2015 LIOCO Estero Chardonnay Russian River Valley 750 ml

Barrel-Fermented Russian River

When we spoke to LIOCO co-founder Matt Licklider about the 2015 LIOCO Estero Chardonnay Russian River, he was mere hours from opening LIOCO’s new tasting room on Healdsburg’s chic town square. At that moment, it became clear that we have entered LIOCO 2.0. Founded by industry insiders who bootstrapped their way into high-quality winemaking, LIOCO’s expressions of unique vineyard sites and fascinating soils earned them a spot among Wine & Spirits magazine’s Top 100 Wineries in the world in 2017. LIOCO’s story is told by a stunning roster of restaurants—Michelin 3-star temple The French Laundry, their 2-star Healdsburg neighbor SingleThread, and The Little Nell in Aspen among them—that feature their wines. Citrusy, refined, mineral, and complex, this Chardonnay is featured by the glass at chef Frank Stitt’s revered Highlands Bar & Grill in Birmingham, at seafood mecca The Ordinary in Charleston, and should be considered a must-have in your cellar. Elsewhere up to $35. Today, on Wine Access just $29.99 per bottle on cases.

LIOCO’s founding partners first made their name by scouring coastal California for cool vineyard sites and rare soils, and by traveling tirelessly to pour their wines one-on-one for sommeliers from San Francisco to Stockholm. This eventually earned them impressive wine list placements in restaurants like The French Laundry and Manhattan’s Jean-Georges.

Now run by co-founder Matt Licklider and his wife Sara, LIOCO’s reputation as a producer of unique California wines has, without a doubt, eclipsed its charming founding story. This evolution is best embodied by LIOCO’s new tasting room on the town square in Sonoma County’s new gourmet Mecca of Healdsburg, where, just steps away, Michelin 2-star darling SingleThread offers a half-dozen LIOCO wines.

The swanky location notwithstanding, some things have not changed at LIOCO, especially the fierce desire to avoid what Licklider considers the chief follies of California Chardonnay: boring soil and over-irrigation. "Ever eat a tomato that's red but has no taste?” he asks. “Chances are it got too much water. We look for dry-farmed, older vineyards, and for sites on the fringe: places where the vines have to struggle to get ripe. It's a risky proposition, but when the stars align, the wines can really dazzle you."

The stars fell into place in rain-starved 2015, a growing season that gave way to a historically low-yield harvest that produced tiny clusters that Licklider says could “fit into the palm of your hand.” The meager amount of juice they pressed from those clusters, he says, was “super-charged." The result might be the most powerful and complex “Estero” to date. Broad yet piercing, citrus-rich and mineral, the 2015 shows why this wine is found on some of the finest lists in the country, and why it deserves a spot in your cellar. California Chardonnay lovers, make some room.