Tasting Notes: The power and honeyed notes of the 2008 Chardonnay Mount Carmel are dramatic. This plush, up-front style of Chardonnay from Brewer and Clifton often reminds me of a California version of a Batard-Montrachet. The wine is light gold in color, with notes of honeyed nuts intermixed with crushed rock, lemon butter, orange rind, and pear. Broad, savory, rich, and showy, this wine tips the scales at 14% natural alcohol.

Greg Brewer and Steve Clifton continue to follow a strict philosophy of only using grapes from cool-climate Santa Rita Hills vineyards. Additionally, they have reduced what was a very tiny percentage of new oak to zero, as they prefer the vineyard sites and vintage character to be showcased without any cosmetic makeup. All of these Chardonnays (unlike Greg Brewer’s project, called Diatom) are put through full malolactic fermentation and bottled without filtration. The 2008s are elegant, tightly coiled Chardonnays with full flavor, and seem to have plenty of up-side. Their wines are extremely long-lived by California standards, with their 2000 Chardonnays still remarkably young, and their 2000 Pinot Noirs all seeming to have another decade of aging ability.

Pre-Sell Arriving December