2020 Haynes Vineyard, Corazon, Chardonnay, Coombsville, Napa Valley, California, USA

Just a lovely, layered and creamy Chardonnay with so much energy and verve it should be stopped for speeding. Medium-bodied and boasting a complex fruit profile of lemons and lemon blossoms, lime essence, and a dollop of apricot cream, scented with white springtime flowers, all framed by laser-like acidity with stony mineral underpinnings. Utterly delicious.

Winemaker Nico Cueva employs the same process for the three fancifully named Haynes Vineyard Chardonnays Vigneron, Forgeron, and Corazon). They are whole bunch pressed with sur lie ageing in 500-2000-litre neutral casks for 22 months of elevage. Native yeast ferments. Unfined unfiltered. Cueva explains the fanciful names as such: ‘Vigneron is what we grow. Forgeron is what we build out of a barrel selection), and Corazon is what we love’.

Drink 2023 - 2043

The 2020 Chardonnay Corazon, also from the original 1967 Wente clone planting, shows an added dimension of textural elegance and resonance. Citrus peel, dried flowers, chamomile, marzipan, pastry and spice fill out the layers. Bright, salivating acids are pretty much buried by the sheer intensity of the fruit. The 2020 was aged in a combination of cask and smaller French oak barrels.

Drink 2024 - 2030

100 cases made

More presence in this with cooked apple, pie crust, flint and nutmeg. Full-bodied yet so light on its feet. Light apricot, peach and hints of apple. It goes on and on. So vertical and long. Breathtaking energy and super length. Chardonnay planted Wente clone) in 1968. Drinkable, but this will age for decades ahead.