2010 Diatom Chardonnay Kodo

The 2010 Chardonnay Kodo comes across as round, sweet and lush in its apricots, minerals and flowers. It shows considerable depth and a round, sensual finish. I especially like the wine's sensual, inviting personality.

The 2010 Chardonnay Kodo comes across as round, sweet and lush in its apricots, minerals and flowers. It shows considerable depth and a round, generous finish. I especially like the wine’s sensual, inviting personality. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2016. These 2010s from Greg Brewer encapsulate a desire to move even further along a trajectory of simplicity and minimalism inspired by Japanese culture. Greg Brewer has removed the vineyard designations from his wines and replaced them with Kanji characters that he feels capture the essence of each site. Kanji is a traditional Japanese language based on Chinese characters. Brewer describes the 2010 vintage as relatively cool but with heat spikes towards the end of the season. He harvested early to preserve as much freshness as possible and also bottled on the early side. The wines were all fermented and aged in steel, in very reductive environments, with blocked malos and no batonnage. Not surprisingly, most of the 2010s were a bit reduced when I tasted them in June, but the wines showed quite well with several hours of air. These are striking whites for their transparency and purity, even if at times they are north of 16% in alcohol. Tel. (805) 452-5609; Fax (805) 735-9185; www.diatomwines.com