This is Grgich’s anchor Chardonnay, with nearly 24,000 cases made in harvest 2014. Farming is organic, and the fruit hails from the estate’s vineyards in American Canyon and Carneros, near San Pablo Bay, where the fog acts as refrigerator. The fruit was picked at about 23° Brix and fermented and aged in French oak, 40 percent new.
At first it has a slightly reductive scent of wet clay, lemon peel, and oily sage, but with air it softens and starts to yield honeydew. The palate remains sharp and juicy, very pointed, with a mineral vein down the middle. Stony, serious, but lifted by its lemony acidity.
Pair it with creamy dishes, lemon-tinged cuisine, tagines or curries, crackly fish, roasted poultry, young cheeses.
14.1% abv | $43 (sample)
