Arnot-Roberts Trout Gulch Vineyard Chardonnay 2023

Arnot-Roberts is a cult Northern California winery run by childhood friends Duncan Arnot Meyers and Nathan Lee Roberts, known for seeking out cool sites and working with minimal intervention. This Chardonnay comes from the Trout Gulch vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains, a cool coastal zone where fog and sea influence keep temperatures low and stretch out the growing season. That slow ripening is the key to the wine's shape, giving full flavour at only 12 percent alcohol with bright natural acidity. Ageing runs ten months in used French oak barrels, chosen for texture and a light oxygen exchange rather than any strong wood flavour, so the fruit and minerality stay clear. The colour is pale green gold. The nose is restrained and precise, with lemon, green apple and white peach over a subtle bready lees note and a struck flint edge. The palate is lean, taut and cool climate in style, the citrus fruit driven by firm acidity and a long, saline, low alcohol finish. This is Chardonnay in a Chablis leaning register. Serve at around 10 to 12 degrees in a white glass.