2018 Wayfarer Chardonnay
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Tasting notes
Hand-picked, clusters from each block were delivered to the winery before sunrise. After gentle pressing, the wine settled for 24 hours, followed by racking of the juice to barrel. Ambient-yeast alcoholic fermentation, with bâtonnage until malolactic fermentation was complete. Aged in barrel for 15 months, and bottled unfined and unfiltered. Mid straw. Pretty cool and obviously leesy. Quite rich and emphatic until it finishes with fine acidity, combined with some sweetness. Just a hint of sweet and sour. (JR)
Critic scores
Jancis Robinson MW
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
The 2018 Chardonnay Wayfarer Vineyard opens with explosive perfume! Gunflint, spring honey, white flowers and salted almonds mingle over rich quince paste and warm apple fruit. The palate is equally as compelling, its powerful, rich layers of flavor packed into an ultra silky frame, offering bright pops of juiciness and a finish that goes on forever. Wow! It's stunning now but may improve with more time in bottle.
From the estate vineyard in the Fort Ross-Seaview appellation and barrel fermented (all native yeast) and aged 15 months in 70% new French oak, the 2018 Chardonnay Wayfarer Vineyard offers a classic and slightly Burgundian style in its caramelized orchard fruits, toasted nuts, brioche, and white flower-laced aromas and flavors. Showing a touch marine-like salinity with time in the glass, it’s medium to full-bodied and has good concentration, integrated acidity, and a great finish. Give it a year and it will drink nicely for a decade.
The 2018 Chardonnay Wayfarer Vineyard is a fitting conclusion to this tasting of 2018s. Rich and viscous in the glass, with terrific energy, the 2018 is wonderfully complete, not to mention incredibly delicious. Lemon confit, white pepper, mint, jasmine and light tropical notes develop in the glass, but it is the wine's textural feel that really stands out. The 2018 is a drop-dead gorgeous beauty. The Wayfarer Vineyard spent 16 months in oak, about 70% new. (AG)