2021 Paul Hobbs Chardonnay Ross Station Vineyard

The 2021 Chardonnay Ross Station Estate is beautiful, offering delicate aromas of fresh lime, bright green apple, and white flowers. It has a soft, silky texture and good freshness in its notes of poached pear, and the long finish reveals a perfume that hangs on after the wine is gone. A beautiful, elegant white, it has just a touch of hazelnut and a pithy texture on the finish, with a hint of chamomile, all while displaying good concentration with power. Drink this over the next 10 years. Over my first two years as a full-time wine critic, I found the wines of Paul Hobbs to be some of the most pleasurable and surprising. Historically, my experience with these Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines was an opulent style with a fair bit of extract and oak influence. Tasting the wines today, though they certainly are not lacking in concentration, they have a level of refinement, precision, and energy that is undeniable across the range. These are some of the best wines I have tasted from Paul Hobbs and Sonoma to date. Meeting with Paul at his winery in Sebastapol, he acknowledged that there has been a gradual yet steady shift in style and a preference for the wines he enjoys. This self-awareness is one of the unique strengths to their success in fine-tuning the wines over time.