| Region | |
|---|---|
| Subregion | U.S.A. > California > Napa Valley |
| Colour | White |
| Type | Still |
A barrel sample to be bottled around July 2018, the 2015 Chardonnay gives up peach blossoms, apricot preserves, honeycomb and croissant with touches of cashews and jasmine. Full-bodied, rich, opulent and seductive, it has a gorgeous creamy texture and very long, very spicy finish.
The 2015 Chardonnays are incredibly concentrated, as you might expect because of the low yields. He makes two cuvées – his Napa cuvée and the homage to his father, The Judge. Both are made from low-yielding Old Wente clonal selections. The 2015 Chardonnay, which is two-thirds Hudson clone and one-third Hyde clone, offers plenty of muscle, rich, extracted honeysuckle, orange blossom, tangerine oil and crushed/powdered rock in a full-bodied, rather large-scaled effort reminiscent of truly profound Grand Cru from Burgundy, the likes of which we don’t really see anymore. However, they certainly appear in increasing numbers from great terroirs in California. This wine has spent its time for nearly two years in 80% new French oak prior to being bottled unfiltered.
Part mystic, part great winemaker and long-time veteran of the Napa Valley wine scene, John Kongsgaard continues to turn out a bevy of exciting and compelling wines from his family’s vineyards high in the cool, rocky soils of Coombsville in the southeastern sector of Napa Valley.
