riesling Reviews
Santa Rosa Press Democrat / Dan Berger / December 12, 2011
Smith-Madrone Riesling a real treat
Planning the wine list for a holiday party can be frustrating for those only marginally interested in wine, so here are a few suggestions based on some wine lovers' secrets. …Riesling is generally a superb alternative to other wines that might be lacking in much distinctive character. For a real treat, try the drier Rieslings from …Smith Madrone…superb accompaniment to food.
Wine Enthusiast Magazine / May 2011
90 Points
Smith-Madrone 2009 Riesling (Spring Mountain); $27. With 12.9% alcohol, this Riesling is absolutely dry and fascinatingly complex. High acidity frames citrus fruit, green apple and mineral flavors. Should develop in interesting ways over the next six years. —S.H.
Wine Review Online / Mary Ewing-Mulligan /April 29, 2011
A terrific Riesling, well-balanced and stylish.
Smith Madrone, Spring Mountain District (Napa Valley, California) Riesling 2009. This is one of the few landmark Rieslings of California, grown high up on Spring Mountain in western Napa Valley. It is a trim, sleek Riesling with a slight sweetness that complements its high-acid depth and makes it particularly flexible with food. The wine has aromas and flavors that are floral, fruity (melon, apple, citrus) and minerally; these show lots of concentration and carry long on the finish. "A terrific Riesling, well-balanced and stylish." Only 12.9 percent alcohol. 90
Vintage Experiences Blog / Dan Berger / April 2011
"Very Highly Recommended"
2009 RieslingReviewed in the April 14, 2011 issue of Dan Berger’s Vintage Experiences. Very Highly Recommended. Delicate Riesling aroma of stone fruit and citrus with a lovely soft entry and mid-palate, but a relatively dry finish.
Winecast.net / February 10, 2011
Tim Elliott writes a great review on winecast.net about the the "almost mythical Smith-Madrone Riesling."
Smith-Madrone, Riesling, Spring Mountain 2009 ($27/sample) – Light straw-green in color with aromas of green apple, citrus, honeydew and a hint of petrol. Tart green apple fruit with citrus finishing dry with refreshing acidity and a nice mineral note. A benchmark California Riesling that could take on the best of Alsace and give them a run for their money. Will continue to improve in the cellar for at least the next 25 years. Just over 300 cases produced so pick up some soon.
12.9% ABV Natural cork closure Rating: Score: 90
Wall Street Journal, ON WINE by Jay McInerny, October 22, 2010
Riesling From the Land of Cab
Napa Valley Riesling? Sounds…odd, no? However, some years back, I discovered the Rieslings of Smith-Madrone, and I was so impressed I ended visiting the winery on top of Spring Mountain, a virtual wilderness twenty minutes uphill from St. Helena.
The ‘09 is the 32nd vintage of this wine. The very first vintage, the ’77, was named world’s best Riesling in the Gault Millau Wine Olympics of 1979. The Smiths, in fact, were the first California growers to bottle a California wine labeled as Riesling. For many years the term ‘Johannesberg Riesling’ was used, until Stu (who has lately gained some notoriety for his campaign against biodynamics) petitioned the BTF to use the name Riesling.
... Also highly recommended: the 08 Chardonnay.
Also from Jay's summary:
2009 Smith Madrone Riesling Napa Valley Spring Mountain, $27
Very light straw color, green-apple nose, with a citrusy vibrancy on the palate leading to a slatey, minerally note suggestive of a great Mosel.
Peter Hellman, "Missing in Action," Urban Vintage, New York Sun, October 4, 2006
The choice of wines available in New York shops is vast, even overwhelming. Yet, amid such a global bounty, one of California's most distinguished wineries is glaringly absent on retail shelves. It's called Smith Madrone, now in the midst of its 35th vintage high on the upper slopes of Spring Mountain high over the Napa Valley. That this label can't find a place in any New York shop is not, I believe, due to lack of quality or value. It's because of the difficulty of selling the kind of wines that Smith Madrone makes.
The winery, owned by brothers Stuart and Charles Smith, bottles just three wines: cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, and riesling. In an era when most California wines are riper and more alcoholic than ever before, the Smith brothers make traditional wines, maybe even throwback wines. They're dry-farmed for intensity and harvested ripe, but not overly so. The result is wines which have alcohol between 12% and 13%, once a common level but now the exception in an era of wines that routinely reach 15% alcohol or higher. "Some of these huge wines can be seductive and fruit forward, or they can hit you so that your eyes bulge out, but then you say, ‘Now what?' They've nothing behind them. These wines will not age." Meanwhile, these voluptuary wines do fetch high scores from wine critics, notably Robert M. Parker Jr. in his Wine Advocate newsletter.
Smith Madrone wines, especially the cabernet sauvignon, are typically unyielding upon release. But the wines invariably blossom as the years go by. I don't believe there is any other dry California riesling that is the equal of Smith Madrone's in its improvement after 10 years and beyond. But such wines are a tough sell. "For many years, we've tried to make wines with elegance, restraint, and grace," Mr. Smith said, "and we got our brains beat out in the marketplace."
Sadly, that's currently the case in New York, although the wines are available in half a dozen other states, notably Illinois and California (check wine-searcher.com) and direct from the winery (smithmadrone.com). The deeply flavored 2003 Napa Valley Chardonnay ($27) and 2001 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($38) are currently available, as is the 2000 Napa Valley Riesling ($50). This last wine, simultaneously floral and earthy, is what great Alsacian-style riesling is all about.
Robert Whitley, “Napa Excellence Doesn’t Have to be a Bank-breaker,” San Diego Union-Tribune, January 18, 2006.
Visiting the Napa Valley, if only by way of your wine cupboard, need not be an expensive proposition...That is not to say they are cheap, but for the Napa Valley, the prices are modest....The Riesling is simply one of California's finest.
