Ojai Chardonnay Puerta Del Mar 2018

95 Pts, Antonio Galloni- Vinous

One American winemaker that I’ve always admired whose Chardonnays are cut from the French cloth is Adam Tolmach at Ojai. I’ve known Adam and his Assistant Winemaker, Fabien Castel for over a decade and over that time I’ve tried a lot of their wines. The Chardonnays are always impeccably balanced, with tremendous acidity and minerality that I love. He’s a boundary pusher, constantly tinkering, never following rules and experimenting with sugars, acidity, pick dates, barrels and everything else under the sun.

Perhaps their greatest white wine release to date is the 2018 Chardonnay from the Puerta del Mar Vineyard. PDM or the “door to the sea” is the perfect vineyard to challenge the classically trained winemaker. Perched on the very edge of where grapes can actually get ripe, just a ridge away from the Pacific. The vines struggle mightily – which in excellent vintages means a concentration of flavor and minerality that is absolutely remarkable. 2018 is one of those vintages. Incredibly aromatically complex with a concentration of fruit and mineral backbone generally reserved for Burgundy three times the price. 

Read Galloni’s rave review below where he calls the wine, “positively stellar”.