2014 Bernardus Chardonnay Sierra Mar Vineyard Santa Lucia Highlands 750 ml

From Côte de Beaune cellars to the summit of Santa Lucia

Most American winemakers aren’t fortunate enough to include a decade of training in Burgundy and the Loire Valley on their CV. But Dean De Korth isn’t most winemakers. In the 1980s, after working as a professional musician in Los Angeles, dreams of making wine led De Korth to France, where he buckled down for two years to learn the language, and then earned enology and viticultural degrees at the University of Burgundy. Stints at Comtes Lafon and Olivier Leflaive followed, each leaving an indelible mark on De Korth’s style.

Lafon’s signature was characterized by extended time on the lees and multiple battonage, which made for deeply concentrated, golden-hued, lemon-curd Chardonnays — bottlings for which wine collectors around the world would dish out $1,000/bottle. Leflaive, on the other hand, was a classicist. His wines were a study of textural richness, angularity, and mineral cut. Armed with knowledge from both cellars — a stocked Burgundian toolkit — De Korth returned to Bernardus, ready to bring what he learned in the Côte de Beaune to the Santa Lucia Highlands.

Before he could do so, however, De Korth would have to find the perfect site for Chardonnay. As he well knew, those world-class bottlings owe some of their magic to the perch of the vineyard, the fog, and viticulturalists who did the farming.

De Korth found what he was looking for 1,000 feet above sea level, in the Sierra Mar Vineyard farmed by Gary Franscioni. When De Korth first laid eyes on this panoramic 44-acre site, one of the highest vineyards in the cool Santa Lucia Highlands, he knew he’d struck paydirt. Remote and forbidding to all save the longhorn cattle that once grazed there, Sierra Mar is the most “extreme” vineyard development project ever attempted on the breezy slopes of Santa Lucia Highlands.”

On the summer morning De Korth took it all in, Sierra Mar was already showing off its marine-climate bluster, blanketed by morning fog. By the time the sun burned through, the winds off the Monterey Bay had picked up, at once cooling and cleansing the vines. The soils were poor, comprised of sandy loam, and Franscioni’s farming protocol has always suggested a passionate gardener’s rigor more than simple vineyard management. De Korth was all in.

Fast forward to 2014, one of the driest vintages on record in Monterey County and the driest De Korth had seen in a decade at Bernardus. In the third consecutive drought year, the continued lack of rainfall led to early-season stress on the vines, resulting in smaller canopies of heightened phenolic maturity. Large amounts of fruit were dropped to balance smaller canopies with crop levels. Winter and spring were mild, which led to an early bud break, then a cool summer slowed the growing season.

The call to harvest came in the first weeks of September, much earlier than a typical growing season in Monterey County. The result was incredibly intense, beautiful Chardonnay. As we tasted De Korth’s 2014 lineup, he told us that the vintage was “in a class apart,” taking him back two decades to his time in the cellars of Puligny-Montrachet and Meursault.

The 2014 Bernardus Chardonnay “Sierra Mar Vineyard” showcases a rich, bright golden hue from core to rim. Extraordinary aromas of citrus, butter, and toast combine perfectly with powerful flavors of Bosc pear, golden apple, citrus rind, fennel, and raw cashews mid-palate. High-toned seashell aromas recede to make way for an ultra-rich melange of exotic nuts and toast, only to be beautifully contrasted with a streak of mouthwatering acidity. A pure California Chardonnay delight that can be enjoyed now or tucked away until 2020.

94 points and an “Editor’s Choice” pick from Wine Enthusiast. For fans of Steve Kistler’s Sonoma Coast lemon-curd opulence and David Ramey’s textbook Carneros cut. The best price in the nation — a razor-sharp $26/bottle — here on WineAccess. If you missed the boat last time, do NOT delay. 150 cases won’t last the day!