2023 Brewer-Clifton Chardonnay Hapgood Vineyard

The 2023 Chardonnay Hapgood, aged 15 months in neutral oak, has a medium gold hue and is a touch more reticent, offering ripe stone fruits, almond paste, Meyer lemon, and a distinctive oyster shell-like minerality and salinity. Balanced and medium-bodied, it has a layered, round mouthfeel, bright acidity, and a great finish. It’s going to age gracefully on its depth and concentration. Drink 2025-2040. Greg Brewer has stayed laser-focused on site expression in the Sta. Rita Hills, fermenting everything with 100% whole clusters and aging exclusively in neutral oak, with the goal of keeping the spotlight on the vineyards. Looking at the vineyards, 3D sits along the Santa Rosa Road corridor between Lafond and Ampelos and is typically one of the brighter, more mineral-driven wines in the range, and I always find a certain saline edge and remarkable balance from this site. Machado lies on sandy clay loam just north of Clos Pepe, west of Buellton, and while the Chardonnay here tends to be racy and mineral-driven, the Pinot Noir is broader and more opulent and always a big wine. Hapgood sits directly across the road from Machado and is planted on sandier soils, which tend to bring more depth and structure; both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from this site show savory, marine-like nuances, and they’re a beautiful expression of the Sta. Rita Hills. A relatively new site from Brewer, Perilune sits north of Melville and spans varied elevations and soils, from sand to botella clay. The wines from this vineyard, whether Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, or Syrah, all share an exotic, layered profile with a distinctive saline and marine influence. Across the board, the 2023s show the acids, minerality, and transparency paired with serious richness that have made Brewer-Clifton a reference point for Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. In short, don’t miss these wines.

The 2023 Chardonnay Hapgood opens with bright, focused, crystalline aromas of grapefruit peel, lemon oil, chalk and white flowers. Saline energy accelerates down the centerline of the mid-palate, driven by a spine of tense, focused acidity. The balance here is unquestionable.