2016 Alpine Vineyard Chardonnay

The 2016 Chardonnay Alpine Vineyard is fascinating to taste next to the Horseshoe, as it is quite a more tropical and generous in feel. Even so, there is quite a bit of energy running through the passionfruit, pineapple and yellow stone fruit. The Alpine will appeal more to readers who enjoy oily, textured Chardonnays.

The 2016 Chardonnay Alpine Vineyard is a stunning young wine that's one of the best whites Rhys has produced to date. Opening up with vivid aromas of lemon oil, citrus pith, crisp apple and nutmeg, it's fuller-bodied, glossier and more textural than the Horseshoe bottling, with a broader attack as well. But it's also intensely saline and mineral, with wonderful concentration and intensity. Several years of patience will be rewarded by greater expressiveness and complexity, and I'd expect it to drink well for the better part of two decades thereafter.