Atrium Chardonnay 2024

Atrium Chardonnay is made by Torres in the DO Penedès in Catalonia, from a family estate at Vilafranca del Penedès with more than a century of winemaking behind it. Penedès combines a warm Mediterranean climate with cooler, higher inland sites, which lets Chardonnay ripen to generous stone and tropical fruit while keeping enough acidity for balance. This is a barrel fermented style. The alcoholic fermentation runs for about two weeks at a controlled 16 degrees, a cool setting that preserves aromatic detail, and the wine then spends five months in oak barrels. Barrel fermentation and lees ageing knit the wood into the fruit and, with malolactic softening the sharper acids, give the wine its vanilla, toast and creamy, rounded character rather than a raw oak overlay. It pours bright gold, with a nose of ripe white peach and melon over vanilla, toasted bread and pear. The palate is full and dry, creamy and gently nutty, with a warm, lightly spiced finish. Serve at 11 to 13 degrees in a larger glass.