Curly St. James was founded by second generation Napa Valley winemaker, Sam Smith. Each vintage is grown on the steep volcanic hillsides of the Mayacamas Mountains in Napa Valley. Fewer than 140 cases per vintage are produced.
About Sam
Born and raised in the town of St. Helena within the Napa Valley, Sam spent much of his childhood working alongside both his dad and uncle at Smith-Madrone, the family’s vineyard and winery. Along with all the fun winemaking activities such as stomping grapes and driving tractors, his dad taught him that making great wine starts in the vineyard. To truly understand the vintage, an intimate relationship with the vines is needed. This deep connection of winemaker to vineyard is the foundation of Sam’s philosophy and can be experienced in every bottle.
After graduating from UC Santa Barbara, Sam traveled to learn from many of the world’s best winemakers. His journey took him from Washington State to Australia, New Zealand, and on to Germany. With a world of winemaking under his belt, Sam went back to his Napa Valley roots ready to introduce his own expression of vine to vintage with Curly St. James.
“Working in a family business has its own unique challenges, and Smith-Madrone is no different. Sometimes you just need a reminder not to take yourself too seriously, and at Smith-Madrone that reminder was Curly, our Springer Spaniel. He was always dependable for a laugh, and loved running through the vineyards, greeting guests and working by our side.
St. James is the patron saint of reason and patience; both qualities that are critical ingredients in making great wine. My wine is a tribute to these virtues and to those that paved the way to make my adventure possible.”
- Sam Smith
About The Ostentatious Parlay
While working as a sommelier in Tasmania, I was asked by visitors from the United States to describe the process it takes to make a bottle of wine. It was a great question; the truth is that it’s a long list of processes that most of us never consider when enjoying our favorite bottle.
I explained prosaically that it begins with acquiring great land with suitable soil, and then planting the right vines. Next, wait several years for the vines to mature, harvest the grapes, crush them and make the wine. Follow this with bottling, waiting several more years to let the wine mature, and then you have something you can begin to sell. Each stage counts on the success of the previous one, and everything can be lost at any step along the way. It’s a huge gamble comprised of many individual bets.
One guest replied with the perfect synopsis of winemaking, “That’s quite the bet. With all the moving parts it’s a parlay really, in fact I’d say it’s an ostentatious parlay.”
There it was, the journey from land to bottle – the ultimate Ostentatious Parlay.