Smith-Madrone Spring Mountain Riesling 2021

Riesling used to be widely planted on Napa Valley's many hillside vineyards, but has largely been ripped up due to the vacillating nature of consumer preferences. However, some steadfast producers - such as the Smith brothers at their winery high up on Spring Mountain - have defied prevailing trends, believing in the potential of Riesling in America's most famous viticultural region.

Producing this Riesling in much the same way they have since the early 1980s, they grow it on their steepest vineyards. Dry and bursting with aromas of lemon, orange flowers and flint stone, this continues to rank amongst our favourite Rieslings from anywhere in the world.

94/100 - Year in, year out, this is one of Napa’s most fascinating whites — a Riesling from a true Napa icon, and a genuine rarity in the Valley. Sourced from the winery’s high-elevation, dry-farmed vines atop Spring Mountain, it opens with lovely acacia honey and acacia-wood tones, nuanced by white florals, dried ginger and a faint flicker of that flinty petrol note we all know and love in Riesling. The light-to medium-bodied palate is rife with the fresh, juicy squeeze of lemon, grapefruit and tangerine, framed by the grippy texture of biting into citrus pith and underscored by plenty of zesty acidity. It finishes on a wet-stone mineral snap that keeps the wine vivid and refreshing. - Jonathan Cristaldi, Decanter