Jason F.
Yelp
Everybody has a story, and at the tasting room that is Smith Story Wine Cellars their story is quite grand. Located in Bacchus Landing, which is a curated collective of world-class wineries, each with its own tasting room, Smith Story Wine Cellars is one of the newer kids on the block as they took their time to move to their new home and open in a corner location a year ago. Smith Story Wine Cellars is a woman-owned winery operated by the husband-wife team of Alison and Eric Story. Founded almost ten years ago and aided by the assistance of a Kickstarter campaign, Smith Story specializes in small-lot wines that sources its grapes from family-farmed vineyards in the Anderson Valley, Mendocino and Sonoma Counties, and the Rheingau region in Germany. Ironically what brought a friend and I here was that we were here to visit another winery in Bacchus Landing and noticed that Smith Story was open and taking in wine lovers, and after our visit to their neighbors, we walked over to Smith Story Wine Cellars to see if they were taking in any wine tasters for their tasting flight, despite the fact we didn't have any reservations. Dusty, their hospitality director was present and welcomed us in as she sat us down in two of their comfy chairs so we enjoyed four of their signature wines from their Current Release Tasting menu.
We began our wine tasting journey with a delightful splash of their 2021 Rosé, which was sourced from Mendocino County, and had a beautiful floral aroma on the nose and thanks to a low alcohol content gave this Rosé a serious poolside wine vibe. For our second pour, we enjoyed their 2018 'The Boonies' Pinot Noir, which was sourced from the Nash Mill Vineyard in Anderson Valley. With a lovely color to this wine and a silky smooth finish thanks to its lush earthy fruit tones, this Pinot Noir was the perfect red wine to have with any meal or sip all by itself. For our third pour we enjoyed their 2019 Cabernet Franc, which was sourced from Sonoma Mountain, and had notes of cherries, cinnamon and blackberries. More complex than their Pinot Noir thanks to its elegant finish, they recommend that you save this bottle of wine, if you should choose to do so as it will age like a fine wine. For our fourth and final wine pour, we enjoyed their 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon, which was sourced from the Pickberry Vineyard near the Sonoma Mountain. With an aroma of blackberries, raspberries, and rose petals among others, this lush red wine wasn't too strong in its tannins, which was nice, and would pair in any meal with any medium cooked meat.
We had a wonderful time at Smith Story Wine Cellars, as we were the only wine tasters in their homey wine tasting room and Dusty treated us as we were VIPs offering us any extra pours of any of the wines we tasted this afternoon. I loved their 2021 Rosé so much that a bottle being priced at a reasonable 28 dollars only added to my incentive in purchasing a bottle, and since I bought my bottle my tasting fee was waived, while my friend cost 25 dollars, which in this day and age is fairly reasonable. With a total bill of less than 56 dollars, they had two happy wine tasters, and I had a bottle of Rosé to take home, so it made this trip to Bacchus Landing a most productive one. Just imagine we probably would have never even decided to go to Smith Story Wine Cellars this afternoon had we not run into winemaker and cofounder Eric Story in his work overalls while walking to our original wine tasting destination. My only regret is we didn't get to see his and his wife Alli's golden-doodle Lord Sandwich who has been known to make appearances at their wine tasting room, and they even sell a coffee table book with him on the cover. Which just goes to show, everyone does indeed have a story to share, especially when your story is as rich and complex as it is at Smith Story Wine Cellars.
