One of those bottles which sit in the cellar SCREAMING at me to open them and I relish–and put off–and relish–and put off–trying the new vintage every time. One of the handful of California producers who GET IT RIGHT year-in and year-out; you just KNOW all your Riesling fantasies are going to come true.

Pale canary, just a shimmer of straw in a crystalline body. Funky drrrty grassiness in the nose, a full breath of mineral tip-toeing around petrichor and petrol, never committing to either in an infinite balance of slight citrus, lemongrass, sagebrush, and peachy-hazelnut fruit. Everything chopped up into tiny parcels feeding the grand scape of things: nothing massively jumping or hedonistic, each slight nuance firmly in its place.

Far more lavish on the tongue. Nectarine and apricot hit hard, full and round, smoky acidity coating all. Perhaps one of the more *flush* of vintages I have had: nothing meager here. Full rich decadent fruit edging on sweetness all over the mouth. The Dirty Denizens of Disaster combine again from the nose into the finish, chalky and brittle on one end but viscous and coating at the other. The infinite lack of finality is one of those things lovers of this variety cherish, and the brutality of it gives plenty of bitter woody fruit-gasm for ever and ever.

2016 SMITH-MADRONE Riesling Spring Mt. Napa Valley 12.8

https://www.smithmadrone.com/