner
Appellation: Napa Valley Sub-appellation: Spring Mountain District Varietal content: 100% Riesling Alcohol: 13.3% pH: 3.04 TA: 7.68 grams/l Residual sugar: 0.7% Harvested: September 6-8, 2018 Cases produced: 1,611 cases Winemakers and winegrowers: Charles Smith & Stuart Smith
Founded in 1971, Smith-Madrone is a pioneer of mountain farming and dry farming in the mountains. The winery is known for its dry Riesling although it also makes Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon and a prestige cuvee, Cook’s Flat Reserve. The winery property is dramatically situated on steep slopes, with dramatic views to the north, east and south. We are absolutely thrilled to resume our coverage of this elite American brand straight from Napa and we have known of their commitment to excellence for over a decade. The winery is a leader in mountain vineyard farming/wine production in the Napa Valley, which includes pioneering dry farming practices on its steep mountain slopes.
Founder, General Partner, Smith-Madrone
Brothers Stuart and Charles Smith are the vineyard managers and winemakers of Smith-Madrone Winery. Also in the family attic is the Fetherolf family, German farmers from the Palatinate region, who came to America on the Good Ship Thistle in 1730. The name for the winery came as a tribute to the Smith brothers who pursued their dream and to the Madrone trees which distinguish the property.
In May 1971, with a partnership of family and friends, Stuart Smith bought the 'terroir' which today is Smith-Madrone Vineyards & winery. He was 22 years old and had just received his B.A. in Economics from UC Berkeley and was taking classes towards his Master's in Viticulture at UC Davis. In trying to find land to plant vineyard in the Napa Valley, through a family friend he explored a forest on the remotest and highest part of Spring Mountain and discovered that the land had been a vineyard in the 1880s and in fact had been part of the wagon trail route between Napa and Santa Rosa. Today he is respected for his expertise and leadership as a mountain vineyardist.
Stuart was born and raised in Santa Monica. While pursuing his master's at UC Davis, Stuart was the first teaching assistant for wine industry pioneers Maynard Amerine and Vernon Singleton in 1970-1971. He taught enology at Santa Rosa Junior College and Napa Valley College; he has chaired the 1986 and 2006 Napa Valley Wine Auctions. He is an active member of the G.O.N.A.D.S. (the Gastronomical Order for Nonsensical and Dissipatory Society), a group of Napa Valley vintners who started getting together for monthly lunches in the 1980s. He served on Napa County's Watershed Task Force for several years, appointed by the Board of Supervisors; in 2006 he was appointed again by the Board of Supervisors to sit on Napa County General Plan Steering Committee, responsible for updating Napa's General Plan, a three year project. Stu also serves as auctioneer for an Omaha (NB) charity auction every year.
Stuart served as Scout Master for St. Helena's (Boy Scout) Troop One for many years and continues as the Troop's Chair today. He is an avid canoeist, having canoed through the Quetico Wilderness in Canada many times and often canoes the Klamath and Trinity Rivers in California. He has five children and four grandchildren.
