Stu Smith Answers
the FAQs of Riesling
Why does Smith-Madrone
label its wine "Riesling" while other producers
use "Johannisberg Riesling," "White Riesling,"
"Dry Riesling" and "Gray Riesling?"
Because that's the true name of the varietal. When
was the last time you had a red Riesling? White Riesling
is redundant; Johannisberg is a cute little winery in
Germany not too dissimilar from Smith-Madrone. Why should
we call Riesling 'Johannisberg Riesling' if we don't
call Pinot Noir 'Romanee Noir' or Cabernet Sauvignon
'Lafite Sauvignon?' The true name of the varietal is
simply Riesling. In 1983 we started using just 'Riesling.'
For more than 15 years we were the only winery to call
the wine by its true name, Riesling, which I think goes
to show the lack of seriousness and commitment that
many vintners give to this variety. If they're not willing
to call it by its true name, how can they make the wine
into its true potential?
Why does Smith-Madrone produce
great Riesling where others have failed?
We've received enormous recognition for our Riesling
since our first vintage in 1977. A bottle of the 1977
vintage, left over from a trade tasting in Europe, was
casually entered in the Gault-Millau wine competition
of that year, where it won the top honor as 'Best Riesling'
out of a field of Rieslings from around the world, including
many from Germany's best estates.
Growing great grapes is like a three legged stool -
if any one of the three elements is missing the stool
falls down. First and foremost, you need the right climate.
It's why we can grow grapes in California and not Alaska.
Then you have to differentiate the climates even more
finely, such as between Fresno vs. Stockton and then
the finer differences still of Napa vs. Sonoma. Historically
Riesling in German climates has a long and cool growing
season. That is why Riesling, in order to get ripe,
is usually grown only on the southern slopes so that
the grapes can get the greatest amount of heat and sunlight.
Second, you need the appropriate soil. For ordinary
wine you want deep rich soil capable of producing many
tons to the acre, enabling the winery to produce a low
cost wine. For premium wine you want soil with moderate
fertility and depth. The soil limits the grape production
to just a few tons per acre, giving a higher leaf to
cluster ratio and smaller berries, giving a higher skin
to pulp ratio - all allowing for more concentrated flavors
in the grapes and hence the wine. Soil that is too rich
produces grapes without character and flavor. A very
good grower can mitigate some of that, but most growers
want more grapes and may even irrigate on those rich
soils exacerbating the problem.
Thirdly, you need a grower who understands that he
is growing grapes for wine quality. Historically, a
farmer measures his success in a one step process. If
he grows more corn, hay, cotton, carrots, etc. than
his neighbors do, he is successful. But with winegrape
growers it's not the amount of fruit he grows, it's
the quality of the wine that is produced that is critical.
This is a two-step process. We have all three legs of
that stool. Our climate on Spring Mountain is cooler
than on the Napa Valley floor; our steep mountain soils
are less fertile than our Valley floor neighbors and
we understand the Riesling grape and what it requires
to grow those grapes better than others.
Why isn't there more Riesling planted on the California's
North Coast?
Because of economics, Riesling will never be widely
grown in Napa and Sonoma because of the value of the
land. Cabernet Sauvignons priced somewhere between $25-75.00
a bottle and Chardonnay in the $20-$35.00 bottle range
support current land prices. Riesling selling retail
at $10-15.00 a bottle cannot support $50,000 - $100,000.00
per acre.
put in new sectioin called
Are Smith-Madrone's vineyards
'sustainable'/'sustainably farmed?'
Yes; the term means that we are farming in as natural
a method as is possible---minimal use of petro-chemicals,
minimal use of pesticides and encouraging natural beneficial
predators.
Is 'artisanal' the right term
to describe Smith-Madrone?
We are one of the few wineries who have stayed "true
to ourselves." We are still artisanal in nature
and practice. We don't have a cutesy gift shop and tasting
room with Smith-Madrone tshirts to buy.
What's important about dry-farming?
As we all know, California's population---and resource
needs---are bulging, and we should be aiming towards
more and more vineyards using less and less water. As
we have done in the past, we're setting up our future
vineyards to be dry-farmed. It is appropriate and necessary
to irrigate young vineyards to an age of 5 to 7 years,
but then the water should be turned off and the vines
made to rely solely on Mother Nature for their nurturing
water. We believe that what's going on on the Valley
floor should be re-evaluated --- that is, using de-vigorating
rootstocks, which then need to be irrigated. There isn't
enough water in California and the one thing grapevines
can do that most other crops can't is to be dry-farmed.
If we can dry-farm vineyards on top of Spring Mountain,
1,800 feet above sea level, so can the Valley floor
growers with deep, fertile soils. All of us here in
the Napa Valley who grow wine grapes must never lose
focus on quality.
What's your opinion on close
spacing so fashionable in vineyards today?
I disapprove of the very close spacing used by many
winegrowers today. First and foremost, the defining
element in wine quality from a specific vineyard is
not whether the vines are spaced 3x3 (feet), 8x5 or
even 12x8. Vineyard wine quality is defined by the site,
the climate and the soil of the vineyard, along with
the cultural practices of the grower.
What are the problems with close
spacing?
There are at least four as I see it---wine quality,
water, farm worker housing and ergonomics.
- Wine quality: Close spacing with a low fruiting
wire may be detrimental to wine quality in California's
North Coast because the grapes come too close to the
soil and thus are hotter than clusters higher up from
the ground.
- Water: Close spacing uses too much of our
most precious resource -- water. Close spacing of
3x3 (feet) has 4,840 vines/acre; medium spacing of
8x5 has 1,089 vines/acre and wide spacing of 11x6
has 660 vines/acre: these have a major impact on our
environment. Theoretically, using 7 irrigations of
15 gallons per irrigation on approximately 30,000
acres of irrigated vineyards in Napa County, close
spacing would use 46,000-acre feet of water versus
6,000-acre feet with wide spacing. This would be a
saving of 40,000-acre feet or 1.2 billion gallons
of water per year.
- Farm worker housing: simplistically, 35,000
acres of grapevines planted with close spacing results
in 170,000,000 grapevines that need to be planted,
pruned, tied, suckered, cultivated and harvested versus
40,000,000 plants with a medium spacing. The Valley
would need four times the number of farm workers with
close spacing than with medium spacing, which means
we would need four times as much farm worker housing.
Farm worker housing needs are not even being met today.
- Ergonomics: Close spacing requires short
stakes and thus the worker must bend over to work
on the vines and to harvest the crop -- sometimes
as low as twelve inches off the ground. Medium spacing
and wide spacing can have the fruiting wire 36-42
inches off the ground -- a comfortable work height
for people. Additionally, tractors, gondolas and/or
machine harvesters can work within medium and widely
spaced rows to facilitate harvesting the grapes. In
many, if not most, close-spacing harvesting requires
the picker to hand-carry the harvested grapes out
to the end of the rows before reaching a gondola.
How do you feel about all of
the 'post-office box' wineries and people producing
wines which are not estate-grown and estate-bottled?
"Produced and bottled by"---who 'produced
and bottled' that favorite wine of yours? That bottle
of very expensive and limited production "Sky High
Vineyards" says at the bottom of the label that
it was "produced and bottled by Sky High Vineyards,
St. Helena California." But was it really? Most
likely, it was not. It may well have been produced and
bottled by Rombauer Vineyards, Merryvale Vineyards,
Miner Family Vineyards or The Napa Wine Company. I believe
that the label should not mislead and defraud the consumer
as to who actually makes the wine. I believe that the
rightful producer and bottler of the wine should be
stated on the label. The label should read: "Sky
High Vineyards, Napa Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon, produced
and bottled by Rombauer/Merryvale/Miner/whomever."
This practice is currently legal. The custom crush winery
simply files an amended dba with the BATF showing that
Sky High Vineyards is now a second label of that winery;
then it is legal for them to crush and ferment the grapes
into wine, age and bottle and label the wine as "roduced
and bottled by Sky High Vineyards." The owners
of Sky High Vineyards did not in fact produce or bottle
the wine that they are now selling as wine produced
and bottled by them.
Originally, wineries were granted this right of producing
wines in this way because those labels were, in fact,
second labels of the winery. Red Mountain wine is made
by Gallo and at the bottom of the Red Mountain label
it says that the wine was "produced and bottled
by Red Mountain." Red Mountain is a dba of Gallo;
Gallo owns, produces, bottles and markets the Red Mountain
wine and label. "Sky High Vineyards" contracts
with the "custom crusher" to make their wine
and retains ownership of the barrels, wine and labels.
The custom crusher, Rombauer (or whoever) does not own
the grapes, the wine, the barrels or the bottles, nor
are they responsible to market and sell the wine. The
custom crusher's only job is to 'produce and bottle'
the wine.
The consumer is not misled when they read that their
wine was produced and bottled by Red Mountain because
it was. When the consumer reads the their wine was produced
and bottled by "Sky High Vineyards" they are
misled and defrauded because Sky High Vineyards did
not produce and bottle that wine.
I'm aware of this practice and disagree with it because
we've done it in the past. There is no "fault"
or "blame" to be given; the practice should
be given the light of day so that it can ultimately
be changed. Don Quixote tilted at windmills and Sisyphus
rolled rocks up a hill; they must be related to me….!
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