2011 Mount Eden Estate Chardonnay

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2011 Mount Eden Estate Chardonnay

$59.95 (retail) Wine Club pricing reflected in receipt

From the Mount Eden web site:  “Mount Eden Vineyards is a small historic wine estate perched at 2000 feet overlooking Silicon Valley, in the Santa Cruz Mountain Appellation, about 50 miles south of San Francisco. Founded in 1945, it is recognized as one of the original “boutique” California winery properties, focusing on small lots of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon.  Mount Eden’s lineage of estate bottled Chardonnay and Pinot Noir is the longest in California.  Planted in austere, infertile Franciscan shale on a cool, exposed mountaintop, these low-yielding estate vineyards have consistently produced world-class wines for over a half-century. In 2007 Mount Eden acquired an additional 55-acre wine estate in the Saratoga foothills, which was christened Domaine Eden.

“Since 1981 Jeffrey Patterson has guided the winemaking and grape growing at Mount Eden.  His emphasis is on wine growing rather than winemaking; and an obsession with gentleness and naturalness in the handling of the grapes and wines is his ongoing passion.”

Winery & Vinous (96 pts.) Tasting Notes:   “For this vintage of Estate Chardonnay I will do something I rarely do, which is to sit back and let the critics describe the wine for you.  Here is Antonio Galloni, who formerly wrote for Robert Parker Jr.’s The Wine Advocate, and now has his own on-line publication Vinous:

Mount Eden’s 2011 chardonnay is simply magnificent. Intense and tightly coiled from the very first taste, the wine pulsates with energy, texture and pure class. Bright citrus, lemon oil, flowers and crushed rocks are all vivid in the glass, but it is the wine’s exceptional balance that stands out most.  The long, vibrant finish is a thing of beauty. In 2011, Winemaker Jeffrey Patterson did not make a reserve; instead all of the juice went into the straight chardonnay.  Readers who want to understand why the Santa Cruz Mountains is one of the world’s great terroirs for chardonnay should start here. Quite simply, the 2011 chardonnay is a, reference-point for California. The only question is how long it will take to come around.  Drink 2018-2031–96 points

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