2010 Diatom Chardonnay Miya

The 2010 Chardonnay Miya is a deep, powerful wine. It comes across as a touch heavy and earthy next to the more polished and interesting wines in this lineup. I don't see the balance or same sense of intrigue I find in the finest Diatom wines.

The 2010 Chardonnay Miya is a deep, powerful wine. It is a touch heavy and earthy next to the more polished and refined wines in this lineup. I don’t see the balance or same sense of intrigue I find in the finest Diatom Chardonnays. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2015. These 2010s from Greg Brewer encapsulate a desire to move even further along a trajectory of simplicity and minimalism inspired by Japanese culture. Greg Brewer has removed the vineyard designations from his wines and replaced them with Kanji characters that he feels capture the essence of each site. Kanji is a traditional Japanese language based on Chinese characters. Brewer describes the 2010 vintage as relatively cool but with heat spikes towards the end of the season. He harvested early to preserve as much freshness as possible and also bottled on the early side. The wines were all fermented and aged in steel, in very reductive environments, with blocked malos and no batonnage. Not surprisingly, most of the 2010s were a bit reduced when I tasted them in June, but the wines showed quite well with several hours of air. These are striking whites for their transparency and purity, even if at times they are north of 16% in alcohol. Tel. (805) 452-5609; Fax (805) 735-9185; www.diatomwines.com