Napa red offers elegance and style for Father’s Day
We’ve waxed poetic about Smith-Madrone wines on the blog before – its riesling is one of the world’s best. But this red is the wine – because of the way the wine world works – that made the winery famous.
Taste it, and you’ll know why.
The Smith-Madrone Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 ($65, sample, 14.3%) demonstrates what happens when quality grapes meet top-notch winemaking and there is a vision for what the wine should be. That is, not just another 93-point wine, but a bottle that reflects who is making the wine and where the grapes are grown. In other words, wine the way it should be.
This is a stylish and layered red – 83 percent cabernet sauvignon, 12 percent cabernet franc, and five percent merlot – in which the cabernet franc adds a a surprising amount of structure. I didn’t know the blend when I tasted it, but – if I may boast – I figured there had to be something else there to lend that sort of backbone.
Look for all oft the characteristics that define a cabernet from Napa’s Spring Mountain District: tannins that don’t stick out and hurt the back of the mouth, what the tasting notes call zingy acidity, and lots and lots of dark fruit – some berries and some not – plus a touch of black pepper. Know that the wine needs food to stand up to all that it offers.
This is still a young wine, and though it’s more than drinkable now – yes, for Father’s Day – it should age for nicely for four or five more years.
