La Pelle Vineyards, Santa Maria Valley (Santa Barbara County, California) Chardonnay 2019

 Focusing on single vineyard wines, Napa Valley based La Pelle selected fruit from the first block of Chardonnay planted at Bien Nacido in 1973.  The vines are own-rooted and the yields are notoriously low.  Combine the winery’s minimalist approach to winemaking which included a long barrel fermentation and extended lees aging with old vine Chardonnay and the result is a most unusual wine.  Not a summer sipper for sure.  Light yellow in color, it displays green apple, Meyer lemon, and more minerality than ripe fruit in the assertive aroma.  Medium-bodied, with definite leesy background flavors, it tends toward bright apple, lemon zest, chalky and lingering spice on the palate.  It finishes long and minerally, and really screams out for food, especially shellfish.  If you like buttery, chillable Chardonnay, look elsewhere.  If you like Old World-styled Chardonnays with bright acidity capturing the terroir of a historic vineyard, give this one a try.  It needs aeration time in the glass, and actually tasted more evolved and complex a day after being opened.