99 Points, James Suckling
The wine blooms with pear blossoms, lemons, lime zest, tangerines, lemon blossoms, then creamy but delicate flavors of butter, vanilla bean, lemon curd, chalky minerals and salinity. Medium- to full-bodied, it finishes long and lingering. It was the Hyde Vineyard’s smallest harvest in many years, but the mix of 70% Wente clone and 30% Calera clone grapes from 30- to 42-year-old vines brings a wonderful intensity. Best from 2028.
95 Points, Wine Spectator
“An impressive version, with intense flavors, a creamy texture and wonderful harmony. Offers ripe peach, melon and apricot notes, plus salted butterscotch, toasted fennel seed and orange blossom accents. A touch of shortbread and spices echoes on the long, mouthwatering finish, where the acidity reveals vibrant facets.”
Right on the edge of the Carneros AVA line, sits one of the most famous vineyards in the world, Hyde Vineyard.
The vineyard was planted by Larry Hyde himself, one of America’s greatest wine minds, and provides fruit for many of the region’s elite wineries. Sure, the Chardonnay grown there is some of the most expensive per acre, but David Ramey, Marc Aubert, Steve Kistler, Paul Lato and countless others will tell you, it’s every bit worth the price of admission.
The other winemaker who makes this project so dang special is Aubert de Villaine, President and Winemaker at DRC – so much so that he went all in becoming equal partners with Larry Hyde in their Hyde de Villaine project.
It might just be one of the greatest partnerships the wine world has ever known. Together, both these wine titans have forgotten more about wine than most of us will ever know. Their work with Burgundian varietals is second to none, and together the two have built up allocation waitlists that are a mile long.
If you’ve been reading my emails for any length of time, then you already know that my decades long support for Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and their fleet of the world’s greatest Burgundies has led to a very solid relationship between Aubert de Villaine and myself.