From New California Wine: Making Sense of Napa Valley, Sonoma, Central Coast, and Beyond by Matt Kramer, Running Press, 2004

Brothers Stu and Charles Smith, owners and winemakers of Smith-Madrone, have kept the faith longer than most in Napa Valley. Located high atop Spring Mountain, their vineyard dates to 1971. To taste an array of Chardonnay, Cabernet and Riesling vintages at Smith-Madrone is equivalent to a wine version of an archeological dig. You can taste all the winemaking changes that California went through from the mid-1970s to today. For example the Chardonnays did not, in the 1980s, undergo malolactic fermentation, an old California white wine approach, That is, in fact, enjoying a revival today. Yet other vintages, from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, had the Chardonnay fermented with their skins, an approach now generally recognized as undesirable for long-term aging. Today Smith-Madrone Chardonnay has arrived at an admirable aesthetic, exhibiting a lemon-butter scent and Chablis-like restraint. The Cabernets too have rung the winemaking changes, and it’s fair to say that they have never been better than they are today. These are great Spring Mountain Cabs, filled with a blackish fruit plumped with earthy intensity, a green olive scent, and supple tannins.

Worth noting are the exceptional dry Rieslings made at Smith-Madrone. Their six-acre Riesling vineyard, planted in 1972, has issued a string of superb, earthy, sappy dry Rieslings that reveal just how appropriate Riesling is to Spring Mountain---and doubtless other hillside sites in California. Here, an archeological wine dig of seventeen vintages reveals nothing but jewels. Rieslings dating as far back as 1977 not only were immensely drinkable and fresh-tasting but beautifully made. If California ever creates a “cult Riesling,” then Smith-Madrone is a sure contender. This is a wine worth buying and aging, as it rewards decades of cellaring, like great Rieslings everywhere in the world.

© Matt Kramer, Running Press, 2004