Alpine Vineyard, Chardonnay, 2023
The Alpine Chardonnay has it all – a wine of Grand Cru complexity, textural charm and Zenlike balance. It opens with aromas of Sicilian lemons, ocean breeze, crushed stones, fine oak, herbs, wild grasses, and peaches. Very focussed and intense, yet with a caressing core of soft fruit. Sparkly minerals, salty fruit, intense yet also quite juicy and super-refined. Long, layered, and full of expressive interest. Compared to Horseshoe, this is more controlled and reserved, suggesting it will require a few years to come out of its shell. Finishes with a suggestion of ginger snap biscuits and a wonderful burst of citrus. Mouthwatering stuff.
critic reviews
The 2023 Chardonnay Alpine Vineyard is explosively aromatic and supremely polished, delivering a load of cool-toned floral lift and complex layers of lemon confit, salty sea air and mountain herbs. Initially almost austere, it becomes creamier and weightier as it settles on the palate, all the while driven by the hallmark zip of the 2023 vintage. The Alpine has such great inner proportions. Give it a couple of years to harmonize.
The most aromatic, exotic and dazzling of the Chardonnays is the 2023 Chardonnay Alpine Vineyard, opening with an herbal, floral bouquet set against a bed of rich, beeswax aromas and a creamy undercurrent. The palate is mouthwatering and nimble, graceful and pleasantly ethereal, with a touch less minerality than the Mt. Pajaro bottling and a more lifted, buoyant palate than the powerhouse Horseshoe. The finish is long, layered and lifted, lingering with retronasal complexity first hinted at on the nose.