Vinous

• By Stephen Tanzer
  Focus on Washington: Hot Times in the Desert (Nov 2016), 11/1/2016 (link)

  (Array Cellars Chardonnay Celilo Vineyard Washington) Subscribe to see review text.

Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Chardonnay Price Drop, 4/7/2019

  (Array Cellars Chardonnay Celilo Vineyard) Hello friends. The last time we were able to offer the wonderful single-vineyard Chardonnays from Henry Smilowicz’s Array Cellars, we did so at 31.99/28.99, and I felt good about that pricing. Array was part of a wave of Chardonnay-focused producers that came online a few years ago (Chris Gorman’s Ashan Cellars and Charles Smith’s Sixto were the other notable players), and their pricing was always quite competitive with those peers. I recently learned that there was still a parcel of Array’s 2013 single-vineyard Chards kicking around, and about five seconds after tasting, I proposed an arrangement that would allow us to buy out every single remaining bottle. In doing so, we were also able to secure pricing that allows us to sell winery-aged Celilo Chardonnay at, shall-we-say, accessible pricing: A quick survey of some of the other Celilo Chardonnays we’ve offered: Tranche Chardonnay Celilo Vineyard: 44.99/39.99 TPU Ashan Cellars Chardonnay Celilo Vineyard: 49.99/44.99 TPU Woodward Canyon Chardonnay Celilo Vineyard: 57.99/49.99 TPU I mean, this is as good as a Chardonnay vineyard gets in Washington. There’s a reason most Celilo Chardonnays are north of forty bucks. The site is incredible. It’s located right around here, on the southern flanks of the dormant volcano Underwood Mountain in the Columbia Gorge AVA, and it produces ageworthy Chardonnay with wonderful insistent mineral character. On the ageworthy note, I think we’ve seen over the past few years – first with our 2007 Full Pull & Friends Chardonnay in 2017 and then with our 2012 Carter Lamour Chard offer in late 2018 – that well-made Washington Chardonnay can age in profoundly compelling directions. Which shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering that aged Chard from the motherland (Burgundy) is one of the great prizes in the wide world of wine. Is Washington the equal of Burg when it comes to Chardonnay. Um, no. But Celilo is probably as close as we get, and six years past vintage is just getting started when it comes to the aging curve of good Chard. Since it has been a few years since we’ve offered Array, I’ll excerpt an article I wrote about the new-Washington-Chard movement for Seattle Magazine back in 2014: Array Cellars founder Henry Smilowicz was one of the first on the new Chardonnay scene in Washington, and he was determined to source from cooler Chardonnay vineyards and make crisp, bone-dry, mouthwatering wines. “We wanted to leave the bigger, riper California style of Chardonnay behind,” he notes. “Minerality, balance, good acidity and food-friendly flavors are the driving forces.” Smilowicz launched Array in Woodinville with the 2010 vintage, and beginning in 2011, the Array team expanded its lineup to include two single-vineyard and one multiple-vineyard Chardonnays. One is from 1980s plants at Otis Vineyard. For many years, the Otis fruit was under contract to Columbia Winery. Only in recent years have boutique wineries had a chance to make wines from Otis grapes. “It’s a treasure hunt of sorts,” Smilowicz says. This particular treasure was barrel fermented and then aged in French oak, 30% new. It clocks in at 14.3% listed alc and begins with a nose possessing both primary and tertiary elements. Lemon curd, nectarine, and chalky minerals yes, but also the complexities of bottle age in the form of hazelnut and smoky hay. Just wonderful. What you notice immediately in the mouth is the intensity, the way this fans out and saturates the entire palate with its fruity-earthy-savory goodness. It has length to spare and a fine sense of balance, all of which augurs well for a continued evolution in bottle. That said, this is awfully tough to resist right now. Miso black cod, creamy crab-and-leek pasta, butter-seared scallops with lemon beurre blanc; all would be elevated next to a glass of this beauty.