2010 Littorai Chardonnay The Tributary

Littorai’s 2010 Chardonnay The Tributary Estate Vineyard is totally beguiling. An eccentric, quirky wine, the Tributary emerges from the glass with lime, petrol, chalk, white flowers and crushed rocks. Initially quite Riesling-like in its expression, the 2010 gains volume and richness in the glass as the aromas and flavors move toward a slightly more exotic passion fruit-inflected end of the spectrum. This complex, nuanced wine is flat-out stunning. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2020. There is no doubt in my mind Littorai is one of this country’s crown jewel wineries. Proprietor Ted Lemon has the magic touch with both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Readers will find a large number of fabulous wines in both 2010 and 2011. Simply put, this is a superb set of new and upcoming releases from a California icon. The 2010s are a product of a generally cold year marked by significant disease pressure during the middle of the growing season and two significant heat spikes that followed in late August and September. Ted Lemon told me the Chardonnay was more affected by sunburn than the Pinot and required considerable sorting. The vintage was not without its challenges for the Pinot, however, as the One Acre and Platt were declassified to the Les Larmes and Sonoma Coast bottlings respectively, neither of which I tasted. The harvest was a little late for the Pinot, but very late for the Chardonnay. Littorai’s 2011s are some of the most intriguing wines of that difficult year. The Chardonnays are unique and compelling, largely because the presence of botrytis gives the wines an element of exoticism and texture that is atypical. The Pinots are wonderfully transparent expressions of some of the top sites in the Sonoma Coast and Anderson Valley. Lemon adds that, while he is typically among the first to pick, in 2011 he was among the last, as the fruit took a very long time to ripen under the cool conditions of the year. In 2011, the percentage of whole clusters in the Pinot is lower across the board than in 2010. As always, the Littorai wines are farmed naturally, vinified with natural yeasts, see minimal handling and are generally bottled without fining and filtration. Tel. (707) 823-9586

The 2010 Chardonnay The Tributary is gorgeous. Burnished dried apricots, flowers, mint, honeysuckle and crushed rocks are some of the notes that flow from this articulate, chiseled wine. The 2010 boasts tons of energy and verve in a style that marries generous fruit with substantial tension and minerality.