2024 Karia Chardonnay
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Tasting notes
Sourced from a diverse set of Napa Valley sites—52% from Atlas Peak (including the Antica Estate), 24% from Carneros, 18% from Coombsville (notably Arcadia, formerly owned by Warren Winiarski), and the balance from the Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley—this Chardonnay reflects a deliberate stylistic shift in recent vintages. Produced with 92% barrel fermentation in French oak (39% new, the balance older barrels) and 8% fermented in stainless steel, then aged on the lees for eight months, the wine shows a clear recalibration in its complexity, generosity, and ageability. The aromas are complex and lifted, offering lemon and grapefruit zest with a subtle flinty, wet-rock minerality. On the palate, the fruit is precise, pure and focused, opening into a creamy core of orchard fruit before finishing with exceptional definition, saline-acid tension and verve. Bright, energetic, and so food-friendly.
Critic scores
Average Score
Decanter World Wine Awards
Neal Martin (Vinous)
More reviews and scores
The 2024 Chardonnay Karia is heady and racy from start to finish. Lemon confit, tangerine oil, marzipan and white flowers are beautifully laced together. The Karia offers a striking mix of vintage 2024 richness tempered by partially blocked malolactic fermentation.
Aromas of preserved lemons, salted nuts, sea spray, baking spices and orchard fruit. The midweight palate has a phenolic, slightly cloying mouthfeel, balanced with taut acidity. Drink now.
About the producer
Warren Winiarski founded Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars in 1970 when he purchased the Stag’s Leap Vineyard in Napa’s Stags Leap District. The 1973 S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon – only the second vintage – won the famous 1976 Judgement of Paris blind tasting, rocketing the estate to fame.