2006 Kongsgaard Wines Chardonnay The Judge Napa Valley

Bright pale yellow. Pungent, somewhat high-toned aromas of candied lemon peel and crushed rock. Dense, chewy and tactile, with outstanding energy and extract to its pure flavors of lemon, flint and crushed stone. Not as broad as the 2005 but perhaps even more sharply focused. This is evolving at a snail's pace and comes across as wound-up, uncompromisingly dry and extremely vibrant. Finishes firm, fine and impressively long. This chardonnay is likely to need a good five years of bottle aging, which is rare for California.