2002 The Judge Chardonnay

(Kongsgaard will be keeping one of the three barrels of this elixir for himself) Deep gold-tinged yellow. Aromas of pit fruits, mocha, nuts and baking spices; in a rather closed phase today. Huge, thick and sweet, with deep flavors of dried fruits, smoke, honey and game. In contrast to the 2003 Judge, this comes across as distinctly thicker than the regular bottling from the same year, without quite the same vibrancy today. But this wine's extraordinary persistence suggests it will top the regular bottling with several years of additional aging.