2017 Private Property Chardonnay Santa Lucia Highlands 750 ml

“We’ll take it all... and half of next year’s,” we told our friend Scott as we tasted his shimmering 2017 Chardonnay. 

The 2017 Private Property Chardonnay was previously earmarked for the same destiny as all of Scott’s wines: Placement on menus at Michelin-starred restaurants like Nomad, Pebble Beach, and SingleThread. 

Thanks to Fate and good timing, we intercepted every bottle he had—a mere 110 cases—exclusively for Wine Access members… and at a better bottle price than most glasses of wine on those fabled menus. 

Over two dozen Kumamoto oysters on the back deck of Hog Island Oyster Company, we pegged Scott’s 2017 for a $45 bottle—the chilly Santa Lucia Highlands terroir is well defined in crisp lines of Meyer lemon acidity, and it blew the Chablis on the table out of the proverbial water. 

No wonder: Grown on the 124-acre Escolle vineyard, a “painstakingly maintained and farmed” site that produces “extremely high-quality fruit,” as Vinous wrote. This bottle explodes with a chalky mineral signature and pedigree that defies its price.

Despite Scott curtailing our ambitious multi-vintage offer, we managed to secure every bottle available for Wine Access members. We highly recommend the same no-holds-barred approach when stocking your own cellar. This is a wine that punches well above its weight, delivering an experience worthy of twice the price. In short, it’s a can’t-miss California Chardonnay.