Stuart Smith of Smith Madrone

The Swirl Suite

Brothers Stuart and Charles Smith are the vineyard managers and winemakers of Smith-Madrone Winery. Also in the family attic is the Fetherolf family, German farmers from the Palatinate region, who came to America on the Good Ship Thistle in 1730. The name for the winery came as a tribute to the Smith brothers who pursued their dream and to the Madrone trees which distinguish the property.
In May 1971, with a partnership of family and friends, Stuart Smith bought the 'terroir' which today is Smith-Madrone Vineyards & 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. In trying to find land to plant vineyard in the Napa Valley, through a family friend he explored a forest on the remotest and highest part of Spring Mountain and discovered that the land had been a vineyard in the 1880s and in fact had been part of the wagon trail route between Napa and Santa Rosa. Today he is respected for his expertise and leadership as a mountain vineyardist.
Stuart was born and raised in Santa Monica. Every summer during college, from 1966 1970, he worked as a lifeguard on the beaches in Santa Monica. He started at Tower #1 just north of POP Pier, spent some time at the tower just south of the Santa Monica Pier (Muscle Beach) and later spent most of his lifeguarding time north of the Santa Monica Pier. One summer Stu worked on the rescue boat and became friendly with the boats operator, Lt. Tommy Zahn. Tommy was a legend in the surfing world and also famous for winning the Honolulu-Molokai paddle board race twice, first at age 20 and then again at age 40. Tommy was also famous as Marilyn Monroes true love. In 1971 the Santa Monica Lifeguards were folded into LA Countys lifeguard program.
While pursuing his master's at UC Davis, Stuart was the first teaching assistant for wine industry pioneers Maynard Amerine and Vernon Singleton in 1970-1971. He taught enology at Santa Rosa Junior College and Napa Valley College; he has chaired the 1986 and 2006 Napa Valley Wine Auctions. He is an active 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 sit on Napa County General Plan Steering Committee, responsible for updating Napa's General Plan, a three-year project. Stu has also served as auctioneer for an Omaha (NB) charity auction for many years.
Stuart served as Scout Master for St. Helena's (Boy Scout) Troop One for many years and continues as the Troop's Chair today. He is an avid canoeist, having canoed through the Quetico Wilderness in Canada many times and often canoes the Klamath and Trinity Rivers in California. He has five children and four grandchildren.
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