Ep 253: Stu Smith of Smith-Madrone Vineyards Talks About 48 Years in Napa Valley

Wine for Normal People

Alcohol, Lifestyle, Arts, Education, Food, Wine, Dining, Grapes

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 4 November 2018

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In May 1971, with a partnership of family and friends, Stuart Smith bought a vineyard on Spring Mountain, which today is Smith-Madrone Vineyards and Winery. He was 22 years old and had just received his B.A. in Economics from UC Berkeley and was taking classes towards his Master's in Viticulture at UC Davis. 48 years later, Smith-Madrone is going strong and Stu is full of ideas, opinions, and perspective!

Here are the notes:

Stu tells us how a 22 year old viticulture student took a trip to Napa and wound up buying what would become Smith-Madrone
We discuss what Napa was like in the 1970s v. today
We chat about what drew Stu to Spring Mountain and the effort it took to restore this pre-phylloxera vineyard area, atop Spring Mountain, to a modern vineyard and winery
We discuss why Smith-Madrone grows what it does -- including Riesling
Stu talks about why Smith-Madrone has stayed small
And finally Stu shares his theories on why organic, biodynamic and conventional farming are all incredibly problematic types of agriculture

Thanks to Smith-Madrone, whose wines I love and who joined us for Underground Wine Events, DC!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Thanks for
0:08.0	downloading Wine for Normal People Radio.
0:10.0	It's the podcast for people who like wine
0:12.0	but not the snobbery that goes with it.
0:14.0	I'm Elizabeth Schneider, a certified Silmaier and certified specialist of wine.
0:20.0	And I'm MC Ice, just a wine-loving normal person.
0:23.0	Before we get started on this fantastic podcast with a pioneer of the Napa Valley.
0:29.0	Stu Smith started in the 1960s, he has a lot to say, lots of really cool and interesting opinions he has been around a long time and you should be excited to hear his perspectives.
0:41.0	But I did want to say we had an incredibly successful underground wine
0:46.2	event in Washington, D.C. of which Smith Madron was part. Everyone who came had a fantastic time, I think we had a great time and it was so nice to meet all of you who were able to come.
0:58.0	Now if you weren't able to come and you still want to try some of these wines which really you can't get
1:03.2	anywhere else because some of these guys make 200 300 cases of wine. You go to
1:08.1	underground wine events.com and click on the wine offerings tab and you can get six packs it's a
1:16.4	twenty dollar flat shipping rate no matter what you buy how many cases you buy or
1:21.1	half cases there's four different offerings, same as last time.
1:24.5	We hope you'll take a look.
1:25.7	Like I said, this is an opportunity to try wines.
1:27.6	You really can't get anywhere else.
1:28.9	Some of these guys don't even have tasting rooms this time.
1:30.9	So Underground Wine Events.com and go to the wine offerings tab if
1:36.0	you have any questions just let me know I'll also be putting it out in the
1:39.5	newsletter and thank you everybody who made this a giant success.
	...

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