Lancel Creek Vineyard, Chardonnay, 2018

A calm, assured nose of fennel, honeysuckle, passionfruit, fine smoke, cream and roasted peach gently but persistently floods from the glass in this complex Lancel Creek. Then on the palate, layers and waves of sleek stones, a seam of salt, pithy fruit; there's a real sense of elegance to Lancel Creek, a sense of confidence and completeness. Finishing fresh, precise, long, this feels like a wine of real intensity that needs a few years to unwind but that should give huge pleasure from 2022 onwards. No more than 30% new oak is used, all four year old French, with long slow native ferments and the lightest of lees fluffing during fermentation. Élevage takes place over 12 months in oak followed by a further 6 in tank. The Lancel creek vineyard was farmed and run by the late, legendary Ulysses Valdez. It’s just outside the town of Occidental, west facing, on the much sought after chalky goldridge soil. The clone here is Montrachet. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. About Lancel Creek Vineyard: Lancel Creek Vineyard is perched above the tiny hamlet of Occidental on the remote Sonoma Coast. This secluded, two-acre site was prepared, planted, and was tended by Ulises Valdez until his death. The pale, off-white Goldridge soil provides just enough nutrients and moisture for these densely planted vines to ripen a small amount of intensely aromatic and flavorful Chardonnay. The vineyard faces the Pacific Ocean, a mere five miles to the west. The combined influence of the cold Pacific and the warming afternoon sun produces a wine of incredible richness and sublime balance.