A varietal Chardonnay from seven great Russian River properties, including Olivet Lane, Bacigalupi, and Martinelli. The fruit was harvested ripe but not too (at 22 to 23 degrees Brix), then pressed, inoculated with Montrachet yeast, and barrel-fermented in 40 percent new French oak. After eight months in barrel, selected lots were blended to make this cuvée.
The result is a shimmery yellow elixir with the scent of wet clay, petrichor, and graphite. But it turns its face to the sun, too, and the body is a silken mouthful of yellow apple and citrus pith and daffodils. Texturally exotic, it suggests satin at the leading edge, linen at the center, and suede as it slips away, the whole embroidered with a filigree of herbs and spices: tarragon, ginger, preserved lemon, cardamom.
A gorgeous, earth-anchored Chardonnay that seems somehow to float above the earth, too.
14.2% abv | $35 (sample)
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