2022 Wildcat Mountain Chardonnay
Beautifully delineated with notes of wet slate, zesty lime, subtle white pepper and sea spray. A white wine of true substance - layered, complex, and densely textured. A great bottle today and a wine that will age gracefully for many years to come.
200 cases produced
Reviews:
93+ Points. John Gilman, View from the Cellar
"2022 marks the third vineyard that Sean Castorani and Joanna Wells have produced a chardonnay from the windswept Wildcat Mountain Vineyard. This was a very early harvest for the couple, as they picked their fruit here on August 23rd, just a a heat spike was revving up in wine country. The wine comes in at 13.5 percent octane this year and was raised in used barrels for one year prior to racking into stainless steel tanks for a further six months of finishing élevage. It offers up a nascently complex bouquet of pear, apple, fresh almond, a beautiful base of volcanic soil, white lilies, very discreet vanillin oak notes and a whisper of beeswax in the upper register. On the palate the wine is vibrant, full-bodied, zesty and beautifully mineral-driven, with a superb core of fruit, lovely focus and balance and a long, energetic and very precise finish that closes with superb lift on the backend. This is certainly delicious right out of the blocks, but it is still a puppy and giving it four or five years’ worth of cellaring will pay handsome dividends. Great juice. 2024-2045+. 93+."