2008 Diatom Chardonnay Clos Pepe
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Tasting notes
Yellow-gold. Ripe pear and nectarine aromas are complicated by allspice and cinnamon, plus a bright kiss of lemon zest. Juicy and nicely focused, with sweet citrus and orchard fruit flavors and bracing minerality. The spiciness gains strength on the finish, which is nervy as well as expansive. This complex and extremely interesting chardonnay will be very flexible with all sorts of seafood.
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Robert Parker
Josh Raynolds
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The 2008 Chardonnay Clos Pepe Vineyard reveals crisp lemon blossom and orange marmalade notes, a light gold/straw color, elegant mango, quince, and wet stone-like flavors, crisp acids, and a full-bodied, long finish. This impressive white should drink well for several years. It is hard to predict how long these wines will last, but from my cellar, the Brewer-Clifton Chardonnays (which see about one-third new oak) from as far back as 2000 are holding up amazingly well. These minimalist tank-fermented Chardonnays, with malolactic fermentation blocked, are brilliant achievements from wunderkind Greg Brewer. These wines essentially prove the inconceivable – that high alcohol wines with extraordinary minerality and precision, great elegance, and floral characteristics that never taste heavy, are as fresh and vibrant as any wine can be. Nothing like these Chardonnays is being produced anywhere else in California. Readers should keep in mind they all possess natural alcohols in the 15.7-15.8% range. Tel. (805) 452-5809; Fax (805) 735-9185