2019 Tidal Break Vineyard, Sonoma Coast Chardonnay Magnum

This far coast vineyard sits in the lee of a forbidden Buddhist monastery, just to the North of the Hirsch Vineyard. It is a series of undulating slopes full of luminescent blue volcanic rock, mixed with shale and sandstone. This area is seismic and still very much on the move. The North American plate is colliding with the San Andreas Fault creating an uplift soil that is unique in all the world, and well suited for viticulture. The precipitous slopes require a big labor crew who render all the Certified Sustainable farming work by-hand. The wine was a hell child in the cellar—reductive, stuck ferment (!), restarted, slow to complete malo—but once bottled has bloomed into one of our favorite chardonnays we have ever produced. Razor sharp with 3.1 pH is reminds us...dare I say...like the wines we drink from Chablis. Going to be fun to track this one in the cellar.

AROMA brie rind, lilac, underripe pear

FLAVOR golden apple, seashell, cilantro

FOOD PAIRINGS crab Louie, scallop crudo, lemon thyme risotto