Why it matters
The producer
Charles Smith spent a decade managing rock bands across Europe, based in Denmark, before a 1999 road trip to Walla Walla put him in the path of a winemaker who redirected everything. Two years later he released 330 cases from the back of a 1987 Astro van. That was the beginning of what is now one of Washington State's most widely distributed wine operations.
The label sits under House of Smith, renamed as such in 2021, and draws grapes from five Washington appellations rather than a single estate. The range is built around two flagships: Kung Fu Girl Riesling and Boom Boom! Syrah. Both carry the same energy as the origin story: direct, loud, and built for a wide table.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Washington State sits at roughly the same latitude as Burgundy, but the climate is defined by the Cascade Range rather than Atlantic weather. The mountains block Pacific moisture, leaving the eastern growing regions dry and sunny with cold nights. That gap between daytime heat and overnight chill keeps acidity in the grapes even when sugar accumulates.
Sourcing across five appellations lets the range hold both Riesling and Syrah at their respective best rather than compromising either to a single address.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Charles Smith Wines operates without estate vineyards, sourcing fruit from growers across the five appellations. The winemaking philosophy includes zero pesticides or herbicides in the vineyard and the use of native yeast in the cellar, choices that show in the wines as more textured and alive rather than technically smoothed.
Kung Fu Girl Riesling is kept fresh and unoaked. The goal is to preserve the stone-fruit aromatics and mineral line that come from the cool-climate Washington Riesling sites, particularly Ancient Lakes. No oak contact, no extended maceration.
Wines to know
The range in view
Kung Fu Girl Riesling is a dry Washington State Riesling with no residual sweetness. The label is a deliberate push against the American habit of reading Riesling as sweet: the wine is built on white peach, mandarin orange, and apricot, with a mineral core and bright acidity that keeps the fruit from reading as heavy. It is widely available and priced for everyday use.
Boom Boom! Syrah launched in 2007. It is a full-bodied Washington State Syrah co-fermented with Viognier. The blackberry and white pepper core is joined by smoked meat notes and the floral lift that Viognier contributes. Tannins are firm and the palate is broad. The wine carries the heat and power of Wahluke Slope fruit alongside enough aromatic complexity from the Viognier to keep it from reading as flat.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Kung Fu Girl Riesling is the right first bottle. It is dry, which surprises anyone who expects American Riesling to be off-dry or sweet. The white peach and mandarin orange aromatics are immediate and easy to read. Then the acidity arrives and changes the frame: this is a serious white wine made for the table, not a fruit-forward pour for sipping. Start here to understand what Washington State does with cool-climate white grapes and why Charles Smith Wines built a national audience on the back of this one label.