2019 Krupp Brothers Winery, Chardonnay, Stagecoach Vineyards, Napa Valley.
The very polished and decadently creamy Krupp Chardonnay retains the 2019 vintage’s cool inner brightness, making for an opulent full bodied version that still has energy, a mineral charm and complexity, it performs in the glass like one would expect from top Napa Chardonnays, in the vein of Kongsgaard and or Pahlmeyer. The mouth feel is lush with lemon curd, apple, white peach, pineapple and golden fig fruits, along with leesy brioche, clove spice, buttercream, toasty oak vanilla and wet stones accents. While weighty and with a serious presence, this vintage can surprise for its agility and the natural acidity comes through at the perfect moment to balance the luxurious personality here, it also allows real enjoyment with food, especially things like lobster tail, crab and soft cheeses. This Krupp Chardonnay, which comes from a special cool parcel on the Stagecoach Vineyard and hillside vines and saw barrel fermentation and aging, with an elevage of close to a year, after going through full malo-lactic conversion, with a high percentage of medium plus French oak barriques being employed. I gotta say, while I was nonchalant at first, tasting this wine with the Krupp’s awesome lineup of reds, this wine ended up impressing me with how well it stood up during my visit and I went back to it frequently to admire it.
As mentioned in recent reviews, it was long overdue to taste through the Krupp Bother wines and everything I tasted was impeccably well made and showing a purity of form, especially good on the day was their gorgeous 2018 Synchrony, a Bordeaux blend with good dose of Cab Franc, the dark and powerful Veraison Stagecoach Cabernet Sauvignon, the classic bottling from this small family winery, and the inky violet Black Bart Stagecoach Syrah, which has long been a favorite of mine. The winery, now located just off the Silverado Trail in a beautiful Tuscan style villa, which has surrounding vineyards that will go into some future bottlings, but still focuses on the Stagecoach fruit, even after the Krupp’s sold it off a few years back. The Stagecoach Vineyard, that the Krupp’s planted in pure rock, is a modern marvel that required a moving of heaven and earth to plant, is a rocky site, one of Napa’s most prized, situated between Howell Mountain and Pritchard Hill provides top notch grapes to some of the valley’s elite wines. The first time I visited the Krupp Brothers I visited Stagecoach, so this time felt different, but exciting to tour their new property and see a glimpse of their future, especially as winemaker Desiree O’Donovan is getting a chance to show off her talents going forward. After using top consultants for many years, the Krupp’s have put their faith in O’Donovan, a Napa native, who has loads of experience with these wines, being the long time assistant winemaker here, as well as some other boutique labels. The textural and expressive Krupp Chardonnay sometimes gets overlooked, but is a delicious effort and is performing exceptionally nicely right now.
($65 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive