“Good enough to put the entire category on notice”

WineX tastes the 2019 Estate Riesling:

April 25, 2025

2019 Smith-Madrone Riesling Spring Mountain, Napa Valley
You know that rare, almost scandalous thrill when someone who’s supposed to play it safe just throws down a performance so electric it resets the whole damn game? That’s the 2019 Smith-Madrone Riesling.

In a Napa world obsessed with flexing Cab muscle, this Riesling hits like a whispered secret — cooler, hotter, and way more interesting. From the heights of Spring Mountain, where the air is thin and the vines are thick with attitude, Smith-Madrone’s latest offering isn’t just “good for a Napa Riesling” — it’s good enough to put the entire category on notice. This is crisp green apple and wet stone foreplay, followed by a citrus-soaked kiss that somehow manages to feel both pure and wicked.

Best Riesling I’ve sipped in seasons. No contest. Like getting a private invite to Dua Lipa’s afterparty when everyone else is still lined up at the velvet rope. She’s reinventing pop glamor with effortless cool — and that’s exactly what Smith-Madrone is doing for Napa Riesling.

Sip it slow, sip it scandalous. Sip it with someone who knows how to get into a little weekend trouble.
This wine didn’t come to behave. It came to steal your Friday night.

Wine X Sez: XXX— and that’s me pretending to be modest.