Earlier this year I reviewed the 2017 Chardonnay and Riesling from Smith-Madrone. Eddie and I really liked the wines and my two-bottle review is here if you would like to read it. To give you an idea of how much we appreciated these wines, here was my opening:
When was the last time you tried a new wine from Napa…but wait…let me re-phrase that: When was the last time you had a wine from Napa that you never had before, that has been around since the 1970s, and that you found to be damn good? Well I was what they say “today years old” when I had chance to review three new-to-me wines from Smith-Madrone…
Now it’s time to try the just-released 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon. I was really looking forward to sampling this new vintage, based on what I thought of the two I had already reviewed I hoped it would be just as great. I will share my tasting notes and then the notes from Smith-Madrone:
Eve’s Notes
Lovely bottle with a deep punt, the front label showing Estate Bottled, and the date they were established: 1971. Also made note of the 14.3% alcohol. Then I anxiously got down to the tasting. Noting the color first, it was opaque and reminded me of lush blackberries. After a few swirls I noted layers of blue and black fruit, dried cherries, forest floor, milk chocolate, toasted oak, spice tingling my nose and a very slight menthol/mint. Tasting the wine proved to be exactly what I was looking for: those same layers of both fresh and dried dark fruit, green peppercorns, followed by some spice – this time tingling my tongue – and a very long finish due to the drying tannins. Tried the wine again an hour later with food and it only improved. 94 Eve points indeed.
From Smith Madrone
Aromatically, the 2018 Smith-Madrone Cabernet Sauvignon fills your glass with a magic conjunction of red and black fruit, cedar, graphite and perhaps a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg.
The superb nose is followed by a palate sensation of impressive size, shape and amplitude. The wine is big and beautifully textured, but with such impeccable balance. The structure becomes a dimension in and of itself. The piercing, focused aroma leads to a solid core of dark Cabernet fruit. The wine is a veritable treasure trove of aroma and flavor; it finishes long and strong with moderate fine grain tannins that suggests a long and happy future.
It is often the case that the best older wines were once the best younger wines and we are betting our fifty years of experience that the 2018 Cabernet is further proof of the truth of this wise old adage.
WINE SPECS:
Vintage – 2018
Varietal – Cabernet Sauvignon
Appellation – Spring Mountain District
Eve Bushman has a Level Two Intermediate Certification from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET), a “certification in first globally-recognized course” as an American Wine Specialist ® from the North American Sommelier Association (NASA), Level 1 Sake Award from WSET, was the subject of a 60-minute Wine Immersion video (over 16k views), authored “Wine Etiquette for Everyone” and has served as a judge for the Long Beach Grand Cru and the Global Wine Awards. You can email Eve@EveWine101.com to ask a question about wine or spirits.
Held at the end of July under a blue bird sky in the stunning, private garden of Tika Squires, the exclusive gathering focused on the best of the best sparkling wines and champagnes, locally and internationally including Maison Jussiaume’s 2019 Oeil de Perdrix, a brut Méthode Champenoise cuvée of 50-50 Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and winner of the prestigious 2021 Sunset International Wine Competition for Best Sparkling.
Expertly crafted by eighth generation Beam family distiller, Freddie Noe, Basil Hayden Toast represents a reimagining of Basil Hayden with the use of a toasted barrel. In lieu of traditional rye grain, Basil Hayden Toast is made using US-grown brown rice, which imparts a hint of sweetness and a touch less spice, while a secondary toasted barrel finish draws out notes of caramelized sugar and toasted wood. After aging, the toasted brown rice bourbon is blended back with more brown rice bourbon, which has been rested in level four char barrels, to achieve a final product with complex flavor grounded in sweet vanilla and rich roasted notes. In an ever-expanding and often intimidating bourbon market, the light, approachable palette of Basil Hayden Toast offers a fresh perspective.
“Mikkeller Bar San Francisco was the second Mikkeller Bar we opened and the start of our entire operation globally, so that place means something very special to us. It is a bar that has done really well right from the beginning in 2013, and we are of course very happy and grateful that very soon we’ll be able to invite the old regulars and other beer lovers back into the bar again,” says Mikkel Bjergsø, founder and Creative Director of Mikkeller.
Sanford & Benedict Vineyard, 135 acres, was planted in 1971 by Richard Sanford and Michael Benedict. Through research and development, they determined what wine grape varieties were best suited for the area. Earthy soils, containing large deposits of limestone and diatomaceous earth, to sandy loam, coupled with daily ocean winds that tunnel up the transverse valley from Point Conception create the perfect environment to grow Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Each year the Texas Whiskey Festival hosts a competition to determine who has the best Texas Bourbon, Rye, and Malt Whiskey. With a panel of judges, we conduct the competition with a method known as blind judging. The brands and specific whiskeys they are tasting are unknown to the judges. “Our panel of judges smell and taste their way through each whiskey, rating the aroma, taste complexity, and finish,” says Co-Founder Jake Clements.
“As an unregulated category, there are a lot of ‘crapsinthes’ on the market that use artificial ingredients and dyes to achieve the end product. Absinthia absinthes are carefully crafted according to a vintage Swiss recipe using all-natural ingredients and no sugar,” said J. Absinthia Vermut, founder and creator of Absinthia’s Bottled Spirits. “We start with a neutral spirit made from biodynamic grapes from California, and distilled that with organic herbs – fresh wormwood (artemesia absinthium), star anise, fennel seed, and coriander seed – from an organic farm in Oregon. The result is an aromatic, brilliantly clear and modern take on absinthe, launched in 2018 as Absinthia Blanche.”
Smith-Madrone 2017 Riesling, Napa Valley, Spring Mountain District
