 Charles
Smith
Charles F. Smith III is the winemaker for Smith-Madrone
Vineyards & Winery. His brother Stuart
Smith is the vineyard manager and general manager.
Their family lineage includes David Hume, the eighteenth
century Scottish philosopher and historian. 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 1725. The family also includes
the first U.S. marshal for Denver.
After graduating from high school in Santa
Monica, Charles went to school at University of California,
Berkeley, then San Francisco State University and in
1971 acquired a K-12 teaching credential. After teaching
for a while he joined his brother at the vineyard in
1973.
In his 'wild oats' days he drove a cab
in San Francisco, worked as a probation officer in Oakland
and worked as a furniture mover and a sawyer. Charles
Smith is a top level croquet player and has represented
the U.S. numerous times in international competitions.
He currently holds the World Croquet Federation record
for the longest single game: at the World Championships
in Newport, Rhode Island in 1992, he played a 7 1/2
hour match against the Japanese champion, which, thankfully,
he won. He lives in St. Helena with his wife Barbara
whom he met at their 20th high school reunion in Santa
Monica; between them they have three grown sons.
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