2022 The Hilt Estate Chardonnay [JD94][W&S93]

"Starting with the appellation 2018 Chardonnay Estate, this wine has a vivid gold hue as well as classy notes of sliced apple, nectarines, and honeyed flowers, with just a hint of salinity and minerality. It's elegant, beautifully balanced, and has a great finish, all while staying in the more vibrant, fresh style of this estate." 

"From the Jonata family’s Sta. Rita Hills estate, this wine feels anomalous from the get-go: Its first aromas are tense and sharp, of clay dust and lemon. But the flavors possess a melon-like breadth, like cantaloupe, giving the wine luxurious depth, only to have it tighten up with citrusy intensity, leaving a lasting mineral impression." 

Winemaker Notes: 

"Even with cards held tight, it displays white peach, lemon zest, white flowers and loquats. Hints of white truffle, lavender and fresh herbed chevre. With air, new aromatics: fresh baked croissant, almond flour and kumquat. Pure, compact and driving; tense and full of kinetic energy. Showing the seemingly endless sunlight and perfect growing conditions of 2018. Lifted and framed by classic Hilt sea salt and electricity on the finish along with touch of structure that is reminiscent today of an Asian pear."