Drink Window: 2024-2044
Blend: 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc
97 Points Tasting Panel
Nearing five years of age as this winery’s current release, this has settled into a sweet spot where oak, primary fruit and tannin are all singing in harmony. Savory undertones emerge to lend enduringly intriguing complexities as this warms and breathes in one’s glass. Neither pushy nor reticent, heavy nor light, this is one of Napa’s classiest Cabernets in a vintage that shows it in peak form. (September 2024)
95 Points Decanter Magazine
The classic Cabernet from Smith-Madrone may be the best value in the entire Napa Valley at $65. Old World elegance is ever present, along with a generosity of fruit balanced with great savoury herbs and streaking graphite minerality. Aromas of wild anise, pine bough and dried sage rise in the glass, framing dark mountain blueberries and a touch of pomegranate pulp. The palate is classically cool, medium-weight, and lively with an old-school Napa authenticity. Alpine berry fruits, spearmint and earthen umami elements combine with smoky clove and wild mountain scrub, framing a sense of place and mountain terroir from the dry-farmed vines at Smith-Madrone. Drinking window: 2024 - 2044. (April 2024)
Winemaker Notes
The aroma of the 2019 Smith-Madrone Cabernet Sauvignon immediately hits you with a luxurious combination of blue/black fruit. Cassis, black cherry, marionberry and black plums dominate. Dig in a little deeper and you will find subtle hints of black pepper, graphite, black olives and a range of spices. An experienced taster should also be able to identify the signature quality that 12% Cabernet Franc lends to this wine’s seductive nose. Medium weight on the palate, this is an exceptionally lively and elegant wine, loaded with delicious dark fruit. While not as tightly structured as the 2018, the 2019 Cab is more forthcoming and forward. It is bright, creamy and plush at mid-palate, then slowly tapers off to a long, lingering finish that is both succulent and zingy. It is a completely lovely wine that qualifies as serious fun in a glass. Our Spring Mountain pedigree insures deliciously integrated tannins and a long life-span. For fifty years our wines have been sourced from the same vineyards, pruned, cultivated and harvested in the same manner, creating artisanal wines which are distinctive and complex. Our goal is to produce wines which bring pleasure to all the senses.
We have limited stock of 2019 Smith-Madrone Spring Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon in stock today.
We may sell out, but there is more on order to arrive in 3-4 weeks.
Same vintage and price.
