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Glenora Wine Cellars was the first winery established on Seneca Lake and remains a pioneer in New York’s Finger Lakes wine region. This 2017 Blanc de Blanc is sourced entirely from Glenora Farms on the lake’s west side. After six years en tirage, the result is an impeccably bright and creamy sparkling wine, layered with orchard fruit and confected lemon bar notes. The finish is balanced and expressive, framed by toasted almonds, apple skin tannins, and a touch of lemon oil.
The 2018 Blanc de Blanc is 100% Chardonnay, sourced from select sites along the east side of Seneca Lake. Each lot was vinified separately in stainless steel and aged sur lie for four months before going en tirage for five years, then disgorged in 2024. The wine offers a vinous brightness that leaps from the glass, building into a frothy, textured palate. Chalky minerality provides structure, while nuanced layers of toasty brioche and roasted almonds—gifts of the extended lees aging—bring depth and complexity.
Beautifully crisp and rich, with baked orchard fruit and a frothy, airy mousse that remains bright and focused. A long, lingering saline-acid tension brings nutty undertones to the forefront, melding into a Sherry-like aromatic richness with perfectly balanced energy on the extended finish. Absolutely fantastic—and a must-have with oysters and mignonette. 100% Chardonnay, sourced exclusively from Boisseau Vineyard, a 2.2-acre site located just a few miles east of the winery and tasting house. The base wine spent four months in demi-muid French oak barrels before bottling, adding subtle texture and nuance. Aged five years sur lie and disgorged on 12.6.23, this wine reveals refined complexity and depth. Dosage: 6 g/L.
Focused and linear, this estate-grown sparkling wine leads with bright apple and lime zest notes, followed by subtler hints of French pastry. The gentle mousse gives way to a brisk, acid-driven finish. Hand-picked and whole-cluster pressed from certified sustainable estate vineyards, the wine was partially barrel fermented to build texture.
Produced in the Méthode Champenoise style, this Oregon sparkling wine is exceptionally limited—just 70 cases, or roughly 1.5 barrels. Aged en tirage for 37 months, it opens with a bold nose of lavish French pastry and lemon pot de crème. The concentrated, hearty mousse reveals layers of cherry fruit, white plum, and saline-acid minerality, all carried by building tension. Juicy, focused, and impressively long on the finish.
Produced in the Méthode Champenoise style, the 2019 vintage is notably richer than the 2020 release, offering a flashier array of French pastry notes, buttered brioche, and baked orchard fruit. The mousse is beautifully rich and creamy, with the most delicate beading giving way to a fuller palate and a long, clean, and voluptuous finish.
Produced by partner Richard Kershaw in South Africa, and aged for 16 months in a blend of new French oak and stainless steel. This Chardonnay is sourced from a 35-year-old plot comprising just seven rows of vines—an overlooked vineyard Kershaw discovered near the ocean, about 2.5 hours from Cape Town, with ancient limestone soils. Kershaw replanted the site to Chardonnay, and the result is extraordinary. There’s a beautifully Chablis-like minerality that lifts from the glass, nuanced by rich layers of citrus fruit, citrus oil, flinty minerality, and crushed almonds. The mid-palate offers wonderful density, with citrus zest, orange oil, and white flowers underscored by beautifully integrated toasty oak. Salty-chalky mineral tension carries through the finish, which is impressively long and resonant. David Bradbury, Wine Director at Rhinory, joked about tasting the best Chardonnay of your life in Texas while guests wandered by to get close to Blake the Rhino—otherworldly, just like the wine itself. A truly great wine from this remarkable collective.
Wow—this is spectacular. The palate is seamless and deeply impressionable, with an ultra-creamy, fine-beaded mousse that feels both focused and energized. The mid-palate richness is off the charts—pure baked orchard fruit layered with oyster shell minerality driving the long, tensile finish. There’s superb expressiveness and a clarity of flavour that makes this a standout. Sparkling Pointe wines are sustainably grown across three estate vineyard sites comprising forty acres within the North Fork of Long Island AVA. Completed in 2010, the winery is dedicated exclusively to the production of Méthode Champenoise sparkling wines and features a bladder press for gentle whole-cluster pressing, a 30,000-gallon tank room for temperature-controlled fermentations, a 3,000 bottle-per-hour bottling line, a 2,000 bottle gyro-pallet riddling machine, an automated disgorging line, and an on-site laboratory for daily wine analysis. A reserve room holds 1,700 gallons of base wines, aged in French oak and stored in stainless steel drums.
A super frothy, expressive, and layered sparkling wine with savory notes of dried herbs and strawgrass layered over creamy citrus and baked orchard fruit. Everything builds beautifully on the medium-bodied palate, where hints of toasted almonds and French pastry add depth and texture to the long, elegant finish. The 2019 growing season was ideal for sparkling wine production—a cooler year that allowed Chardonnay to ripen slowly and evenly. Made using the méthode traditionnelle, the fruit was hand-picked and whole cluster pressed. Fermentation lasted 20 days at 51°F, followed by cold settling, cold stabilization, racking, and filtration.
Produced in the Méthode Champenoise style, this sparkling wine opens with lifted notes of lemon and biscuit, building on the palate with a frothy, assertive mousse that quickly resolves. What lingers is a bright core of lemon-lime citrus, French pastry nuances, and oyster shell minerality on a long, refined finish.
“Colluvial” refers to the rugged, rocky soil found in many of the world’s great vineyards, and this decadent Chardonnay lives up to its name. It’s a study in minerality, offering the tactile impression of smooth river stone and the bracing tension of freshly squeezed lemon meeting a bite of salted, candied lemon rind. Fragrant notes of toasty oak and buttered croissant weave through the mid-palate, joined by a flicker of fresh ginger. All of it builds to a focused, acid-driven finish.
A powerful, succulent, and well-built white, brimming with aromas and flavors of grilled citrus and peaches, a bit of cream, and plenty of spice and power. It feels relatively big, but a beautiful example of the style. – J.R.
This marks the first time a sparkling wine from this iconic vineyard has come across my desk. Crafted in the traditional method with secondary fermentation in bottle, it spent 28 months on the lees, developing lovely baked apple and toasty brioche richness. Lemon-lime aromatics mingle with nougat, while the creamy, enveloping mousse resolves beautifully through a lime-bright acid freshness.
Tension, tension, tension. This is one of the finest Chardonnays I’ve tasted from this winery—elegant yet electric. Refined aromas of lemon, apricot, and nougat rise gently from the glass, leading into a satiny-textured palate layered with juicy, plump white peach. Slate-stone minerality and sea spray acidity frame the wine with precision, driving a long, mouthwatering finish that hums with energy and finesse.
This Le Rayon Vert is a Barrel Select Cuvée that undergoes an extended élevage, spending six months in stainless steel following its time in oak prior to bottling. The nose is strikingly flinty and toasty, with layers of nectarine, kumquat, and orange peel with spicy ginger. Medium- to full-bodied on the palate, it offers intense grip and saline-acid tension that energizes the structure. The finish is long and warming, with a lingering note of apple pie spice that rounds out the wine’s vibrant core.
The Simpatico Ranch Chardonnay is a study in elegance and aromatic complexity. Winemaker Justin Harmon has worked with this site since 2009, and the depth of familiarity shows in the wine’s finesse. It opens with captivating notes of black licorice, wild fennel, and tarragon, layered over salty citrus fruit and delicate apple blossom. There’s a distinctive herbal lift—like cold chamomile tea—that interplays beautifully with high-toned orchard fruit and expressive baking spices. The palate shows excellent concentration, anchored by a firm bed of juicy, crunchy acidity that carries through a long, vibrant finish.
To fully appreciate this wine, you need the backstory, as laid out on the back label: “First there was Nuits Blanches, a blue label Chardonnay born from the frustration Jim Clendenen felt toward the critical response for his Chardonnays. It was bold, brash, obvious, and overwhelming. The 2000 vintage XXth Anniversary Chardonnay marked a style reconciliation. The richness and aggressiveness of the Nuits Blanches style would be tempered with the balance, acidity, and complexity of the Au Bon Climat ‘Bouge’ style. Power and elegance. Big entry and persistent finish. This bottling comes from ABC’s Bien Nacido ‘K’ Block Estate, and the Le Bon Climat Estate Vineyard across from the Santa Maria River. Now [the late] Jim can have his toast, and eat with it, too!” And on that note, this toasty, gorgeously focused Chardonnay opens like a morning walk on the beach, sea spray minerality weaving through the air like the scent of just-baked croissants. Lush and supple—like the underbelly of a crashing wave laced with lemon juice and lime zest—it delivers a cascade of white flowers and salted Marcona almonds. There’s a squeeze of tangerine, the bite of kumquat, and a whisper of butterscotch that lingers with subtle, enticing richness. Jim would be proud.
A gorgeously focused Chardonnay, exhibiting remarkable restraint and precision. Lime-bright acidity drives its linear profile, while oyster shell minerality, quince, and ginger weave through with layered nuance. Despite its taut structure, the wine reveals impressive mid-palate density and salinity, delivering both width and depth. It manages the rare feat of combining gravitas with sheer levity.
Aromatically, this white leads with candied Meyer lemon peel, lime blossoms, and a burst of apricot and pear. The palate of this white is racy and vibrant, yet layered and textural, with a deeply expressive core of citrus-driven fruit. Soaring acidity propels the wine into a very long finish marked by crushed stone minerality and exotic baking spices.
Woody spice, bright lemony lift, and heady floral notes define the seductive nose of this Chardonnay. The medium-bodied palate unfolds with layers of biscuit and toast, complemented by a medley of melon flavors. -JR
All you really need to know about this Rita’s Crown Chardonnay is that one glass will never be enough. You’ll swirl, sniff, sip—and suddenly want to chase its magic for days. It holds the energy of a late afternoon thunderstorm, with a moody edge and an electrically zesty palate, like a raincloud squeezing out lemon juice, shifting to lemon oil, then unleashing waves of fresh and candied ginger. It splashes across the palate like rain on slick slate—slightly smoky from the first drops hitting warm stone. Irresistible, complex, and utterly compelling. You just can’t get enough of this structured, dynamic, and gorgeous Chardonnay. It lives on the far side of “delicious”—a word we haven’t invented yet, but one that would mean delicious multiplied by infinity.
The nice thing about the OTTO Line is that the tasting notes are right there on the label. It’s a medium-bodied wine offering juicy pear, a squeeze of lemon zest, and crushed almonds—at least according to the front label, and I’d agree wholeheartedly, though I’d also add white flowers to the mix. There’s a touch of candied ginger and a wonderfully warm, saline mineral quality. The label also notes that the wine is made from sustainably grown grapes and contains no added sugar, which is perhaps more a nod to consumer misunderstanding—most wines are dry and don’t contain added sugar to begin with, but that’s a whole other conversation for another time.
Sourced from Wente and Mt. Eden clones in Durell Vineyard, this Chardonnay offers lovely, ripe, and succulent orchard fruit notes softened by aging in one-third new French oak and neutral oak puncheon, giving the wine a beautifully silky, satiny texture. The oak profile is balanced and subtle, weaving a tapestry of elegant cedar spice around understated tropical fruit tones of white peach, pineapple, and overripe pear. Fine apple-skin tannins carry a gentle sprinkling of salinity, and the wine finishes with excellent energy and length.
Expressive orchard fruit lifts from the glass in this single-vineyard Hawk Hill Chardonnay from the Sonoma Coast. It’s almost impossible not to swallow—it vibrates with energy and tension the moment it hits the palate, in a way that’s unmatched by many Chardonnays from this region. While it reflects a stylistic shift taking hold here, this wine is refined, lively, bright, and focused. Citrus spray, apple, and pear fruit come through, with even a touch of apple-skin tannin, but what makes it so crushable is the salinity. It’s like liquified Pink Himalayan sea salt—super expressive and monumentally delicious. The vineyard is “nestled in the confluence of the Green Valley and Freestone sub-AVA’s, where Salmon Creek and Russian River watershed meet,” according to Marine Layer’s technical sheet. Grapes are whole cluster direct to press and cold settled overnight. Ferments in concrete egg and neutral oak puncheon. Spontaneous malolactic fermentation. Some lees stirring, and aged 11 months, bottled unfined and lightly filtered.
Stylistically similar to the estate Vineyard Milea BDX Red Blend, this wine leans darker, with forest berry fruit, conifer, and cedarwood spice. Medium- to full-bodied, it delivers supple, juicy dark fruit layered with a touch of salty dark chocolate and lifted by blood orange acidity. The finish is long, expressive, and remarkably fresh.

Harvested just after midnight to preserve freshness, this white was made with precision and intention—sourced from the north-facing side of the vines to enhance its lean, mineral character. Inspired by the wines of Southern Burgundy, it was whole-cluster pressed, barrel-fermented in neutral French oak, and aged sur lie for six months. A Burgundian yeast strain was used to further emulate the region’s style. The result is a mineral-driven wine bursting with peach, pear, and yellow apple. The palate showcases pure stone fruit flavors with a refined, almost delicate elegance. -JR
The 2022 Samsara Chardonnay hails from Francesca Vineyard, a windswept, seven-acre site on the far western edge of the Sta. Rita Hills, where sandy-loam soils and full Pacific exposure yield intensely concentrated fruit. Aromatically, it lifts from the glass like a perfectly buttered bowl of popcorn—rich with caramel, smoky toasted oak, and butter croissant notes. Despite the decadent nose, the palate is more focused and linear, with plenty of mid-palate richness layered with baking spices. Bright lemony acidity keeps it taut, balanced by citrus oil richness—think lemon and tangerine—finishing with salted, toasted almonds. A bold, generous expression of Chardonnay from this extreme coastal site.
This Chardonnay opens with bold aromas of Meyer lemon and sweet, toasty oak that mellow beautifully on the palate. Layers of lemon oil, apricot, ripe yellow apple, and pear create a rich fruit salad character, all framed by zesty acid tension. The finish evokes the indulgent pleasure of a decaadent, powdered sugar-dusted lemon bar.
Expressive, focused, complex, and superbly balanced. The wine opens with flinty minerality and bright citrus—Meyer lemon and grapefruit—before unfolding into a silky, weighty mid-palate layered with creamy lemon curd, apricot, crushed almonds, and white flowers. The finish is long, driven by saline-acid tension that’s nearly impossible to beat. It feels like a brilliant cross between the best of Chablis and the far western Sonoma Coast—yet remains unmistakably Long Island, with its sea spray lift, lime-bright acidity, and mouth-puckering grip that beautifully balances the wine’s fleshy mid-palate. Wonderful energy and exceptional precision. “This wine follows in the footsteps of our best 1994 Chardonnay, which launched the fine wine reputation of Wölffer Estate,” says winemaker Roman Roth. Twenty percent of the wine underwent natural malolactic fermentation, and it remained sur lie on whole lees for eight months with minimal bâtonnage.
Sourced from Pruett Vineyard, bottled unfiltered, and available exclusively through the 3 Steves wine club, this white is both expressive and refined. The nose bursts with notes of apricot, ripe peach, and yellow apple, accented by a stylish touch of butterscotch.The medium- to full-bodied palate is spicy and rich, yet maintains an elegant posture, with well-balanced weight and freshness. -JR
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Glenora Wine Cellars was the first winery established on Seneca Lake and remains a pioneer in New York’s Finger Lakes wine region. This 2017 Blanc de Blanc is sourced entirely from Glenora Farms on the lake’s west side. After six years en tirage, the result is an impeccably bright and creamy sparkling wine, layered with orchard fruit and confected lemon bar notes. The finish is balanced and expressive, framed by toasted almonds, apple skin tannins, and a touch of lemon oil.
The 2018 Blanc de Blanc is 100% Chardonnay, sourced from select sites along the east side of Seneca Lake. Each lot was vinified separately in stainless steel and aged sur lie for four months before going en tirage for five years, then disgorged in 2024. The wine offers a vinous brightness that leaps from the glass, building into a frothy, textured palate. Chalky minerality provides structure, while nuanced layers of toasty brioche and roasted almonds—gifts of the extended lees aging—bring depth and complexity.
Beautifully crisp and rich, with baked orchard fruit and a frothy, airy mousse that remains bright and focused. A long, lingering saline-acid tension brings nutty undertones to the forefront, melding into a Sherry-like aromatic richness with perfectly balanced energy on the extended finish. Absolutely fantastic—and a must-have with oysters and mignonette. 100% Chardonnay, sourced exclusively from Boisseau Vineyard, a 2.2-acre site located just a few miles east of the winery and tasting house. The base wine spent four months in demi-muid French oak barrels before bottling, adding subtle texture and nuance. Aged five years sur lie and disgorged on 12.6.23, this wine reveals refined complexity and depth. Dosage: 6 g/L.
Focused and linear, this estate-grown sparkling wine leads with bright apple and lime zest notes, followed by subtler hints of French pastry. The gentle mousse gives way to a brisk, acid-driven finish. Hand-picked and whole-cluster pressed from certified sustainable estate vineyards, the wine was partially barrel fermented to build texture.
Produced in the Méthode Champenoise style, this Oregon sparkling wine is exceptionally limited—just 70 cases, or roughly 1.5 barrels. Aged en tirage for 37 months, it opens with a bold nose of lavish French pastry and lemon pot de crème. The concentrated, hearty mousse reveals layers of cherry fruit, white plum, and saline-acid minerality, all carried by building tension. Juicy, focused, and impressively long on the finish.
Produced in the Méthode Champenoise style, the 2019 vintage is notably richer than the 2020 release, offering a flashier array of French pastry notes, buttered brioche, and baked orchard fruit. The mousse is beautifully rich and creamy, with the most delicate beading giving way to a fuller palate and a long, clean, and voluptuous finish.
Produced by partner Richard Kershaw in South Africa, and aged for 16 months in a blend of new French oak and stainless steel. This Chardonnay is sourced from a 35-year-old plot comprising just seven rows of vines—an overlooked vineyard Kershaw discovered near the ocean, about 2.5 hours from Cape Town, with ancient limestone soils. Kershaw replanted the site to Chardonnay, and the result is extraordinary. There’s a beautifully Chablis-like minerality that lifts from the glass, nuanced by rich layers of citrus fruit, citrus oil, flinty minerality, and crushed almonds. The mid-palate offers wonderful density, with citrus zest, orange oil, and white flowers underscored by beautifully integrated toasty oak. Salty-chalky mineral tension carries through the finish, which is impressively long and resonant. David Bradbury, Wine Director at Rhinory, joked about tasting the best Chardonnay of your life in Texas while guests wandered by to get close to Blake the Rhino—otherworldly, just like the wine itself. A truly great wine from this remarkable collective.
Wow—this is spectacular. The palate is seamless and deeply impressionable, with an ultra-creamy, fine-beaded mousse that feels both focused and energized. The mid-palate richness is off the charts—pure baked orchard fruit layered with oyster shell minerality driving the long, tensile finish. There’s superb expressiveness and a clarity of flavour that makes this a standout. Sparkling Pointe wines are sustainably grown across three estate vineyard sites comprising forty acres within the North Fork of Long Island AVA. Completed in 2010, the winery is dedicated exclusively to the production of Méthode Champenoise sparkling wines and features a bladder press for gentle whole-cluster pressing, a 30,000-gallon tank room for temperature-controlled fermentations, a 3,000 bottle-per-hour bottling line, a 2,000 bottle gyro-pallet riddling machine, an automated disgorging line, and an on-site laboratory for daily wine analysis. A reserve room holds 1,700 gallons of base wines, aged in French oak and stored in stainless steel drums.
A super frothy, expressive, and layered sparkling wine with savory notes of dried herbs and strawgrass layered over creamy citrus and baked orchard fruit. Everything builds beautifully on the medium-bodied palate, where hints of toasted almonds and French pastry add depth and texture to the long, elegant finish. The 2019 growing season was ideal for sparkling wine production—a cooler year that allowed Chardonnay to ripen slowly and evenly. Made using the méthode traditionnelle, the fruit was hand-picked and whole cluster pressed. Fermentation lasted 20 days at 51°F, followed by cold settling, cold stabilization, racking, and filtration.
Produced in the Méthode Champenoise style, this sparkling wine opens with lifted notes of lemon and biscuit, building on the palate with a frothy, assertive mousse that quickly resolves. What lingers is a bright core of lemon-lime citrus, French pastry nuances, and oyster shell minerality on a long, refined finish.
“Colluvial” refers to the rugged, rocky soil found in many of the world’s great vineyards, and this decadent Chardonnay lives up to its name. It’s a study in minerality, offering the tactile impression of smooth river stone and the bracing tension of freshly squeezed lemon meeting a bite of salted, candied lemon rind. Fragrant notes of toasty oak and buttered croissant weave through the mid-palate, joined by a flicker of fresh ginger. All of it builds to a focused, acid-driven finish.
A powerful, succulent, and well-built white, brimming with aromas and flavors of grilled citrus and peaches, a bit of cream, and plenty of spice and power. It feels relatively big, but a beautiful example of the style. – J.R.
This marks the first time a sparkling wine from this iconic vineyard has come across my desk. Crafted in the traditional method with secondary fermentation in bottle, it spent 28 months on the lees, developing lovely baked apple and toasty brioche richness. Lemon-lime aromatics mingle with nougat, while the creamy, enveloping mousse resolves beautifully through a lime-bright acid freshness.
Tension, tension, tension. This is one of the finest Chardonnays I’ve tasted from this winery—elegant yet electric. Refined aromas of lemon, apricot, and nougat rise gently from the glass, leading into a satiny-textured palate layered with juicy, plump white peach. Slate-stone minerality and sea spray acidity frame the wine with precision, driving a long, mouthwatering finish that hums with energy and finesse.
This Le Rayon Vert is a Barrel Select Cuvée that undergoes an extended élevage, spending six months in stainless steel following its time in oak prior to bottling. The nose is strikingly flinty and toasty, with layers of nectarine, kumquat, and orange peel with spicy ginger. Medium- to full-bodied on the palate, it offers intense grip and saline-acid tension that energizes the structure. The finish is long and warming, with a lingering note of apple pie spice that rounds out the wine’s vibrant core.
The Simpatico Ranch Chardonnay is a study in elegance and aromatic complexity. Winemaker Justin Harmon has worked with this site since 2009, and the depth of familiarity shows in the wine’s finesse. It opens with captivating notes of black licorice, wild fennel, and tarragon, layered over salty citrus fruit and delicate apple blossom. There’s a distinctive herbal lift—like cold chamomile tea—that interplays beautifully with high-toned orchard fruit and expressive baking spices. The palate shows excellent concentration, anchored by a firm bed of juicy, crunchy acidity that carries through a long, vibrant finish.

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