2002 Chardonnay Charles Heintz Vineyard
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Tasting notes
The bright yellow/golden 2002 Chardonnay Charles Heintz Vineyard is expressive and generous in the glass, with a more luxurious and decadent feel, offering notes of custard, lemon oils, baking spice, baked apples, and ginger. Full-bodied, it has a silky, rounded, and lightly creamy texture, a lovely salinity, and a long finish. I love where this is now, but it feels like it’s on the decline from here, which shouldn’t be too surprising at 23 years old. The 2023 vintage marks the 30-year milestone for the Littorai family estate, and this tasting covers 21 wines from 1993 through 2023. Except for the 1993 Pinot Noir One Acre, all of the wines for this retrospective were tasted at the end of May in New York at Union Square Cafe. Readers can find the complete range of current releases in my regional report on Sonoma.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2002 Chardonnay Charles Heintz Vineyard was the crown jewel of the Littorai retrospective and the wine I returned to again and again. The nose is surprisingly youthful, releasing wafts of fresh lemon, golden apples, petrichor, saline and candle wax. The palate is satiny and packed with dry extract, its concentrated, savory flavors complex and expressive. Its richness is seamlessly balanced by salty mineral character and a crisp hit of acidity, and it has an epically long finish. What a compelling combination of richness, texture and bite!
Sits at 800 ft of elevation on a gently rolling plateau one half mile east of Occidental and seven miles west of the Pacific on Goldridge loam overlying Franciscan shale with a top layer of sandy loam. Planted in 1983, this site is farmed using organically certified materials but is not certified. Whole-cluster pressed, then barrel-fermented with ambient yeasts, and aged for 12–14 months in 20–25% new French oak, and another 5 months in steel before bottling unfined and unfiltered. Never racked. Full malolactic conversion. Light to medium gold. Smells of wet hay, pine duff, butterscotch, butter crackers and candied lemon peel. Salty candied-lemon and orange-peel flavours mix with a touch of butterscotch, sarsaparilla and toasted sourdough. Still vibrant with acidity, shimmering and gorgeous, with great length. A very impressive wine at 23 years of age. (AY)
(14.2% alcohol, vs. 13.9% for the Thieriot) Aromas of lemon, hazelnut and marzipan, with hints of fig and apricot; a bit less precise than the Thieriot. Then sweeter and riper in the mouth, with some alcoholic warmth on the finish. Quite fat for this bottling, and in a distinctly softer style-or is it simply the honeyed finish that leaves this impression?
About the producer
Littorai stands as one of California’s most quietly influential estates, defined by organic and biodynamic farming, site transparency, and a restrained, Burgundian sensibility.