2018 Walter Scott Chardonnay X Novo Vineyard

Limpid, green-hued straw. A complex, assertively perfumed bouquet evokes Anjou pear, peach nectar, orange zest and vanilla, along with suggestions of sea salt and pungent flowers. A smoky mineral quality builds in the glass, energizing densely packed Meyer lemon, orchard and pit fruit and chamomile flavors that are braced by an undercurrent of juicy acidity. Clings impressively on the strikingly long, mineral-driven finish, which features suggestions of smoky lees and ripe citrus fruits. 40% new oak.

In 2010 Craig Williams, best known for his tenure at Joseph Phelps Vineyards, and his family came to Oregon where they purchased land in Eola-Amity Hills and planted a notably diverse clonal selection of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. X Novo Vineyard is located just down the east ridge of the Eola-Amity Hills from Seven Springs, in an area known as Spring Valley. It sits on the edge of the Holmes Gap, where the Van Duzer wind currents funnel through the rolling hills. This site is perfectly perched at 525 ft in elevation on extremely rocky clays known as Gelderman. The Chardonnay block is planted with almost 20 clones of Chardonnay.  Fermented with ambient yeast and aged in 500- and 350-litre barrels (40% new) for 12 months and finished for 3 months in stainless-steel tank. Minimal lees stirring. pH c 3.15 post malolactic conversion. 450 cases produced. This is definitely the most exotic of the three Walter Scott Chardonnays I am tasting and, at first, the least marked by flinty reduction, though it does have some of that aroma and it seems to show more as the wine warms in the glass. The floral character is more intense, more perfumed with jasmine, than on the Cuvée Anne, though the reduction masks it to some extent, spicy too. More seductive without suggesting heaviness as some perfumes do. On the palate, there’s more stony citrus than I expected after the aroma, a little toasty. I thought at first that it had less persistence than the Seven Springs, less drive on the finish but on the next day, a little warmer, the persistence was remarkable. The power in Seven Springs is in the structure and precision, here it is more in the aroma and breadth while it still has terrific freshness on the finish, with a citrus kick at the end. Somehow manages to be both seductive and cerebral in its appeal. (JH)