Racines Sandford & Benedict Vineyard Chardonnay 2018

This Chardonnay is sourced from the same blocks, and crafted alongside, Justin Willett’s bottling for Tyler Winery. It goes to barrel with less gross lees than the Tyler iteration, sees more battonage, as well as a longer elevage in a combination of 500l, 350l and 228l barrels. The result is an interesting conundrum of a more textural and weighty wine but one that simultaneously comes across as more subtle in flavour, and has an almost ghostly, ethereal finish. Recommend to stock up but sit on for two years or so. Drinking window: 2020-2035. Score – 95. (Matthew Luczy, decanter.com, Sept. 20, 2020)