Varner Spring Ridge Vineyard Home Block Chardonnay 2010

Varner is a great boutique Chardonnay producer in California's Santa Cruz Mountains.  94+ Points Robert Parker: "Varner’s 2010 Chardonnay Home Block is considerably fresher than the Amphitheater. Lemon, white peaches, ash and crushed rocks are all layered into this energetic, vibrant Chardonnay. This too, is a large-scaled wine, but the Home Block seems to have handled the challenges of the year a bit more gracefully than the Amphitheater. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2020... ...Brothers Jim and Bob Varner describe 2010 as a cold year with two heat spikes that were shorter and less dramatic than in other parts of California. It was a long growing season, and the fruit came in 2-3 weeks later than normal. As always, the Varner and Neely wines were fermented in barrel, with native yeasts, natural fermentation and minimal handling. These broad-shouldered Chardonnays and deep, resonant Pinots remain some of the most compelling wines being made in California."  The Varner 2010 Home Block Chardonnay comes from 30 year-old vines in a two acre, bowl-shaped, southeast-facing slope, 715 to 760 ft. elevation from bottom rows to top planted on its own roots with an old California clone 40% New French Oak.  Only 362 cases produced.

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