2000 Kistler - Chardonnay Cuvee Cathleen Chardonnay - USA - California - Sonoma - White

($70) Paler than usual for this wine, almost green-tinged. Puligny-like aromas of minerals, spring flowers and grilled nuts; little obvious sulfides here. Hugely rich and broad in the mouth, with great early sweetness. Consistent, rather backward wine, with terrific cut thanks to brisk lemony acidity and pronounced minerality. Very structured and very strong on the back end. This used to be a barrel selection, and thus to some extent less of a soil-driven wine than the vineyard-designated bottlings, but now it's made almost entirely from old Wente clones planted in the Kistler Vineyard, at an altitude of 1,500 to 1,800 feet.

There are 500 cases of the Chardonnay deemed by Steve Kistler and Mark Bixler as representing the finest barrels, the 2000 Chardonnay Cuvee Cathleen. It exhibits a gravelly liquid minerality intermixed with profound flavors of orange marmalade infused with hazelnut oil, candied citrus, white peaches, and lemon blossom. It possesses superb purity, remarkable palate presence, and great structure as well as definition. This amazing tour de force in Chardonnay (as it has been in every vintage in which it has been produced) should drink well for a decade.

Smoky marshmallow and toasty oak lead the way to a rich, broad array of creamy fig, pear and apricot. Intense, focused, complex and concentrated, it perhaps more than most of the 2000 Kistlers needs time. 535 cases made.