2014 Ernest Vineyards The Farmer Chardonnay 750 ml

A Long Awaited Sonoma Coast Chardonnay

A few years ago, we walked into a tasting at San Francisco’s Nob Hill mainstay Farallon, and walked out with a verbal agreement to offer one of Todd Gottula and Erin Brooks wines to Wine Access clients. It’s taken nearly three years, but we’ve finally secured an allocation of their vibrant, fresh and fleshy “The Farmer” Chardonnay from the Sonoma Coast. Why? Since we met, “The Farmer” has landed on the lists of 3-Michelin-starred The French Laundry and Saison. Of the 298 cases produced, after French Laundry and Saison, Wine Access comes next. Just 25 cases are available today at the exclusive price of $39.99/btl. Otherwise, the wait for a table at either restaurant is more than half a year and the bottle price, quite a bit more.   

Getting started in the wine business is never easy, especially for a young couple with no ties to wine country. Todd Gottula and Erin Brooks both grew up on farms — Erin amidst cotton and wheat fields in Texas, and Todd among citrus groves in Central California. The tech industry lured them each to the San Francisco Bay Area, but neither felt at home without dirt under their boots and nails.

Two acres of a Chardonnay vineyard planted in 1969 by revered Sonoma grower Warren Dutton become available. The vineyard rests in Green Valley, one of the coolest growing regions in Sonoma. A rare Chardonnay clone planted there reveals in the finished wine an unmistakable exotic, alluring, and perfumed character and great tension.

They finally had it — a cool-climate site with a distinctive sense of place. We are thrilled to have secured an allocation of 300 bottles of this Chardonnay for our clients. We know how much you value a story of passion and entrepreneurial spirit, and a wine with finesse, balance, and yes, earnestness.