2022 Smith-Madrone Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Mountain District Napa Valley 750 ml

Perched high on the Spring Mountain District, Smith-Madrone is one of the quintessential Cabernets grown on this unique, sought-after mountain terroir—and the work of one of the finest producers in Napa Valley.

The estate sits on backbreaking, dry-farmed slopes between 1,300 and 2,000 feet, planted in rocky red volcanic soils. It’s a stressful environment for a vine—little water, steep pitches, cool mountain air—and that’s exactly how Stu Smith wants it, coaxing small, intensely flavored grapes from vines he and his brother Charlie first planted in the early 1970s.

If you already love Smith-Madrone, then you know. If you’ve never had the pleasure, know that it belongs in the company of old-school mountain icons like Mt. Veeder’s Mayacamas and Howell Mountain’s Dunn.

Years ago, Decanter held a retrospective tasting at Smith-Madrone—wines the magazine felt had never gotten the attention they deserved. In the writeup that followed, the publication summed up why California Cabernet lovers are so enamored with the estate:

“In many ways, Smith-Madrone is a throwback to an era before wineries resembled Tuscan villas, before cult Cabernets cost $500-plus a bottle, and before Ferraris lined streets in St. Helena far below.” We don’t mind ogling the occasional villa or Ferrari—but the sentiment rings true: this is a producer proudly out of step with the excesses of modern Napa.

That character is why Smith-Madrone has remained a favorite of smart buyers, with most of its relatively small production of estate Cabernet going to local collectors and a handful of top restaurants in Napa and New York. Founders Stu and Charlie Smith seem more than content to hunker down on the mountaintop, as far from the flashy scene in the valley below as they can get. But the critics have found them, as have wise collectors.