Professor Bainbridge...on law, politics, religion, culture & food

Smith-Madrone Chardonnay (Napa Valley) 2003

Since last noted in 9/2005, this Spring Mountain-sourced hillside Chardonnay has continued to evolve in bottle. It's now offering an interesting mix of mature aromas and flavors, including almonds, caramel, and butterscotch, although there's still plenty of bright melon and stone fruit too. In my experience, this is a consistently age-worthy California Chardonnay, which is a rare beast nowadays, especially at this very reasonable price point (about $25/bottle). In this day and age of industrialized Chardonnays that taste like they were assembled in a lab from vats of artificial fruit and oak, we need to support this sort of authentic, artisanal winemaking. Go buy some. Grade: A-/A