2015 Alfaro Family Vineyards, Chardonnay, Trout Gulch Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains.
Richard Alfaro’s Trout Gulch Chardonnay never fails to excite and impress and with the concentration and mineral charm of 2015 just makes this wonderful wine that much the better with it’s subtlety of richness and brisk freshness, it’s a winner no question, and you can see why the guys at Arnot-Roberts, Jamie Kutch and John Raytek of Ceritas love this fruit source! Alfaro makes some of the best Chardonnay for the money in California, still an under the radar producer in the market place, but with a strong local following, his wines show graceful class and clarity along with generous layers of depth, these are honest and transparent offerings, and while own estate Lindsay Paige is a more dense bottling, this Trout Gulch, an old vineyard near Aptos, that he farms, is an elegant and lightly loamy/stony crisp Chardonnay that has lots of verve and charm. The Alfaro Family Vineyards 2015 Trout Gulch Chardonnay is beautiful pale golden in hue with a clean lightness and vibrant details starting with citrus blossom, wet rock, saline notes and orchard white fruits, it gains as it warms to the correct temperature in the glass adding a textural opulence to it’s medium/full palate that delivers apple/pear, peach and lemony fruits along with chalky stones, steely mineral and subtle round oak as well as sea shore, verbena and clove. As you sip the third or fourth sip here you start to get the whole picture and it’s pure art, the mouth feel is excellent, the acidity is poised (smooth) and the layers become seamless leaving you wanting more, at 13.5% it’s nearly perfect in terms of balance, it’s in no way heavy, but with wonderful impact and is very expressive with a hint of rustic earthiness to go with the energy and ripe fruit, this Chard, unfined and unfiltered, is drinking seriously well, only 4 barrels were made, so don’t wait to get a few.
($30-35 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive
