2017 Mail Road Wines Chardonnay Mt. Carmel
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Tasting notes
Starting with the 2017 Chardonnay Mount Carmel Vineyard, this beauty comes from the estate vineyard in the Sta. Rita Hills and was brought up in a mix of new and used French oak. It reveals a medium gold color as well as a Grand Cru Chablis-like notes of crushed citrus, lemon butter, white flowers, honeysuckle, and salty, crushed rock-like minerality. Nicely concentrated, with bright acidity and a tight, tense, vibrant texture, it needs 2-3 years of bottle age, but it’s an incredibly classy, age-worthy, beautiful Chardonnay from this team that will evolve for 10-15 years or more.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jeb Dunnuck
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2017 Chardonnay Mt. Carmel Vineyard is bright, crisp and beautifully delineated, almost shockingly so. The Mt. Carmel Chardonnay was once a much broader, bigger wine, but the 2017 shows a more finessed side of this site that I have frankly never seen. There is a Chablis-like purity to the 2017 that has developed over the last year that is fascinating. This is such a compelling wine.
The 2017 Chardonnay Mt Carmel Vineyard, predominately from vines planted in 1990, has a nose of bruised apple, baker’s yeast, apricot and nectarine with petrichor, dried hay and faint white blossom notions. Light to medium-bodied, it's concentrated in the mouth with tons of mineral notions, great freshness and a long, textured finish. This is an unusually earthy and textural style of Chardonnay, but it's delicious and will be amazing with food! 120 cases were made.
Tasted from barrel, the 2017 Chardonnay Mt. Carmel Vineyard is vivid and translucent, with distinct tropical accents to the citrus and floral notes. Although it is still very early days, the 2017 is promising.