Smith Madrone Spring Mountain Chardonnay 2021
(Napa Valley, California) - [OB 94]

About the Winery:
Smith-Madrone Vineyards & Winery is situated above Napa Valley on the eastern side of the Mayacamas Mountains in the Spring Mountain District. Stuart Smith and his brother Charles are the proprietors of Smith-Madrone; Stuart founded Smith-Madrone and a year later Charles joined as winemaker. Together, they built the winery using rock and lumber from the property. That was more than 50 years ago. Today they are doing the same thing they have been doing for fifty-plus years — making wine they enjoy drinking.

All wines made entirely from the winery's dry-farmed estate vineyards surrounding the winery on top of Spring Mountain in the Napa Valley. Stuart Smith chose specific slopes with different exposures for specific varietals when planting the vineyards: eastern exposure for Riesling, southern and western exposures across flat stretches for the Cabernet Sauvignon and the coolest north-facing slopes for the Chardonnay. There are numerous historical sights on the ranch, as well as the huge array of natural beauty and wildlife.

Tasting Note: 
The color is a very cheerful light bright green gold with an aroma of toasted hazelnuts, stone fruits, orange flowers, white pepper and hints of wasabi. It is medium weight on the palate, beautifully structured with mouthwatering acidity and luscious, fresh citrusy white nectarine fruit. There’s a very alluring note of ginger that runs from the aroma through the palate. The wine has a 'juicy' quality---how can that be?! It’s almost 'Juicy Fruit'-like, not sweet but literally yummy and lively in the mouth. Long lingering crisp finish, a classic hillside Chardonnay. Our soils are mostly deep-red Aiken Stoney Clay loam, part of the Aiken, Kidd, Forward complex of soils which are volcanic-based, well-drained and deep. The underlying geology is the very old (250,000,000 years) Franciscan Series Assemblage, unique to California coastal ranges, which includes altered mafic volcanic rocks, deep-sea radiolarian cherts, sandstones, limestones, serpentines, shales and high-pressure metamorphic rocks, all of them faulted and mixed in a seemingly chaotic manner as a result of the Pacific Tectonic Plate subducting under the Continental Plate and shears both off into an aggregate mix. Overlying this formation is the much younger weathered Sonoma Volcanic soil that forms our soils of today. All our wines are made entirely from our dry-farmed estate vineyards surrounding the winery on top of Spring Mountain in the Napa Valley. Our goal is to make artisanal wines which are distinctive and are an expression of both the vintage and us, as vintners, but above all else, are wines which bring pleasure to the senses.

Technical Notes:

Appellation: Napa Valley

Sub-Appellation: Spring Mountain District

Varietal content: 100% Chardonnay

Fermentation: barrel fermented

Oak: 10 months in 50% new French oak

pH: 3.12 TA: 7.7 g/l

Alcohol: 14.0%

Cases produced: 1,001 cases

Winemakers & Winegrowers: Charles Smith, François Bugué & Stuart Smith

Ratings & Reviews:

94 Points - Owen Bargreen:
"The 2021 Smith-Madrone Chardonnay was sourced from their estate on Spring Mountain set on Aiken Stoney Clay loam. Aged for 10 months in 50% new French oak, this offers butterscotch and pie crust on the nose alongside shades of Japanese pear. The palate is rich and viscous with serious nerve. Lemon curd, shortbread and shades of papaya all meld together on the palate. This is a stunning edition of this wine that is drinking marvelously right now. Drink 2025-2032" (Jann 2025)

95 Points - Decanter (2019 vintage):

The Smith-Madrone Chardonnay over-delivers again with the 2019 bottling. This is one of the finest Napa wines in existence for $45. Rich, showy aromas of honeyed pear, candied ginger and a rich lemon cream eschew oak for purity of fruit. The palate is mouthwatering in its depth of flavour and flashes complexity and refinement. Rich lemon curd, beeswax and lanolin are accented against notes of nutmeg, cardamom pod and petrichor. It is gorgeous in its depth yet with ample elegance and finesse. A joyous wine that promises to develop further complexity with bottle age.