Did you know that “Chardenet” was the original spelling for that varietal in France of 1849?

Today’s Carneros Hills 2013 Coteau Blanc Vineyard Chardenet hearkens back to those classic times, a silky, clean finishing Chardonnay with a pedigree that punches way above the price point.

This wine tastes like Chablis went to the tropics. Sourced from a chalky hilltop vineyard less than a mile from the ocean, this mineral driven wonder is truly unique in the California wine world.

This wine opens with baking spices and stone fruits along with bright citrus. As the wine opens up, it also reveals notes or caramel, baked green apple, quince and light oak.

Clean and crisp for a Chardonnay, green apple, pineapple, grilled fig, quince and bright minerality framed by the faintest hint of vanilla, soft spice and butterscotch.

Today’s wine is certainly one to convince you just how delicious - and how pleasingly varied - California Chards can be. Please don’t miss out on today’s Carneros gem, it won’t last long!

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Here’s what the wine press has to say:

93 points - Virginie Boone, Wine Enthusiast - “From chalky soils planted on a unique rolling hillside site, this opens in wafty caramel and butterscotch, providing a decadent nose. The palate follows in luxurious, velvety waves balanced by buoyant acidity. With a mix of fresh peach and apricot, it finishes fresh, spicy and salty.”

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90 points - Vinous / Antonio Galloni - “The 2013 Chardonnay Coteau Blanc is a very pretty, expressive wine with good complexity and plenty of nuance. Candied lemon, hazelnut, spice and a slightly reductive note in the aromatics add the closing shades of nuance.”