2022 Sphaerics Chardonnay if and only if

Community Tasting Notes (4) Avg Score: 99 points

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  5/12/2024 - zimmy07 Likes this wine:

  I will not give this a score as I killed a baby. The owners said I should wait but after the last note I had to try. If you have some bottles, hold.... In terms of the wine, this is a great wine. If you are a big Marcassin fan, this will be in your wheelhosue at such a better price point. There is no doubt the integration and balance at this young age are impressive. But at this young age there is still a lot of baby fat, it gets really buttery if it warms at all (but that is the temp I prefer). Does it rival the best Cali chards, hell yea... But Marcassin 2013 chard got 100 poinst and I thought 92-93 pts, older Marcassin Chards I have scored as high as 97 pts, this is maybe better, but I will not score now as this style of chard I struggle with young and have yet to see it gain age and what it does. But if you love Marcassin and Aubert load up as this wine may be the gold standard of Cali Chard. I like my Cali chard at 10 years of age on average, there is no way I can resist not opening some up sooner, but hope to save a couple for the 10 year mark. I will say I will buy every vinatge as this is really a great wine.

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  5/11/2024 - WineBurrowingWombat Likes this wine: 98 Points

  Nose: Lemon skins and citrus oil, along with deep pineapple and a lift from fresh green pears. Tall green grass with patches of dried grass gives a sense of being in an open field. Dried, crushed rocks brings a bit of salinity and lift. With time, everything melds beautifully, with the addition of white and yellow flowers, everything working in harmony.
  
  Palate: Flavors reflect the nose completely. The fruit punches tastefully like it should, while the body moves gracefully like it’s from somewhere else. A subdued prickliness gives the palate a gentle massage on low setting. Nice bitterness on the finish.
  
  The nose was initially misleading.. from what the aromas were giving, I was thinking I would be getting a weighty, heavy surge of flavors on the palate. Instead, this delivered a swift and lighter body of white burg while keeping the tasty fruit from Sonoma.
  
  Decanting will help. This definitely benefited with some air. Everything was a bit separated, with the palate being a bit lithe, but with time, everything integrated beautifully. Keeping the temp of the wine constant should help too, if possible: tasting straight at cellar temp, the wine felt lighter in body, but with just a bit of higher temps, that lighter body integrated with the flavors somehow, therefore gaining some sexy curves on the palate. 97-98+

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  5/8/2024 - csimm wrote: 100 Points

  (Fair warning, I had a healthy dose of green tea before scribbling this; so, buckle up friends…)
  
  Let’s start out with a full disclosure type of confession on my part. In fact, it’s more of a developed bias that I seem to share among a number of those in my wine orbit who have been critical of California Chardonnay. Hanging around a bunch of Jungian wine pontificators who, like me, seem to have developed some peculiar joy in turning their noses at anything other than white Burgundy, just reinforces the constant slight I have given to the Golden State’s queen of varietals over recent memory. Without going down a wacky and now seemingly overplayed rabbit hole on the topic, it’s almost redundant to say that my home state Chardonnay has been betrayed time and time again with ripe, sweaty, sweet, over-oaked treatment by those who feel that masking its true character is worth the payout from those palates who seem to want for everything marshmallowy jumpy house gummy and slathering saccharine succulent. Good on ya… I guess…
  
  Yet, I suppose it’s like anything fringe. On one end of the spectrum, I don’t want a flabby butter bomb that drags its gooey knuckles in pineapple extract soup before slothing itself in my mouth until it dies a slow death in a syrupy swallow. Also, having a searing, militant acid soldier hucking hydrochloric 0.00 pH and fossilized rock bombs at my palate is no kind of fun either. Who knew I needed such catharsis from my struggles with California Chardonnay (and don’t call it “Cali” Chard. No one says “Cali” unless they are visiting from Ohio; just like no one should say “Frisco” or “San Fran”). Dr. Phil seems like a guy who drinks Butter Chard with flapjacks and whipped cream. Maybe he can provide therapeutic guidance to me and my struggles with my nomadic palate…? Anyway, suffice to say I have loved big California Chardonnays some moons ago, but have personally become increasingly sensitive to (and critical of) the Lemontini movement that has all too often cast a sloppy shadow over what could be amazing fruit (from some sites at least), but for those who pick in late December and hammer their crop with confectioners’ lumber and candied fat fairy dust.
  
  Ok…enough of that. This whole buildup boils down to one thing really. The 2022 Sphaerics “if and only if,” hailing from a nice little carve out of the Upper Barn vineyard, is an exquisitely balanced rendition of domestic Chardonnay, or any Chardonnay for that matter, so much so that I had trouble finding fault here. And mind you, I wanted to find fault (cuz that’s what insecure people like me do all day). After all, I was drinking California Chardonnay, right?! My initial notes read, “Calculated and poised in every way. Silky layers of lemony-lemon drop cloaked in a feathery encasement of almond milk and crème fraiche.” (ya, I actually wrote that – I don’t get out much). On the nose, it initially shows as slightly reductive, encircled by lemon curd and vanilla scents. On the palate, it’s a deliberate wave of lemon (did I mention lemon??), yellow apple, vanilla, cream, pumice, and, oh ya…lemon. This thing has curves that carve an exceptional lane of delivery for the giving fruit. The purity is unmatched. The mid-palate pauses for a nice chewiness before sashaying along with its salivating beam of measured acidity on the beautifully balmy finish.
  
  Now, I didn’t want to do this, but the comparison to Aubert is difficult to remove myself from. This, of course, is not a bad thing by any means, but it is important that this wine stand alone with its own distinctive identity and not “just be another Aubert,” or some copycat. That would mean it’s somehow second to Aubert, which it most certainly is not. I’ll say this just once…For those who like Aubert’s Lauren, you’ll likely go gaga over the Sphaerics, which I find to be generally better balanced, show elevated integration of the oak (70% here), and exuding enhanced class overall. A longer fermentation seems to have added textural superiority and depth here as well. Perhaps less powerful and overt as the Aubert lineage, the Sphaerics is a trendier and more poised partygoer in comparison. Think Dominque Crenn versus Charlie Palmer.
  
  The Sphaerics was served alongside a 2014 Stonestreet and 2006 Peter Michael Mon Plaisir, all of which were spawned from Upper Barn. The Sphaerics was closer in form to the Mon Plaisir, as the Stonestreet was a bit more angular and superficial in its presentation.
  
  97-100 points right here folks. I suspect a little bottle age might make for an even more complex luminary. Tip of the hat to Laura Jones for fashioning this special wunderkind. Invite all your fancy friends over, blind the Sphaerics with a Coche Corton Charlie, and see where the votes go…

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  1/24/2024 - MAXIMUM SATISFACTION wrote: 99 Points

  From a tank sample. Already singing at this stage with plenty of upside. Nuanced with the ripeness of Sonoma balanced by Burgundian finesse. Juicy stone fruit, citrus, brioche, white flower and salty minerality. Creamy with good acidity and fully integrated oak. The sample disappeared ridiculously fast amongst the group! I’m thinking this might even score another point once in bottle.
  
  Made by the former Aubert assistant winemaker with fruit from original plantings at Upper Barn Vineyard.

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