Squeezed lemon, white rose, crunchy granny smith apple. Clean honeydew, chamomile, pink grapefruit flesh. Dewy flowers and green hay, cardamom and herbal tea. Bright and slightly wild fruit ranging from tart kiwi to white peach chopped and muddled into cottage cheese with a jasmine garnish. Fresh, edgy, & unconventional, and although fruit remains the focus there is no shortage of loamy earth and fun herbal funk to add complexity. This 2017 Clarksburg Chardonnay by Inconnu Wine is a interesting and avant-garde natural wine from one of California's most unique little wine regions.

Clarksburg is a tiny winegrowing zone in Northern California located just 15 miles outside of Sacramento. It backs up against the largest river in California, the Sacramento River, and experiences significant cooling influences from the flowing water. While there are only 15 wineries operating out of the Clarksburg AVA, 90% of the fruit grown here is sold to producers from elsewhere. This bottling, crafted by Inconnu Wine using organically farmed Chardonnay grown in Clarksburg, is an extremely unique offering. The fruit here was picked early to emphasize freshness and the juice was fermented using a minimal intervention approach, resulting in a delightfully refreshing and authentically natural wine. This stuff sits at just 11% ABV and clearly did not undergo any fining or filtration judging by the obvious presence of heavy lees in the bottle. This is California Chardonnay unlike anything you will find on the mainstream market, and was made by a young and adventurous female winemaker. This is the second of four wines we received as part of our first Raw Vino shipment and we really enjoyed the experience. We're looking forward to diving into the rest of the package.