2012 32 Winds Chardonnay Hudson Vineyard Carneros 750 ml

“Agricultural Yosemite” — Ehren Jordan’s 2012 Hudson Vineyard Chardonnay

Over the last 20 years, we’ve enjoyed meals and conversations with hundreds of Napa Valley growers and winemakers. While we’ve been lucky to know many great people, a few stand out. In chronological order, based on when we met each man, first is Robert Mondavi, one of the most daring and charming entrepreneurs the wine world has ever known. Next is Jess Jackson, an extraordinarily determined business man with a brilliant mind and indefatigable energy to match.

We met Bill Harlan in 1993 at The Grill at Meadowood. It took less than 10 minutes to realize we were in the presence of a man with Jobs-like resolve and genius. Subsequent meals with Harlan over the last 20 years rank among the most memorable in all our years on the wine trail.

Far more private and less in the limelight, but equally remarkable, is Lee Hudson. In 1975, Hudson came to Napa Valley, the maverick offspring of a Texas oil family, far more interested in gardening and yoga than drilling. Hudson was soon introduced to Maynard Amerine, a wine scholar at UC Davis, who escorted Hudson to Napa Valley. Famously, when Lee got his first look at Napa Valley from a hilltop perch above Sterling Vineyards, he declared, “This is agricultural Yosemite!”

After completing his enology degree at Davis (in a class that included John Kongsgaard and Bonny Doon’s Randall Grahm) in 1981, Hudson discovered a 2,000-acre ranch in eastern Carneros. To most eyes, the parcel seemed to be little more than a scrubby swath of land rising from Carneros Creek. But Hudson immediately saw the potential for a world-class vineyard. Lee purchased the property and his first harvest was in 1983. His first client was Kongsgaard. A year later, David Graves and Dick Ward from Saintsbury came calling.

Over the last three decades, Hudson Vineyard has been widely considered one of Napa’s four Grand Cru vineyards, along with Harlan Estate, Mondavi and Andy Beckstoffer’s To-Kalon, and Jackson’s Lokoya. But Lee Hudson’s obsessive approach to farming was matched by an equally rigorous approach to marketing. While many wineries have purchased Chardonnay from Hudson over the years, just a few have been contractually permitted to include “Hudson Vineyard” on the label. That tiny group of superstar Chardonnay-makers includes David Ramey, Kongsgaard, Steve Kistler, Turley, Marc Aubert, and Tor Kenward. The latest addition to Hudson’s gang of seven is the brilliant Ehren Jordan at 32 Winds.

While each winemaker put his own stamp on Hudson fruit, there’s a common denominator among all the Chardonnays that come off Hudson Vineyard. Hudson Vineyard is unique in its capacity to straddle the line between the New World and the Old. Rich, juicy, and often flamboyant both aromatically and on the attack, these are Chardonnays that can flirt with 14 degrees in alcohol while preserving superb crispness and nerve. Delicious out of the gate, anyone who is holding Ramey or Kongsgaard bottlings from the early 2000s fully understands the Meursault-like age-worthiness of Hudson Vineyard Chardonnay.

In the unforgettable 2012 vintage — the first of four drought years — San Francisco Chronicle Winemaker of the Year Ehren Jordan crafted this sizzling Chardonnay at 32 Winds, a wine that stylistically falls somewhere between Kongsgaard opulence and Ramey steeliness.

Brilliant pale-gold. Beautiful aromas of ripe apple, beeswax, and ripe pear, touched with anise. Rich, pliant, and juicy on the attack, filled with a luscious mix of nectarine, ripe apple, honey, and orchard pit, finishing with terrific energy and tension, arguing for a 5- to 8-year stay in the coolest of cellars.

92 points from Robert Parker. $60 on release. Just $35 today exclusively on WineAccess — far and away the best price in the country. Shipping included on 4.