2022 Jonive Chardonnay Moon Dust Vineyard Russian River Valley 750 ml

Jonive is a single-vineyard estate in the Sebastopol Hills, the coolest section of the Russian River Valley, producing Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from 15 acres of estate-grown, organically farmed land.

The name traces back to an 1845 California land grant—“Rancho Cañada de Jonive”—identified by surveyor Jasper O’Farrell as a site of exceptional fertility and natural drainage, a corner of the Sebastopol Hills that stood apart from its surroundings. More than 175 years later, Moon Dust Vineyard occupies that same ground.

The soil is Goldridge—a well-drained, sandy loam so distinctive that locals gave it its own name, the same one the vineyard carries today—and it is widely regarded as among the finest terroir in the appellation for both varieties. The Sebastopol Hills position means marine air arrives reliably from the coast, keeping the growing season long and cool.

The four acres of Chardonnay, planted in 1996, are split between two complementary clones: the Robert Young clone for richness and textural weight, and clone 95 for the focused acidity that gives the wine its structure. The vineyard is farmed to regenerative organic certified standards—a more demanding designation than conventional organic, with requirements that extend to the broader health of the land.

Winemaker Vance Rose—whose credits include Donum Estate, Ehlers Estate, Grieve, and Double Eagle—works without sulfur dioxide, commercial yeast, fining, or filtration. He allows the pressed juice to brown naturally before fermentation begins, a technique most winemakers actively avoid but one that, handled carefully, builds depth and complexity at lower alcohol. The wine rests for 15 months in 100% French oak, 57% new, before going into bottle exactly as it left the barrel.

The result is taut and mineral-driven, closer in spirit to white Burgundy than to what most drinkers expect from California Chardonnay: citrus and florals on the nose, a texture that manages to feel simultaneously rich and precise.

The Underwood family—five generations in wine and spirits since 1888—purchased Moon Dust Vineyard in 2021 and built Jonive around a single ambition: world-class estate wine from one of the Russian River Valley’s great sites.