Every now and then you find a wine that fills the room with a beautiful bouquet of aromas immediately after being poured. Maybe it’s the scenery or maybe the time of day but Smith-Madrone’s Cabernet did just that for me, with red and black cherry, hard cheese rind, marionberry, and subtle leather notes. The body is all business with rich, complex blackberry, black cherry, boysenberry, black currant, cedar, and tobacco notes. Much of the complexity of this wine comes from the vineyard where Stu Smith has put in countless hours. No detail goes unconsidered from his duty as a sustainable farmer, row direction and spacing impacts on sunlight for each grape, to his own trellising system that manages canopy sunlight. His vineyard management is both scientific and ephemerally artful. This Cabernet Sauvignon can be aged further but I can also see why many Napa wine lovers would want to enjoy its raw power just the way it is.
Smith-Madrone Vineyards, Spring Mountain District – Napa Valley (California) Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
By Vince Simmon