"Winemaker Bo Barrett's 2003 Chardonnay is one of the finest made to date. This is the classic non-malolactic style of Chardonnay that can age for a long time in certain vintages. It is never as showy or flamboyant as some of California's more Burgundian-styled, full-malo Chardonnays, but it is crisp, with more concentration than one might expect. The 2003 offers abundant quantities of lemon/lime-like fruit, hints of white pears, white currants, and green apples, a steely backbone, and noteworthy... Read more

Fresh aromas of pear, apple, mint, flowers and minerals. Sweet and full but bright and youthful, with good citrus and spice intensity and an absence of rough edges. Still, this is a bit less penetrating and minerally than the 2002, which winemaker Barrett describes as "less heat-driven." Barrett is now harvesting his chardonnay fruit at night, pressing whole clusters to get more volume in the wine, and moving the wine from tank to barrel without any filtration. Read more

Limited fruit and a smattering of oak emerge only slowly in the lean, lightly citric aromas of this clean, but small-scaled offering, and its sparse, slightly angular, mildly chalky flavors follow suit. If certainly serviceable with lighter seafoods, it lacks for richness and depth, and we expect a good deal more from a wine of this stature and price and from this winery. Read more

Community Tasting Notes (average 89.8 pts. and median of 90 pts. in 43 notes) Read more

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