The Wines / 2024 Chardonnay
Current release · California
White peach, crisp pear and lemon curd. Enough barrel to give it a shoulder, not enough to give it a costume — a Chardonnay for people who quietly gave up on Chardonnay.
750ml · 12×750ml case · SRP $22 · UPC 850055125162
Tasting
White peach and Bosc pear first, then lemon curd, wet stone and a thread of toasted hazelnut from the barrel portion.
Rounded but not heavy. Orchard fruit through the middle with citrus oil and a saline snap at the edges; texture from lees rather than sugar.
Long, gently creamy, closing dry on preserved lemon and almond skin.
In the cellar
Whole-cluster pressed and settled cold, then aged six months in concrete egg, with five percent in new French oak for weight and breadth.
That is where the roundness comes from without tipping into butter: texture from time and lees, with the new oak kept to a small, deliberate portion.
| Vintage | 2024 |
|---|---|
| Appellation | California |
| Composition | 100% Chardonnay |
| Sourcing | Sonoma & Mendocino counties |
| Aging | Concrete egg, 6 months |
| Oak | 5% new French oak |
| Alcohol | 13.5% |
| pH / TA | 3.45 / 6.0 g/L |
| Residual sugar | 2.3 g/L |
| Closure | Cork |
| Winemaker | Robert Smith |
At the table
Skin-on, lemon in the cavity. The default argument for this wine.
Dungeness, lobster roll, anything where richness needs an acid counterweight.
Risotto, tartlets, roasted maitake — the barrel portion meets the earth halfway.
50–54°F — warmer than instinct says. Drink through 2029.
Texture should come from time and lees, not from a barrel bill.Robert Smith · Winemaker
Downloads
Tech sheet and high-resolution bottle shot for the 2024 Chardonnay.
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