Scot Andy Smith is California dreaming in Sonoma

Thedayimet Scottish winemaker Andy Smith in his hometown of Edinburgh to taste his latest vintage, the news from his adopted home in California was not so good.

The Russian River, which flows through Sonoma wine region and is named after Russian explorers who came looking for beaver pelts in early 19th century, had burst its banks for the first time in 20 years. Torrential downpours had left low-lying vineyards, wine villages, businesses, homes and cars underwater. Smith’s vineyards were unscathed, but some of his neighbour’s vines were badly flooded.

“Floods, mudslides, heat spikes and wildfires are just things we are having to learn to deal with in California as the climate becomes more extreme,” says Smith. “Most of the time living in Sonoma running an artisan winery is like living in Eden.”

Smith’s route to his Californian ‘Eden’ from Scotland is a lesson in perseverance, enterprise and ambition. Born and schooled in Edinburgh, Smith was a British swimming champion and represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. He studied publishing at Napier, but it was a part-time job stacking cases in Oddbins which sparked his interest in a wine career.

“I first visited California in 1992 and fell in love with the place,” says Smith. “I loved the feel, atmosphere and people – the wine industry was quite ‘folksie’ and less corporate then – it was an exciting innovative environment. I wanted to work there, but it was impossible to get a visa. So I headed to New Zealand and Australia instead, where I gained valuable vineyard experience,” he says.

In the late 1990s, armed with a winemaking degree from Lincoln University in New Zealand and work experience at Yalumba, Matua and Dry River wineries, Smith headed back to US to try his luck again. He picked up work with Ted Lemon at Littorai winery and at the newly-formed DUMOL winery (founded 1995) who had employed renowned consultant Paul Hobbs.

Hobbs employed Smith to help make pinot noir and chardonnay – and when the cabernet sauvignon winemaker left, Smith ended up making all the wines for DUMOL. Jump forward 18 years and Smith is now winemaker, viticulturist and partner of multi-million dollar DUMOL winery based in Windsor, Sonoma now backed by a leading financial entrepreneur. DUMOL (the name comes from the previous winemaker’s children Duncan and Molly) is unusual in that it owns 25 hectares of vineyards in the Green Valley subzone of Russian River which supplies 50 per cent of its needs – the rest comes from leased vineyards or bought-in fruit.

Like many Sonoma winemakers since the 1990s, Smith has been pushing the boundaries with vineyards nearer the coast to achieve elegance and refinement – his closest are four miles from the Pacific. What sets Smith apart from his winemaking peers is his vineyard experience and his relentless experimentation to achieve perfection.

“Californian wines still have great depth and extract – but their immediacy of texture really appeals to the American palate who like to drink young wines,” he says.

Whilst Smith makes DUMOL wines to be drunk in their youth for his domestic market, what our tasting demonstrated was that a few years’ bottle maturation in a cool Scottish cellar can develop his Californian wines into real beauties.