Dear Friends,

Before I get too far into this let me just say a few things:

1. This post concerns easily the best chardonnay we have ever produced.
2. Lot 73 is starting to loosen up and it just got a 90 score in the Wine Enthusiast (click here to find stores near you)
3. If you haven’t had Lot 67 and you like either California syrah or Aussie Shiraz, you gotta try this wine. Online only.
4. Lot 33 is still sleeping, don’t touch.
5. Lot 91 oak is just on the tail-end of integration.
6. If you like big, fat, rich oaky reds with plenty of maturation and ready to drink now, look no further than the Lot 99 2004 Lake County Cab Franc. This small production will release to NorCal Costco’s in the next month or so, otherwise it’s online only.

OK – onto the good stuff!

Having fallen in love with Margaret River Chardonnay during our last trip to Australia, I started to poke around the region and see who might want to make some wine for us. One lead in particular brought us to an American owned grower group that, while they hadn’t any grapes or wine to sell, they did have an ultra-premium concept project of $30 chardonnay that hadn’t gotten much retail support – it was bottled in shiners would we take it off their hands? We were a bit skeptical of 2004 chardonnays but what the heck, we’ll try anything.

Glad we did – we were blown away at how these wines had held up, fresh and bright and drinking beautifully. If you have ever had Cullen Chardonnay then you will know what these wines aspire to: low yielding vines from the best blocks, carefully harvested, hand sorted, and chilled overnight before gentle whole cluster crushing. Only free run juice went into the 50% new, 50% used top quality French oak for fermentation. The wines were aged 18 months in barrel and then only the best barrels chosen for the final blend.

We have two wines, a small Lot of Margaret River Chardonnay (340 cases) and a larger production (1800 cases), Lot 97 Chardonnay Western Australia, a regional blend of sub-appellations Manjimup, Blackwood Valley, Pemberton and others. All of the wines were made in the EXACT same way (including use of new oak and ageing times) to preserve their typicity and make for the best blending components. The small Lot of Margaret River Chard will be website only as we only have about 300 cases, the larger Lot will find its way into super-demo’s in Costco’s around California but will be available online as well.

As I mentioned previously, Lot 92 2004 Margaret River Chardonnay ($14) is SPECTACULAR and, according to unanimous consensus in our office, the best white wine we have ever produced. Even if you don’t normally drink chardonnay, you ought to try this – winemaker David says this wine compares to burgundies at 5x the price. Gorgeously structured with perfectly integrated fruit and oak, utterly seamless. The nose soars out of the glass with elegantly rendered vanilla, almond and lemon verbena notes. On the palate the wine is full bodied but well supported showing spicy nutmeg, butterscotch and almond. What’s amazing about this wine is its structure, everything’s in perfect balance. Compare at $30-50.

Lot 97 Western Australia Chardonnay ($13) is no red-headed stepchild to Lot 92. A regional selection, these Lots were made in the EXACT same fashion as Lot 92 in every way down to their bottling on the same day. If Lot 92 is our best chardonnay, the Lot 97 is certainly among our top 3. Baked apple pie on the nose with notes of yeast and smoky gunflint (gunpowder?). Have you ever heard of botrytis? Clearly some of the clusters had botrytis and it shows adding additional sweetness and complexity to the nose. Carmel crust, apricot and toasty oak round out the mid-palate. Fantastic acidity and overall structure with, again, perfectly integrated oak – clearly, however, these lots come from a slightly warmer climate. An apt comparison would be the western reach of the Sonoma Coast appellation versus the slightly more inland Russian River Valley. Compare at $30-50.

That all for now folks.

Cheers!

Cameron