2017 Arista Chardonnay Banfield Vineyard

One of the large single vineyard releases, the 2017 Chardonnay Banfield Vineyard comes from a site in the Russian River and was whole cluster pressed and fermented and aged 12 months in one-third new French oak. After a year, it was moved to stainless steel tanks for six months before bottling. Notes of Meyer lemons, baked apples, crushed rocks, honeyed flowers, and spice all emerge from the glass, and it's rich and full-bodied on the palate, with plenty of structure and depth as well as good acidity. More reserved and tight, it's another effort from this estate that needs a year of bottle age, but it’s loaded with potential. With the wines made by Matt Courtney, this Russian River estate continues to make some of the best wines in the vintage.

The 2017 Chardonnay Banfield Vineyard is powerful, but also tightly wound, with a lot of energy to play off of the rich, luscious fruit. The Banfield has a real phenolic feel of structure. This is the coolest site Arista works with for Chardonnay. I would give it a few years in bottle to come around, as it is a bit austere, its considerable richness notwithstanding.