Sta. Rita Hills
Our second vintage of Clos Pepe chardonnay has once again produced an amazingly distinctive wine with which I am quite enchanted. It is awfully easy to get bored with chardonnay–there are so many of them out there that are not particularly interesting–but this one is different. It doesn’t have any of that typical California pineapple tropical fruit. It has more subtle and complex aromas that are difficult to pin down, and that is intriguing. The flavors aren’t what you might expect from the aroma. All that prettiness in the nose is followed by fullish mid-palate richness, but then it finishes with lean flavors of mineraliness, acidity and a touch of tannin. So nice to have a chardonnay that isn’t syrup-y and heavy! This one works!