Mission Codename Beautiful gold
Chardonnay lovers! If you like them ripe, round, exotic and UNDER $20 - this is for you.
We’d call this a “case me” wine FOR SURE. One you’ll reach for again and again with confidence and not a hint of guilt because you scored it for $19. What. A. STEAL!
Leave it to Alex Remy to fashion such a delicious wine. Btw, it’s “vegan-friendly, low sulfites, no residual sugar, no additives, sustainable farming…” if that stuff jingles your bell.
But regardless - it’s just sublime to drink. Toasty, round, and loaded with ripe fruits. OH, and throw 90 points from Wine Enthusiast into the ring.
No wonder it earned their Editors’ Choice designation for outstanding QPR at the original price. At what we squeezed it down to, it’s a back-the-truck-up-and-load-it-up deal at 19 bucks.
Fallenleaf is an awesome little vineyard tucked away on the top of an east-facing ridge overlooking the town of Sonoma. This 8-acre gem is planted to Old Wente clone Chardonnay. Owner Harry Cohn works tirelessly with vineyard manager Alex Remy to methodically produce a stellar crop year after year. Established before today’s modern skinny tractors, the low yields of wide rows are compensated for with a unique double trunk/mid-wire cordon system that can only work in wind-swept cool hillsides like this one. Other boutique wineries like Ernest, Casa Obra, and Eric Kent frequent this well-kept-secret site.
Alex Remy and his assistant winemaker have decades of experience combined, with glowing resumes that include consulting for giants such as Diageo, Gallo, and Constellation for Alex, while Kelli Cybulski cut her teeth as Production Assistant for Opus One, and at Beaulieu Vineyards. Their resulting passion project collaboration is obviously impressive…
Ripe pear and nectarine scents float from the glass, with smoky mineral and lemon curd flourishes. Juicy and focused on the palate, deeply concentrated pit and orchard fruit scents, toasty lees and vanilla notes are present in the background. A long and smooth finish echoes toasty oak as echoing nuances of pear and lemon flourish through. While it drinks beautifully with striking youthful vibrance at the tender age of five, it has the rest of this decade to continue to please even the most discerning Chardonnay fan.
Bought all they had left; will it be enough to last the day? Highly doubt it.
90 Points – Wine Enthusiast
“From a small site overlooking the town of Sonoma, this is a well-made, floral and effusive white wine, high toned with elements of candied apple, melon and matchstick. Stone fruit comes into play on the midpalate, remaining light in style and crisp on the finish.”
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What the Winery Says
2018 'Oro Bello' Fallenleaf Vineyard Chardonnay
- Winemakers
- Alexandre Remy & Kelli Cybulski
- Varietal
- 100& Chardonnay
- Vintage
- 2018
- Alcohol
- 13.4%
- Appellation
- Sonoma Coast
- Vineyard
- Fallenleaf Vineyard
- Total acidity
- 7.6 g/L
- pH
- 3.3
- Aging
- 10 months
- Barrels
- 10% new French oak
- Production
- 4 barrels