“The quality here is off the charts, and these wines remain ridiculously priced. Quantities are also tiny here, so don’t miss the boat on these!” – Wine Advocate

That “ridiculously priced” reference? It’s based on the $60 release price.

What would they say about our $25 deal on this 94-POINT rendition? Insanity? Reality-shifting, mind-boggling, and off the meter? We’re running out of superlatives, but you get the idea.

This is, after all, Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay. From the same neighborhood as single-vineyard as other famed Chardonnays, like Ridge or Rhys, and Mount Eden. You can spend a LOT more to get the same quality.

And this is capital-Q quality; a single vineyard, single block selection, planted on porous oceanic bedrock that’s 1-3-million-year-old sedimentary rock that imparts wonderful minerality and complexity into this beautiful Chard.

Just about a decade ago, the Neely label was called Varner, named after the founding brothers who retired and passed the baton to their partners, the Neely family.

Antonio Galloni’s Vinous profiled these wines best: “These are some of the most beautiful, striking Chardonnays and Pinots readers will come across. Best of all, prices remain exceedingly fair by California standards, considering the quality of what goes into the bottle… Chardonnays are intensely mineral and have plenty of Santa Cruz Mountains structure… fermented in steel, an unusual practice that probably explains why they retain so much freshness.”

Just as The World of Fine Wine points out, “Vineyards like Mount Eden and Ridge Monte Bello successfully produce Chardonnay, at least in part thanks to the phenolic character distinctive of the region. The structural presence of the two sites serves as an articulate frame for composing varietal and fruit expression. A site with less structural distinction might not serve both varieties so well. It turns out that the phenolic presence witnessed through the two heritage houses of California gives character to Varner’s vines as well.” And they certainly continue to radiate those vibes.

Terroir talk aside it takes a skilled winemaker to finesse this fruit into the finished product. Shalini Sekhar makes that happen. She’s the quiet force behind ROAR, Furthermore, and Ottovino, and remains the consultant winemaker at Neely today; in 2024, Sarah Green (Donelan, FEL, Savoy, Donum) was brought in to continue the rise in quality here.

SO. MUCH. FRESHNESS! Born from the fantastic 2021 vintage, this is just a baby and has barely started its evolution. Still, it’s packed with promise - or rather, beautiful notes of lemon meringue, ripe orchard fruits, oyster shells, spices, and white flowers meld with a seamless style on the palate, with custard and citrus pith notes that linger effortlessly. Incredibly rich and delicious, but also a complex as can be Chardonnay. It simply does not get much better at $60 - and at our price it’s unmatched.

We’ll leave the last word to a Vinous article on Santa Cruz Mountains: “The strongest asset here is a core of capable, scrappy, adaptable, quality-minded producers who utilize the region’s diversity to succeed in spite of adversity. They change colors as necessary to blend in with their environment - like chameleons - churning out wines of precision, transparency, and value year after year…”

Precision? Absolutely. Transparency? No doubt. Value? Unreal!

94 Points – Wine Enthusiast “Fresh dairy aromas of clotted cream meet with delicate lime blossom on the unique nose of this bottling. The palate is tense with tannins and very rocky in flavors, though bright citrus peel, pith, and flesh tones balance the damp stone core.”