2018 Hoopes Chardonnay Genny’s Vineyard Carneros Napa Valley 750 ml

Hoopes’ Genny’s Vineyard Chardonnay is very hard to come by—it’s usually sold through the winery’s tasting room. But after yet another Hoopes sell-out, we approached Lindsay with one thing on our mind: securing an allocation of this rich, powerful white wine.

We emerged with a gorgeously open library bottling from what Wine Spectator deemed the best Chardonnay vintage in a decade—at a price that’s a pure and simple “thank-you” from the winery to their most loyal fans. This 2018 is a testament not only to a great vintage, but to the power of aging Chardonnay.

It’s telling that the Hoopes family has their own Chardonnay planting in the heart of Yountville, but Genny’s Vineyard is the site they tap for their single-vineyard bottling. Genny’s is a gem of a vineyard in Carneros, the cool, windswept corner of Napa that produces some of the most dramatic Chardonnay in the area. The berries on the vines are tiny because of the intense cool wind that whips off of San Pablo Bay, which creates unusual intensity in the glass.

Hoopes’ Genny’s Vineyard shares a trademark power with the best bottles of Carneros, which harness the dialectic between cool wind and a long growing season to rich, opulent, and zesty effect.

But the real glory of this bottle has emerged with time in the cellar, proving the adage about aging great Chard for at least five years. This wine absolutely blew us away when we tasted it in Lindsay’s cellar—and we bet anyone lucky to get their hands on a bottle will feel the same way.