2018 Appliqué Chardonnay Sonoma Coast Sonoma County 750 ml

We set the bar high with this one—almost too high. Out of the gate, the first Appliqué wine we offered last summer was a stunning Chardonnay from a 1,700-foot Sonoma site that produced a 100-point wine in Robert Parker’s book.

At over half off the original price, promising vanilla-flecked sunshine in a glass for under-$20, the wine sold so fast our heads spun. The demand for full-bodied, oak-framed North Coast Chardonnay—reminiscent of Rombauer or Ramey richness—was clearly off the charts. But the question remained of whether we could again score grapes of that caliber at a closing sale price. 

Turns out, a lot can happen in a year. Since last summer, our success has continued to open doors, allowing us to leverage our relationships to connect our members to wines and vineyards that are typically the exclusive province elite buyers.

That’s how we arrived at today, with 100 cases of the 2018 Appliqué Chardonnay: weighty, supple, and silky, full-fat cream layered on pineapple layered on buttered toast and poached pear, finishing with a hint of lemongrass and fennel fronds. If you’ve ever wanted to understand the polished voluptuousness that 15 months in French oak (30% new), barrel fermentation, and battonage can achieve, here’s exhibit A.

Before we peeled the label off, this wine cost $55. Now that we’ve put our own “appliqué ” on, it costs just $17.99 a bottle or an astonishing $14.99 on half-cases or more. We’ve not only matched our original deal—we may have exceeded it, with the Wine Team declaring this an even more masterfully integrated release.  

Two majestic Sonoma vineyards form the base of this 2018 Chardonnay. We can’t name them, but you’ve heard of them. One produces wines that Vinous’s Antonio Galloni has called “Meursault-like,” where the warm Carneros sun cuts through the rolling morning fog and tempers cool San Pablo Bay breezes, packing grapes with exotic fruit concentration. The other, a rocky, well-draining site in stone’s throw of the iconic Sangiacomo Vineyard, is a perennial favorite of Kosta Browne. 

Our confidence in this wine is through the roof. But just to test the full breadth of its appeal, we shipped a half case to a sommelier friend in Philadelphia. His family makes an annual pilgrimage “down the shore” every summer, heading to the quaint seaside towns of South Jersey. There, his big, multi-generational, Irish-American family congregates on the beach at dusk, gathering in a well-spaced semicircle of folding chairs. There, they drink cheap Chardonnay out of plastic wine glasses, feast on chips and salsa, and recount family lore with a good deal of guffawing.

The wine isn’t the point of such gatherings; still, our friend always bemoaned that he couldn’t get his own clan to drink something better. This time, without saying a word, he slipped a few of the 2018 Appliqué bottles into the line-up. As the wine circulated, and glasses filled with the golden-hued stunner, the effect was like setting off a Roman candle amid a bunch of sparklers. Exclamations and wide eyes followed.

“By gawd, what are we drinking here, Jimmy?”

His aunts and uncles weren’t the type to drop $60 on a bottle of Stags Leap or Far Niente. But now that they had tasted something of that league—and learned that through the Appliqué line, it could be had for as little as $14.99 a bottle on cases—they were hooked.

“Can you run down the store and get 10 more bottles? We’re here for a week!”

You can’t find the 2018 Appliqué in stores. It’s a Wine Access-only deal, and for lovers of California Chardonnay, it’s a real doozy you’ll want to stock up on all summer long.