Winemaker Notes
The aroma is expansive and penetrating. Oak and citrus and toast and nuttiness are all beginning to knit together into an aromatically expressive whole. The minerality and Meyer lemon top notes are a strong hint of what’s to come. On the palate, the wine is an impressive mouthful; what the aroma leads you to expect, but more. It is opulent and creamy, yet laced with an enlivening acid that seamlessly leads to a crisp refreshing finish. All in all, this is a terrific wine for food as well as a delicious wine to drink for its own sake.
Professional Ratings
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The Somm Journal
From steep, dry-farmed estate vineyards with rocky soil on top of Spring Mountain, this white aged ten months in French oak and offers aromas of butter pecan and lemon oil. Rich notes of banana cream pie, lemon verbena, salted pear, and honeyed peach make for a layered, structured palate. The acidity performs well and the finish is crisp
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Wine Enthusiast
This barrel-fermented white opens in oaky intensity before settling into flavors of kiwi, lime and green apple. Complex and structured, it has a graceful heartiness and offers tremendous value for the quality.
Editors' Choice -
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2017 Smith-Madrone Chardonnay is enticing, complex, and stylish. TASTING NOTES: This wine shows attractive evolution in its aromas and flavors. Enjoy its tart citrus, earthy, and oaky nuances with rabbit terrine. (Tasted: March 22, 2022, San Francisco, CA)
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
Above the town of St. Helena on the eastern slopes of the Mayacamas Mountains sits the Spring Mountain District.
A dynamic region, its vineyards, cut by numerous springs and streams, vary in elevation, slope and aspect. Soils differ throughout with over 20 distinct types inside of the 8,600 acres that define the appellation. Within that area, only about 1,000 are planted to vineyards. Predominantly farmed by small, independent producers, the region currently has just over 30 wineries.
During the growing season, late afternoon Pacific Ocean breezes reach the Spring Mountain vineyards, which sit at between 400 and 1,200 feet. Daytime temperatures during mid summer and early fall remain slightly cooler than those of the valley floor.
Spring Mountain soils—volcanic matter and sedimentary rock—create intense but balanced reds with lush and delicate tannins. The area excels with Bordeaux varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot and in some cooler spots, Chardonnay.