Riesling Reviews

Purely Domestic Wine Report by Doug Wilder, December 2013

Bright acidity

2012 Riesling

Bright fresh aromas of Granny Smith apples, conifer, lemon zest, mineral and blossom. The palate is bright and bracing acidity, citrus, petrol and graphite. Solid wine, tasted at room temperature. Drink 2014 – 2016.



The Tasting Panel Magazine, January 2014

Bold minerality

2012 Riesling

91 points: A modest mild entry of peach, tart apples and white grapes are a treat to the palate. The Riesling from 40-year-old vines, which are mostly dry-farmed, stainless steel-fermented and –aged, gets rounder as you keep sipping. It continues to stay restrained and coquettish and its flash of cleavage peeks out in its bold minerality flanked by a generous apricot finish.



BiggerThanYourHead blog by Frederic Koeppel, January 7, 2014

One of Top 50 Great Wines of 2013

2012 Riesling

“50 Great Wines of [The Year]” is a post I look forward to, even though its production is fraught with anxiety. “Fraught with anxiety!” you exclaim. “FK, you get to taste and write about terrific wines all year long! This task should be easy!” Look, my apostrophe-addicted friend, I started with a list of 76 potentially great wines and had to eliminate 26 of them. It was painful; it hurt my brain and my spirit. Even now, going back over this post just before I click the PUBLISH button, I am wracked by indecision and regret. On the other hand, life is about choices, n’est-ce pas, and we all have to knuckle down and make those choices, difficult as the job may be.

I reviewed 624 wines in 2013. How did I choose... By reading again every review I wrote over the past year, by weighing the description and the language, by revisiting my memory of the wine, by looking for wines that possessed that indescribable quality of charisma, that combination of personality and character that distinguish a great wine.


http://biggerthanyourhead.net/2014/01/07/50-great-wines-of-2013/

Bacchus & Beery blog by Roger Beery, January 2014

Consistently excellent

2012 Riesling

This 40 year old Spring Mountain Riesling vineyard is one of the few left in Napa Valley, producing a consistently excellent dry wine year after year. Enjoy its excellent food pairing qualities or on its own. A robust nose with aromas of white peach, pineapple and wet stone. A round mouth-feel balanced with juicy acidity and just a kiss of sweetness. Integrated flavors of ripe pineapple, honeycomb, apricot, red apple, minerality and pear. 


http://wine-blog.bacchusandbeery.com/wine-blog/winereview/white-wine/smith-madrone-vineyard-winery-riesling-2012/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=smith-madrone-vineyard-winery-riesling-2012

Creators.com, December 5, 2013, by Robert Whitley

Uncompromising integrity

Smith-Madrone Riesling

Smith-Madrone Vineyards is owned and operated by Stuart and Charlie Smith, who founded the winery 42 years ago on Spring Mountain, overlooking the Napa Valley village of St. Helena. They make three wines: cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay and riesling. The brothers have uncompromising integrity in the vineyards and the cellar, and they believe even great wine should be affordable. Hence, the Smith-Madrone wines are priced well below the market for estate-grown Napa Valley wines with so much history behind them.


http://www.creators.com/lifestylefeatures/wine/wine-talk/fab-five-holiday-values.html


NowAndZin blog by Randy Fuller

2012 Riesling

…the 2012 Riesling is a testament to fruit.  With ever so slightly less alcohol than last year’s Riesling, and a tad drier, the 2012 hits 12.5% abv with just over 0.4 residual sugar. Very pale in the glass, the nose simply bursts forth with juicy fruit.  Apples, citrus, pear and melon aromas all seem to be trying to elbow each other out of the way.  The promise of the fruity nose is delivered upon with a lovely palate, dry and tangy with brilliant acidity, but also adorned with the taste of red apples and lime peel.  It’s a food-friendly and refreshing white wine.


http://www.nowandzin.com/2013/12/big-fruity-napa-valley-riesling-from.html


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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