NDA Deal from a Top Chardonnay Vineyard
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2021 The Messenger Chardonnay Los Carneros 750 ml
Retail: $40 | ||
| $24 | 40% off | per bottle |
- Curated by unrivaled experts
- Choose your delivery date
- Temperature controlled shipping options
- Get credited back if a wine fails to impress
A Chardonnay Cryptogram
The legendary Carneros vineyard behind this NDA-shrouded Chardonnay bottle is so famous that winemaker Rob McDonald wouldn’t even whisper a word of description about it.
“If I tell you anything at all, you’ll know it,” he said, shaking his head. We scanned our mental map of Carneros. There are only a handful of distinctive, A-level vineyards we could guess at with just a few details—Sangiacomo, Rombauer’s go-to? Kistler and Aubert’s time-tested favorite, Hudson?
We might not be privy to its provenance, but the ‘21 Messenger exudes the kind of pedigree that can’t be disguised: the kind of California-bred richness, suave texture, and complexity that many buyers are willing to shell out big bucks for.
A long-time veteran of the California wine industry, Rob managed to get access to a small lot of grapes from this one-of-a-kind vineyard through some right-time, right-place serendipity. In addition to running a small library of his own labels, he was the founder of Old Bridge Cellars—an import business for some of the most revered estates in Australia, including d’Arenberg, Leeuwin Estate, and Jasper Hill. The man knows New World opulence, and he has a truffle hound’s nose for hidden-gem values.
Today’s 2021 Messenger exudes the kind of nobility that you see from “A-Level” Carneros vineyards. It generously showcases aromas of golden apple, roasted hazelnut, and butterscotch, with a layer of acacia flowers—one swirl and it’s clear this wine outstrips its $24 competition by a mile. There’s just no way to achieve this sumptuous, exotic fruit concentration and grand, detailed structure without first-class terroir and meticulous farming.