2017 John Sebastiano Vineyard Chardonnay - Stringer Cellars

Meyer lemon, sea spray, crunchy golden apple. White peach, subtle matchstick, yellow Rainier cherry. Blooming jasmine and citrus blossom, crushed cardamom and exotic spice. A tart and zingy highly-focused attack pours in with pure fruited precision, ferociously spilling nectarine, Asian pear, and tangerine zest with impressive intensity. Crunchy saline minerality courses beneath the initial rush bringing with it a beautiful slightly reductive flinty quality. Honeysuckle and surprisingly fragrant florals chime in to add lift aided by aged wood and understated spice. Quite lively and eccentric throughout with decidedly high acidity pulsing through its lean medium bodied frame. Juicy, crunchy, and terrifically fresh. This 2017 John Sebastiano Vineyard Chardonnay by Stringer Cellars is a serious and remarkably Burgundian white from Santa Barbara.

Although it is one of the most recognizable vineyards in Santa Barbara's Santa Rita Hills the John Sebastiano Vineyard is not well known as a source for Chardonnay, as most of this special site is planted to red wine grapes. This bottling, crafted by Stringer Cellars using Chardonnay sourced from JSV, proves that this lauded vineyard can produce more than just great Pinot Noir. This wine is impressively mineral, energetic, and focused managing lean power and punch without a single ounce of excess fat or flab. Ripeness here is held squarely in check while still expressing tremendous balance and purity of fruit. Simply a complex, well executed, and delicious wine.