Less than a year before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we were visiting the Napa Valley. We drove up Spring Mountain to meet with Stuart Smith of Smith-Madrone Vineyards. Stu is a favourite interview for us, as he always brings a very informed and very authentic perspective to what is happening on the ground. A ground he’s been familiar with for 5 decades. We thought he would be the perfect person to re-visit with for our latest video AdVINEture.
Stuart Smith
Harvest 2020 brought fire not just to their doorstep but on their property which you’ll see from the extraordinary footage included. We picked his brain on the challenges facing winemaking in Napa and what keeps him going 50 years later. You won’t want to miss the wine he names as what got him into winemaking (spoiler alert: it’s definitely not what you think!). Click on the link above to learn more about the wine world according to Stu.
The gorgeous view at Barnett Vineyards on Spring Mountain.
For the past two decades, we’ve been visiting the Napa and Sonoma Valleys almost annually. The two Valleys run parallel, separated by the Mayacamas Mountains in northern California. Both are terrific tourist destinations and among the top wine regions in the United States. While Sonoma is much larger in terms of vineyard area and variety of wines produced, Napa is the better-known region of the two with a world-class reputation built on Cabernet Sauvignon. For years, wine enthusiasts have debated the difference between the Cabernets produced on the Valley floor versus those produced from fruit higher up on the mountainsides.
The term “cult cab” gained great currency in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It was really a California phenomenon, though certainly other regions have their iconic wines. The California cult wines were predominately Cabernet Sauvignon and mostly came from Napa. The cult wines were so-named because of a nearly fanatical group of wealthy collectors who would pay huge prices to obtain bottles in a cult-like devotion to a group of small, quality-focused wineries.
Our latest Video AdVINEture features highlights from our visit last year to the Sonoma and Napa Valleys. We were fortunate to re-visit some favourites such as Talisman Wines, Laurel Glen Vineyard, and St. Francis Vineyards, along with first-time visits to Smith-Madrone, Grgich Hills, and Barnett Vineyards. While we wait for travel to be opened up again, we hope you’ll enjoy this montage of winemaker clips from a region we look forward to returning to as soon as possible!
Miljenko “Mike” Grgich [photo courtesy of Grgich.com]
May 24, 1976 is a date forever ingrained in the history of California’s wine industry. No one could have predicted how the outcome of one wine competition in Paris would cause such reverberations across the world. The “Judgement of Paris” not only put Napa Valley on the world wine map, it also marked the arrival of Croatian-born Miljenko “Mike” Grgich, the winemaker behind the 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay that earned the highest score of the white wines. More than 40 years since that historic tasting, 96-year-old Mike has ensured that his legacy of producing world-class wine continues at Grgich Hills Estate through his daughter Violet (President) and nephew Ivo Jeramaz (Winemaker/VP Vineyards & Production).
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