2014 Kistler Chardonnay Vine Hill Russian River

(96 Points  ---  Wine Advocate)

Opulently scented of exotic fruits and spices, the 2014 Chardonnay Vine Hill Road Vineyard offers up notes of ginger and anise over a core of pineapple paste, passion fruit and green guava. The palate is beautifully structured with a lively backbone of acid supporting the rich, seductive fruit, finishing long and creamy. Kistler Vineyards remains one of the absolute benchmark producers of great Sonoma Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, sitting right up there with the highest quality examples of these grapes from throughout the world. While the wines come from as wide a range of top terroirs as Sonoma can provide, interestingly nearly all of the Chardonnays are produced from a proprietary selection of Wente clones taken from a Larry Hyde block in the early 1980s. (LPB)   Review Date: 02/2017

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