2014 Chardonnay Aurata

"The whole conversation is to hold your fruit at bay," says Maggie Harrison of Chardonnay. "It's a monster. It wants to give. People have gotten really afraid of it. It’s true if you have lots of sun it can get overblown, monolithic and tiring. There’s a culture of cropping high and picking early. Picking on acid, that whole thing, I don't get it. It's fruit, it's flavor. I decided to make Chardonnay the way I make everything else: hang it until it’s golden with brown seeds and the flavor in the berry is amazing. Then full malolactic fermentation and aging in barrel sur lie for 18 months before we even think about finishing it. I think we forget that the thing that’s so beguiling about the wines we love, there’s a profundity, a depth of character and articulation of flavor you can’t get to before pulling out the baby prematurely. You can decide in advance what you want the wine to be—in bonzai, you decide the form and prune it that way—and it can take that perfect form and serve a purpose. But those wines never feel fully formed to me. You can’t get there if you’re not meeting the fruit where it is. It’s just paying attention, being present, tasting things. Good construction lasts a long time whether it’s a shoe, a building or a wine. I don’t think you can have all the parts that lead to good construction without simply responding to the fruit in that moment." The 2014 Chardonnay Aurata has an open, inviting nose of honeycomb, cinnamon toast, baked apples, spiced pie crust, crushed hazelnuts and quince paste with notions of crème brûlée, jasmine and lemon cream—savory and intense. It’s medium-bodied, über silky, rich and intense with oodles of savory flavor layers opposed by tangy acidity and finishing long and textured. This is absolutely stunning and has the stuffing and structure to age beautifully. Winemaker Maggie Harrison says this wine has "a feeling of goldness," and I agree.