Red Car Chardonnay Mohrhardt Ridge Vineyard Fort Ross-Seaview 2022

Red Car is the ultimate garage wine-turned-cult producer in recent California memory, and their single-vineyard, micro-production 2022 Mohrhardt Ridge Chardonnay is velvety rich and expressive, yet punctuated with seaspray-infused acidity. It normally retails for close to $60, but we’re stoked to bring it your way for under $30!

What a dream, to start a winery with your two best friends and craft something so incredibly special that the world’s best critics immediately take note. Mark Estrin, Carroll Kemp, and Richard Crowell actually did it – all the way back in 2000 – and in the decades since, Red Car has become an enduring cult wine producer of California. They started with Syrah, but today, they are best known for their crisp, cool, and complex Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. From a first vintage in a Culver City garage, to their purchase of over 100 acres on the extreme and wild reaches of the Sonoma Coast, to crafting a wine that landed on the cover of Wine Spectator titled the “Best Ever California Pinot Noir” – how far they’ve come. 

Today’s Mohrhardt Ridge Chardonnay, from the Fort-Ross Seaview AVA on Sonoma’s northern coast, is a personal favorite of the Red Car portfolio – bright and floral, with a citrine zip, layers of minerality, and incredibly expressive in the most subtle and nuanced of ways. The production is microscopic – only 125 cases made – with all the Chardonnay being Old Wente clone, aged for 16 months in 95% neutral French oak barrels. The vineyard itself sits atop a coastal mountain range at 1,400 feet above the nearby Pacific, and fog, ocean winds, and meager soils do the rest. Winemaker Tanner Scheer is dogmatically minimalistic in his approach, striving to harness the energy that climate, soil, vines, and farming have given. This elegant Chardonnay expresses that remarkably. 

Honeysuckle and lemon verbena, with mandarin blossoms, orange oil, raw macadamia nuts, and flame-scorched meringue rush out the glass, with a velvety richness that saturates the tongue. The proximity to the ocean makes itself known with a band of salt-tinged seaspray carrying through the finish, alongside a crunchy seashell and limestone minerality that lingers after each sip. You’re gonna love it – just take care to not serve it too chilled. Its low alcohol and high pH show best around 55 degrees F. For a wine this remarkable and limited in availability, under $30 is a head-swirling steal. Make it yours and grab a couple extra for the long haul!

FOOD PAIRINGS: Let’s go with an old-school Southern staple: Old Bay-seasoned crab and seafood boil with sausage, corn, and potatoes, all dumped on a newspaper-lined table and sprinkled with a dash of Crystal hot sauce. A salty-rich coastal Chard will be right at home on this table.