2019 Wrath Wines Chardonnay EX Unoaked Monterey 750 ml

Anybody who knows us knows that we’re a little nuts for great Chardonnay.

Oaked or unoaked, still or sparkling, we're fanatics. But we’re also discerning. 

This Wrath Chardonnay was recommended by a colleague who knows how much we LOVE the grape. She also knows we’re tough customers, so we had high expectations when we opened the bottle. 

Without missing a beat, our resident MW, Vanessa Conlin, said, “Wrath! I used to sell the hell out of that at St. Helena Wine Center!  It was a total locals’ wine!”

Locals’ wine indeed. This is the kind of Chardonnay you’re simply not going to come across unless you frequent coastal California restaurants. Wine writer Jordan Mackay put Wrath in his Top 10 wineries of the Central Coast for Decanter, describing Wrath wines as “Concentrated and serious, showing a deeply fruity and complex spiciness.”

This Chardonnay is unoaked, but possesses a generous body and ample fruit that’s deceptively rich on the palate while also offering the zippy acidity and subtle sea-spray minerality we love in Monterey County expressions of the grape. As we sip this wine, we can close our eyes and imagine the bay breeze on our faces as we crack into some abalone and other crustaceous delicacies.

The wine is made from 35-year-old, own-rooted Clone 4 planted on Wrath’s San Saba estate vineyard, in the eastern foothills of the Santa Lucia Highlands. The site has one of the longest growing seasons in the world for grapevines, which allows Wrath to pick exactly when they want.

If you love Chablis and cool-climate Chardonnay in all their unadorned glory, you’re going to love this one too.