Sommelier Journal

• By Randy Caparoso
  November 30, 2011 (link)

  (La Follette Chardonnay Manchester Ridge Vineyard, Mendocino Ridge) La Follette is fond of calling this "the new paradigm" fo California Chardonnay, and he kids you not: there are outward sensations of minerality that remind you of Chablis, though nothing in Chablis comes close to the flowery perfume—an almost Riesling-like exoticism—of Manchester Ridge. Terroir plays its part, and so does Clone 809, a sexy new variant of the Musqué clones (sans the millerandage), which composes one-third of this bottling. The other two-thirds is Old Wente, a classic, shot-berry Chardonnay Musqué revered up and down the coast. Clearly, it's the frigid, late-ripening site itself that fashions the edgy, lean, tart-edged-yet-ultra-fine, silken-threaded qualities of this wine, bursting with honeysuckle flowers and citrus fruit, with hints of old-fashioned butterscotch beneath its stony veneer. Winery Spotlight: La Follette Wines