Racines Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay Sanford & Benedict Vineyard 2020 Wine Bar | Sparkling & Cider dried plums

dried plums

with delicate refinement and a slightly taut

Bright red fruit and citrus

neutral oak

Racines Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay Sanford & Benedict Vineyard 2020 Wine Bar | Sparkling & Cider dried plumsThese are the oldest Chardonnay vines in the Sta. Rita Hills, planted at Sanford & Benedict in 1971, back when the idea of great California Chardonnay this far south was borderline eccentric. Racines the Burgundian team of Etienne de Montille and Brian Sieve farms a parcel of that original planting on a gently north facing slope of thin shale and chert soils. The winemaking is deliberately restrained: fermentation across puncheons, barrels and