Bachelder Werner-York Vineyard Chardonnay VQA 2023

This is the second iteration of Chardonnay from the Werner Vineyard, and I am as impressed with the 2023 version as I was with the previous vintage. The Werner’s tiny parcel of vines on the St. David’s Bench performs more like, or equal to, the best examples from the west side of the canal on the Twenty Mile Bench. The nose is profoundly elegant with a lifted and floral beginning followed by fresh saline and oyster shells, pears, golden apples, lemon verbena, white peach and integrated spice notes. It’s mouth-filling on the palate while maintaining its elegance and purity with dense stone fruits, lemon, chiseled salinity, river rock, subtle creamy notes and spice with an elevated, long, and finessed finish. Can cellar through 2035. Score – 94. (Rick VanSickle, winesinniagara.com, Oct. 31, 2025)