Wine Review: Smith-Madrone Chard Take 2 (how it got converted from a SINK to a DRINK...)

I recently did a review of the wines from Smith-Madrone, a small winery located on Spring Mountain  in the Napa Valley. If you read it you know I loved the Cabernet and thought the Riesling was good but I hated the Chardonnay. 

Well, the winery contacted me and said they thought the bottle I reviewed didn't sound like their wine. They sent a new one and sure enough, it was true.

So we did an audio review of the wine.Download it on iTunes or Click here to get to the Podbean Player.

...and here are the NEW tasting notes:

The Wine: 2010 Smith-Madrone Chardonnay


Where it's from: Spring Mountain in the Napa Valley of California

Grape:  100% Chardonnay

Alcohol: 14.4%

Price: $30

Color: Rich brass, darker from the oak aging of the wine

Smell: Oak, caramel, vanilla, a salty mineral smell, lime, green and red apple, lemon notes.

Taste: Great acid balances the moderate oak and lush tropical fruit flavors. The wine tasted like pineapple and guava, but also had acidic fruit notes like lemon and lime. There was a good hit of wood, butterscotch and vanilla flavors but the wine had a lot going on so everything was in balance. It was lightly creamy and had a very light mouthdrying texture from the oak tannin. 

Drink or Sink?: What was once a sink is now a drink! This wine is a great example of a moderately oaky, high acid Chardonnay. A great wine for people seeking balance in their Chardonnay. Very well made wine and GREAT with fish!


A few bonuses in the review: We discuss what could have happened to the bottle and why it was bad the first time around, and a bit about the Spring Mountain style and what to expect from these wines in general.