Superior Wine Alert: Today’s Foley Johnson 2014 Carneros Chardonnay is a superb example of Carneros Chardonnay - or any Chardonnay for that matter.

If you enjoy the big, bold and buttery style of Rombauer, you’ll likely fall in love with today’s Foley Johnson 2014 Carneros Chardonnay. This wine, which is a real standout among Carneros Chardonnays, was made by Patrick Foley who is the son of wine magnate, Bill Foley.

Patrick wasn’t just handed his winemaking title, he earned it - at some of the world’s most prestigious wineries.

Patrick Foley studied winemaking in New Zealand, where he earned his Masters in Viticulture and Enology from Lincoln University. He then went to work for Nieto Senetiner as an enologist in Mendoza, Argentina for six months, as a crucial part of the winemaking team.

In 2013, Patrick moved back to California where he worked alongside award-winning Winemaker Leslie Renaud at Roth Estate Winery in Healdsburg. He worked as an enologist and later as a winemaker.

Today, he works with wine legend David Ramey to produce some extremely elegant and ultra quality wines. Foley Johnson wines range in price from $45 to more than $150 a bottle - which makes today’s wine a true steal of a wine.

This wine is very aromatic, leading with aromas of baked apple, sweet lemon curd, lime leaf, orange blossom, vanilla, oak, toast, lemon drop candy and very subtle white pepper.

Flavors cascade across the palate, with bold Meyer lemon, lime leaf, lime flower, lemongrass, pineapple, butterscotch, toasty oak and subtle white spice.

An important note about Carneros Chardonnay: We love Carneros Chardonnay, but today’s breaks the mold in a couple of ways. This wine has a much brighter acidity and more of an overall richness than we are used to from Carneros. This must be attributable to the particular soil composition where this wine grows.

There is a definite (subtle) minerality here, too, which indicates a soil composition that differs from the usual clay and loam that is found in the region. Today’s wine shows off limestone - which is only present in a very tiny percentage of the region’s vineyards.

This limestone has had a really lovely influence on today’s superb and delicious wine.