Stuart Smith

Template:Template otherTemplate:Wikidata image Stuart Smith (born June 1, 1948) is an American winemaker, oenologist, entrepreneur, and founder of the Smith-Madrone Vineyards and Winery in Napa, California.

Personal life and education

Smith was born and raised in Santa Monica, California. His father, Charles Frederick Smith, Jr., grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and served as an officer in the United States Forest Service. His mother, Margaret Fetherolf Smith, grew up in Ogden, UT. Smith's family is believed to be descended from the Fetherolf family: German farmers from the Palatinate (wine region) who came to America on The Good Ship Thistle in the early 1700s and settled in Pennsylvania.

Smith obtained his B.A. in Economics at University of California, Berkeley. and as a senior, became an intercampus exchange student, beginning his master’s degree work in viticulture and oenology at University of California, Davis. Smith was the department's teaching assistant for wine industry legends Maynard Amerine and Vernon Singleton from 1970-1971.

In 1971, Smith worked with André Tchelistcheff

He taught Viticulture and Enology at Santa Rosa Junior College and Napa Valley College.

Career

During his college years, Smith would often spend weekends in Napa Valley with friends. He became intrigued with the idea of planting a vineyard and starting a winery. At the age of 22 in 1971, while pursuing course work at UC Davis, he found a remote property at the very top of Spring Mountain District AVA in St. Helena and put together a partnership of family and friends, and acquired the land. George Cook homesteaded the property and then received the title for the property in 1884 (the winery has the original document signed by then-President Chester A. Arthur).

In his viticultural studies, Smith had been struck by Virgil’s treatise from 29 BC, The Georgics, where he details why “Bacchus amat colles,” translated as “Bacchus loves the hills.”

In walking the dense forest, Smith saw grape stakes that had been pushed out at a 45-degree angle by the trees; this was the visible proof that the property had been planted on in the 1880s as a vineyard and then abandoned.

After purchasing the land which Stuart believed possessed a unique “Terroir”, his brother Charles joined him and together they cleared the property and planted vineyards. Unusual at the time, they planted own-rooted vines. They also cultivated an ‘increase block,’ authorized by UC Davis, so that they could sell clippings that they grew.

They named the winery Smith-Madrone as a combined tribute to their family and to the plentiful, native Arbutus. Initially, they planted Riesling based on the mountainous profiles found naturally on the land, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Noir. In subsequent years, the winery added Cabernet Franc, and Merlot.

Given the rugged forested land and the steep slopes, Sturt became an expert in mountain vineyard grape growing and land management. In the early years of the winery, Stuart continued to teach viticulture and enology at Santa Rosa Junior College and Napa Valley College to make ends meet.

Today, Smith is an advocate for mountain grape growing and is often a speaker at wine industry panels on this topic. The Smith-Madrone vineyards are grown using the dryland farming technique - a sustainable practice in which the vines receive no additional water other than that which nature provides.

In 2009 he began a blog discussing biodynamics called Biodynamics is a Hoax, and maintained the blog until 2011.

In response to what he saw as a lack of credible information around Measure C, a Napa County ballot initiative, in the spring of 2018 he launched a blog, called Stop Measure C to be an online resource for the facts around the environmental issues being referenced by supporters of Measure C. Smith is often quoted in articles about the Napa Valley wine industry, land use issues, and mountain grape growing. Measure C was rejected by 51 percent of the vote.

Societies and Advocacy

In 1986, Smith chaired the Napa Valley Wine Auction and was one of the co-chairs of the 2006 Auction. He was a founding member of the G.O.N.A.D.S. (the Gastronomical Order for Nonsensical and Dissipatory Society), a group of Napa Valley vintners who started getting together for monthly lunches in the 1980s.

He served on Napa County’s Watershed Task Force for several years, appointed by the Board of Supervisors. In 2006 he was appointed again by the Board of Supervisors to serve on the Napa County General Plan Steering Committee, responsible for updating Napa's General Plan, a three-year project.

Smith has published a legal background piece through the Washington Legal Foundation regarding Napa Valley's land-use policies.

Awards

In 1979, Smith-Madrone earned a Gault Millau award for “Best Riesling in the World” and was named “Winery of the Year” for 2014 and one of the "Best Wineries in California" in 2015 by The Daily Meal. In 2018, Stuart was named one of “Wine’s Most Inspiring People” by Wine Industry Network

Personal Life

Smith married Julie Ann Kodmur on June 16, 1996 on the grounds of Smith-Madrone.

Boy Scouts & Lightning Accident

Stuart became an Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America) in his high school years and he returned to scouting when his two sons were growing up. He was the Scout Master for St. Helena’s Troop One before being named the Troop’s Committee Chair. In July 2005, Smith was leading a group of Scouts and adults on a hike in the Sierra Mountains when the group was unexpectedly struck by lightning. A young scout and an adult scout leader died in the tragic accident. This attracted national attention and later that summer, then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made a point of asking to meet the group when he was briefly in St. Helena. In the spring of 2006 the group was awarded the Citation for Heroic Act Honor by the Boy Scouts of America and the Citizen’s Award for Bravery by the United States Department of the Interior

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