Sojourn Cellars - a Wine Spectator Top 100 winery.

Many a Sojourn has come and gone here.

But this is the first one of their brilliant Chardonnays!

94 Points, and from one of the best sites on the Sonoma Coast! A site made famous thanks in part to the “suitcase” Montrachet clone, and the fruit is supplied to just a handful of high-end producers.

This one from Sojourn is usually relegated to their mailing list who might be lucky to save 15% off the $75.

But at OVER 50% OFF?!!! That’s a job for your Agents of Wine.

Reuling Vineyard, located between Graton and Forestville in the heart of Sonoma Coast, is small and focused on quality. Not far from Kistler, it was originally sought out and planted with Mark Aubert as a source for Peter Michael. The Chardonnay? It was a ‘suitcase’ clone smuggled from a cutting off the Montrachet Grand Cru in Burgundy!!! They make their own wine and release their precious Chard to a VERY select few producers, including Dalecio ($90), Aubert for a number of years ($150+, if you can find it!), and of course… this bottle in front of you!

This tastes MUCH more expensive than the full price of $75. At a mere $35 it punches WAY above its price.

Sojourn Director of Winemaking Erich Bradley has quietly been gathering a reputation for brilliance with Chardonnay. He got his start at Arrowood and went on to make wine for Hop Kiln as well as Audelssa in Glen Ellen and Ojai Mountain Estate. He credits both Richard Arrowood and David Ramey as his mentors. We don’t have to tell you; they are Chardonnay and Pinot Noir LEGENDS! Also, his right hand for the vintage, Randy Bennett, cut his teeth working with Thomas Rivers-Brown and Mike Smith in the caves of Nicholson Ranch where they made Schrader Cellars, Rivers-Marie, Myriad Cellars, Tamber Bey, and (of course) Nicholson Ranch.

And 2021 was an excellent vintage for Chardonnay off the Sonoma Coast. Per Decanter, “The wines tend to have great concentration and smaller berries, yet sufficient yields. They offer freshness, brilliant fruit, characteristic salinity and a noble, savoury character. The 2021 vintage also awarded the wines an abundance of structure, granting them superb ageability.”

When we tried it, we were utterly captivated. It’s a wine that is round and soft in all the right places, while remaining trim and taut. It’s a femme fatale, with a beguiling array of ripe pear and quince fruit, toasty oak, and underlying salinity reminiscent of ocean air. Our own Agent Noir, notoriously hard to please when it comes to Chardonnay, enthusiastically noted this is, “Serious, collector grade juice. Delicious!”

There is a reason we have never offered one of Sojourn’s Chardonnays before. They easily sell out on the mailing list. We had to beg… and we couldn’t be happier they relented!

Stock up now – you’re are going to love it, your friends will, too. And they don’t need to know what you paid!

The bad news – this is going to sell out. There are only so many bottles so don’t wait!

94 Points – International Wine Report “The 2021 Reuling Chardonnay from Sojourn sees 50% new French oak during aging and undergoes 75% malolactic fermentation to retain some of the lovely acidity. More fruit forward than its siblings - think notes of honey-coated pear, sweet cinnamon spice, grilled lemons, wet earth, and vanilla bean. An earthy white mushroom finish completes the wine. Drink 2023-2030.”

92 Points – Owen Bargreen “Sourced from the Sonoma Coast AVA, the 2021 Sojourn Cellars ‘Reuling Vineyard’ Chardonnay comes off very clean with good finesse and salty accents. Shades of salted brioche, wet stone and ripe peach all combine with suggestions of baking spices on he palate. This finishes very long with salty minerals and cream. Drink 2023-2031.”