2017 Mount Eden Vineyards Chardonnay Estate Santa Cruz Mountains 750 ml

There are a few California Chardonnays so painstakingly made, so eminently ageable, and so gloriously complex that they can electrify the senses and evoke quiet contemplation in one single sip: Kongsgaard’s sought-after The Judge, minerally and historic Stony Hill, and the completely captivating icon of the Santa Cruz Mountains, Mount Eden.

One taste of the ‘17 reveals exactly why Mount Eden stands as one of the premier Chardonnays of California, and why Vinous called it “absolutely fabulous.” Golden-hued and laden with ripe apple, butterscotch, and marzipan, it’s just beginning to add complexity four years after harvest, and its vivaciously acidic backbone hints at a long, long life ahead.

The estate adopted the Mount Eden name in the early 1970s, and at a time when California Cabernets were making international headlines, Mount Eden was quietly making some of California’s greatest Burgundian wines. 

In 2017, Mount Eden got a miniscule one-and-a-half tons per acre out of their dry-farmed vines that are rooted in austere shale soils. After being harvested at a peak balance of ripeness and acidity—which are crucial to the longevity of the wine—the Chardonnay was 100% barrel-fermented, and then spent ten months on the lees in the barrel (all French oak, 50% new and 50% one-year-old), picking up creamy complexity and toasted notes. A year after harvest, when most wineries were rushing their new Chardonnays to market, Mount Eden set the 2017 down for bottle aging.

Now, the precise picking and patient aging is paying dividends. Mouthwatering and gorgeously complex, this is a Chardonnay that will yield great rewards over the next several years. We’re thrilled to have it, and can’t wait for you to partake.