Riesling Reviews

Bigger Than Your Head blog by Frederic Koeppel

Excellent...verve and excitement

2012 Riesling

The color is a shimmery pale gold with fleeting green highlights; aromas of green apple, pear and lemon are infused with jasmine, lime peel and limestone. Flavors of roasted lemon, lychee and peach are fresh, ripe and lightly spiced, while crisp acidity and scintillating limestone and flint minerality lend the wine verve and excitement. Excellent.


http://biggerthanyourhead.net/2013/11/29/weekend-wine-notes-the-thanksgiving-wines/

Dan Berger's Vintage Experiences, Vol. XVII, Issue 40, November 21, 2013

Exceptional

2012 Riesling

Floral notes of citrus, blossoms and a faint earthy note to give the wine a more Pfalz-like minerality. Made with just the barest hint of residual sugar, so it is pretty dry, but so succulent you can serve it with spicy Asian foods.



Food & Wine Magazine, October 2013

Cult favorite from California

2012 Riesling

Cult favorite from California: Smith-Madrone

Brothers Stuart and Charles Smith have been making beautiful Riesling from a six-acre plot in Napa Valley for 40 years.


http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/worlds-best-riesling-wine-regions

Mary Ewing-Mulligan, WineReviewOnline, December 2013

"91 points: 'a rare bird' and more ..."

2012 Riesling

This 2012 Riesling, despite being technically dry, has such exuberant fruitiness that it does not taste at all severe or angular. The wine is medium-bodied, with crisp acidity that hides behind the wine's fruitiness but reveals itself in mid-palate depth and a long thrust of flavor across your mouth and into the finish. The wine's texture is silky, shot through with energy from the acidity. Aromas and flavors suggest white peach, green apple, lime and melon; if "minerality" were not a problematic descriptor these days, I would say that the wine also has that character, a chalk-like, tactile nuance. ...if you enjoy Riesling, you should try this wine and have fun characterizing it for yourself, because it is an American original.


http://www.winereviewonline.com/MEM_on_Smith_Madrone_Riesling.cfm

WineReviewOnline, by Linda Murphy

94 points

2012 Riesling

Simply put, this is a beautiful wine, produced by brothers who could replant their 40-year-old Riesling vines to more profitable Cabernet Sauvignon, yet refuse to do so. Charles and Stu Smith's Rieslings are known to live admirably long lives in the cellar, yet their 2012 is delicious now, and should remain so for 15 years or more. Seamless and balanced, it has the minerally, earthy, wet-slate character of classic Riesling, a trait that is nearly impossible to achieve in sunny California. The Smith-Madrone 2012 has perfectly ripe apple and yellow stone fruit flavors, hints of lime and candied ginger, and a long, minerally finish – at just 12.5 percent alcohol. This wine puts to rest the notion that California cannot produce classy Riesling; it takes devotion, and the Smith brothers have it.


http://www.winereviewonline.com/wine_reviews.cfm

Chicago Tribune by Bill St. John November 2013

"...old vines pack power into those aromas ..."

2012 Riesling

Old vines (40 years) pack power into those aromas and tastes of green apples, citrus and white peach, and close that finish with a zinger.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/sc-food-1115-wine-usa-riesling-20131120,0,7285973.story

California Grapevine Magazine, November 2013

"Highly Recommended"

2012 Riesling

Attractive, moderately intense, citrussy, green apple and stone fruit aroma with floral notes and hints of jasmine and honeysuckle; crisp, well balanced, citrus and white peach flavors with a clean, dry finish.

California Grapevine Magazine, November 2013, p. 87-88



St. Helena Star, November 20, 2013, by Catherine Bugue

"...has the right nerve ..."

2012 Riesling

If you want to know what all the hubbub is about this sommelier-loved grape, taste this dry-style Riesling from Smith Madrone, which has been planted up on their mountain property since the early 1970s. It has the grape's renowned nerve, structure and a range of flavors: an orchard of different apple varieties, herb and minerality.


http://napavalleyregister.com/star/business/smith-madrone-riesling-spring-mountain/article_2be5d54e-5211-11e3-b77d-0019bb2963f4.html

Le Sommelier Fou blog, by David Pelletier, August 2013

...a beautiful minerality...

2012 Riesling

Pale yellow color with green highlights, beautiful tears on the glass. Aromas of stone dust, white pepper, tangerine, peach and orange zest. Very good acidity, flavors of lime, blood orange and stone, which imparts a beautiful minerality to the ensemble. Very long. Drink now or within seven to eight years.


http://lesommelierfou.com/degustationstastings/etats-unis/californie/smith-madrone-riesling-spring-mountain-district-napa-valley-2012/
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