Sonoma Coast

Medium

Natural Cork

White

The 2022 Michael Mara Chardonnay is so fresh and bracing but with a bit of warming richness and plump fruit character in its ripe apple and pear, with balanced toasty brioche notes, butter croissant, and lingering notes of tarragon, flint, petrol even, and candied minerality. The 2.4haMichael Mara Vineyard was bare land when Steve Matthiasson leased and planted it in 2006; he has farmed it ever since. The site is planted to Clone 4 Chardonnay, known as California’s highest-acid Chardonnay clone—also referred to as the Olmo selection (labelled "108" in Oregon). The vineyard's rocky volcanic soils naturally limit yields, resulting in small berries with a high concentration of skin tannins. This wine is native yeast fermented in mostly neutral oak, with 10-15% new wood, and spends 18 months in a barrel without SO₂ during élevage. Still, around the 2013 vintage, Matthiasson began topping off to slow the oxidative character a bit. Matthiasson explains that this approach allows the wine to open up and develop, encouraging the emergence of secondary flavours that add to its complexity and layered profile.

Chardonnay

Matthiasson, Chardonnay, Michael Mara Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast, California, USA, 2022

matthiasson-michael-mara-vineyard-chardonnay-sonoma-coast-chardonnay-2020-66c4670dac6b4.jpeg

The 2022 Michael Mara Chardonnay is so fresh and bracing but with a bit of warming richness and plump fruit character in its rip

Matthiasson, Michael Mara Vineyard Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast, California, USA 2022

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