2023 LIOCO SoCo Chardonnay

You've heard about 2023, right? The return to a classic California vintage. Wet spring. Good size crop. October harvest dates. Low blood pressure. ;) The 2023 wines are super fresh, fruit dense, and because of the extended hang times-very aromatic. For this year's installment, we went back to the original SoCo "recipe." All the fruit came from ranches in the Russian River Valley / Sonoma Coast corridor. All of it was hand picked in early to mid-October (in itself, a news story). The fruit was crushed-in this case, foot tread, back at the winery, and pressed out into stainless steel tanks. For the first time in many years, we elected not to blend down any barrel-fermented lots into SoCo-it's 100% tank fermented and aged, and it shows the Chablis-like tension and minerality we find only in the coldest growing years. This wine is mouthwatering and buttressed with a low 3.4 pH. Opened bottles should hold up for several days in the bar fridge...if they last that long.