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« Sonoma In San Francisco • Main • Look, Ma, I bought a winery! »
Smith Madrone On My Mind
filed under: Regional Spotlight, Winning Wines
The most popular vinous offerings from celebrated Spring Mountain wineries including well known names like Cain and Pride are Cabernet Sauvignon-based. But, surprisingly, the real story at Smith Madrone had to do with the white wines I tasted. Specifically, the 2004 Chardonnay and the 2005, 2001 and 1995 Rieslings were all amAzing. More about them later.
And, I was tickled to discover later when I looked at the Smith Madrone website that Charlie is a world-class croquet player. From the site: "Charles Smith... 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." Funny, that never came up during my visit.
Now, back to the wines. The 2004 Smith Madrone Chardonnay, aged for 10 months in 100% new French Oak and made from 100% estate grown fruit, was my favorite wine of the entire Napa trip. It. was. simply. fabulous. I certainly tasted lotsa caramel and hazelnut you'd expect from good French oak, but I also got lovely apricot, kiwi, peach, pear, banana and honey flavors that could only come from the fruit. There was a lovely burst of acidity on the mid-palate that made all the other big-ness of the wine totally okay - delicously in balance, in fact. They made about 1,000 cases of the stuff, which clocks in at 13.7% alcohol and retails for around $27.00. TRY IT!
Observing my enthusiasm, Charlie reached for something still more special next: a bottle of the 2001 Smith Madrone Napa Valley Riesling, which won Food & Wine Magazine's 2003 award for best Riesling under $20. More golden in color than the '05 thanks to bottle age, the stuff was fabulous, just fabulous. The nose was redolent with layer upon layer of all sorts of different stuff, from candied citrus and marzipan to petrol, orange zest, clover, melon and baked apricot. The palate was unexpectedly restrained, however, with very zippy acidity given the stuff's age. Green apple and lemon squirt dominated the mix, and I certainly agree this stuff will continue to improve with age - up to 10 years, even. Charlie reports they're going to re-release some of it exclusively to their wine club in about 18 months - something I certainly think worth joining for. We went on to taste the '95, which was showing cantaloupe, the same sugared lime and grapefruit qualities, as well as tropical fruits like banana and kiwi. YUM. Did I mention that Riesling is my favorite variety? Basically, I was in heaven.
www.smithmadrone.com Posted by Courtney on May 22, 2006 01:16 PM |
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