Jeroen Koenen

9.5

White peach, citrus, smoky/stony reduction of flintstone and struck match.
Combining wonderful freshness with a medium- to full-bodied structure.
Superb! — 11 hours ago

Lee Pitofsky

9.5

Pristine bottle so much power and life left and still fruit definition. Drinks like first growth Pauillac. What a special era for Napa wine. — a day ago

Jeroen Koenen

9.3

Clean apple and peach notes, some oaky/resinous funk. After an hour hints of matchstick and toast occur.
Very Nice.

Gaining complexity and depth after extended aeration. Up a notch, — a month ago

Richard Baum

9.5

Tried at James Suckling — a month ago

Doug Powers

9.2

Dried redfruits (cranberry mostly?) aromas and flavors, resolved tannins, good acidity, mature but shows good length, should be great with the Wild King Salmon I’ll be grilling soon for our dinner!! — 7 days ago

with Jim

Ana Bumgardner

9.3

2018 vintage with homemade pizza on 7/11/25. Really really good wine!! — 10 days ago

Jay Kline

9.4

Opened prior to dinner and enjoyed over the course of a few hours. The 2005 Blanc pours a deep straw color with medium+ viscosity. On the nose, the wine is developing with powerful notes of ripe and tart orchard fruit: grapefruit, Meyer lemon, verbena, crème brûlée, honeysuckle, some pyrazines, a touch grassy, and warm wet rocky earth. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose where the fruit comes across a touch more round (vintage playing role) but the acid is definitely giving more than adequate lift. The finish is long. The texture is viscous. Drink now through 2035. — a month ago

Dave

8.9

Haters gon' hate. This is one of my go-to grocery store picks. It's super cheap ($12), and it tastes like Merlot.
Smashing some burgers and listening to the Cranberries. — 15 days ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.2

After reading the story of this producer, I inspired to try it. Especially, at $59.99 for a quality Napa Cabernet. These two brother’s are true pioneers of the Napa Valley. They do their own thing. Don’t follow trends and are not aggressive with their bottle price, nor do they really wish to. More rare than common in today’s Napa Cabernet market. I have a lot of respect for that and Napa Pioneers.

This also drinks pretty well for a young Napa Cabernet. I was expecting bigger/bolder based on write up. Not that this won’t benefit from cellaring.

The fruits are nicely ripe; blackberries, black raspberries, dark cherries, strawberries, cherries & blueberry hues. I was expecting more teeth. Think it is showing the finesse & balance of most 21’s I’ve had. Dark spice, grilled meats, light black pepper, barrel dust, dry tobacco, leather, savory herbaceousnes, moist clays, dry crushed rocks, cola, flower bouquet of red, blue & purple fresh flowers, rainfall acidity with a well balanced, softly structured, elegant finish that lasts just over a minute and lands crushed rocks and touch of spice.

It will be interesting to see if this shows more in 5 years.

Photos of; Smith Madrone vineyards and brothers Stuart and Charles Smith — a month ago

Ashraf Attal

9.2

Yasmine’s family — a month ago