2021 Mt. Pajaro Chardonnay
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Tasting notes
For me, these whites from the Santa Cruz Mountains have a slight edge over the Anderson Valley wines. The 2021 Chardonnay Mt Pajaro Vineyard also pours a similar silver/straw color and offers flinty, smoky notes of silver, lime candy and zest, and crushed stones. Medium-bodied, it has more tension throughout the palate, with great, citrus-toned energy and well-managed oak spices coming through on the back palate. This is going to show its best in another few years. Drink 2025-2038.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jeb Dunnuck
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
A lower elevation site by Rhys standards, Mt. Pajaro is the newest vineyard site in the winery's stable, planted in 2010. Citrus oil and candlewax aromas peer through the otherwise oceanic and vibrant nose of the 2021 Chardonnay Mt. Pajaro Vineyard, foreshadowing the riper, more powerful flavors hidden in its core. The palate is textural and glossy, flanked by a bright, nervy acidity that stops shy of harshness. While it is clearly still a young wine, it is surely a more open and accessible example of Rhys's fantastic 2021 single-vineyard Chardonnays.
The 2021 Chardonnay Mt. Pajaro Vineyard is the most ethereal and finely cut of the Chardonnays in this range. White pepper, chalk, mint, crushed rocks and citrus abound. Ethereal and understated, with tons of saline intensity, the 2021 is compelling in every way. I especially admire its translucent intensity. Bright saline notes reverberate throughout. I would prefer to cellar this, but a few hours of aeration will also do the trick. Magnificent.