Big Basin Vineyards Chardonnay Coastview Vineyard Monterey County 2020

Crazy savings on this 93-point, “richly textured” Chardonnay from a single vineyard in Monterey County, handmade by the artisanal Santa Cruz Mountains winery we seriously adore, Big Basin Vineyards! 

We’ve been not-so-secretly crushing on Big Basin Vineyards for a long time. What’s not to love?! Organically farmed, cool climate, mountain fruit, from one of the prettiest vineyards in California, set up in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Low intervention, old school know-how meets Cali sunshine, heaps of critical praise, and just epically delicious wines. We were seriously tempted to keep these all for ourselves – staff parties, research days, tough Mondays, and all that – but we decided these are simply too epic not to share!

This beautifully fresh 2020 Coastview Vineyard Chardonnay is a personal favorite... youthfully bright, and zippy, with a focused acidity that buttresses minerality, and spice, and structure – with little accents of orchard and stone fruits interspersed along the way. It’s like Grand Cru Chablis for Cali-Chardonnay – it seems rich initially, but the impression is morphed and transmuted into so many facets, and varied expressions that the richness is not the lasting impression – far from it, actually. This is graduate-thesis level complex, and the more you swirl, the more you sip, the more you get sucked in! 

PAIRING IDEAS: Seafood all the way, baby. Serve up some rockfish ceviche – complete with heirloom tomato, red onion, jalapeno, cilantro, and lime juice, served up on freshly fried tostadas!