White Wine

Quick Expert Summary - Vintage 2024

 🍇 Wine Enthusiast 91 Points | Praised for its solid texture and fresh, flush aromas of mango, honey, and gardenia. Notes of coconut flake and tropical fruit get a light dusting of toasted oak.

Winemaker Description - 2024

The Discovery Chardonnay leads with a stunning nose of juicy pineapple, freshly sliced pears, lemon chiffon and warm toast. Spicy notes of nutmeg and ginger are highlighted with star jasmine and honeysuckle fragrances accompanied by hints of smoky oak and hazelnut.

Elegant and silky on the palate, this Chardonnay offers delectable peach, melon and green apple flavors accentuated by tropical notes of mango, guava, pineapple and kiwi. A clean, exceptionally balanced finish is rounded out with essences of sweet Crenshaw.

Winemaker Notes

Winemaker Description 

La Fête Wine Company Founder & CEO Donae Burston was first introduced to the wonders of Cotes de Provence rose while celebrating his 30th birthday at the world famous Nikki Beach Club in Saint Tropez. Burston and his friends were surrounded by people from mourned the world drinking what he thought was white Zinfandel, but was in fact rose from the surrounding Provence region. From that very first taste, the seeds for La Fête du Rosé were planted.

Farming Methods: Organic

Produced in the heart of St. Tropez, this delicate wine has a beautiful, bright golden color with silvery reflections. Expressive nose of ripe yellow fruits and hints of apple. The palate is full bodied, developing into a tangy finish and revealing notes of pear and fresh pineapple. 

Expert Reviews - Vintage 2023

The Wine Spectator 91 Points | A waft of roasted nut on the nose enriches the palate's lively range of steeped apricot, Mandarin orange peel, pastry cream and chamomile notes. Racy acidity gives the complex profile fine definition and carries this on the well-spiced finish. Drink now through 2033.

Decanter 91 Points | This Umbrian Chardonnay from Antinori's estate is vinified and aged partly in stainless steel and partly in wood. The 2023 is toasty and slightly tropical, with a mineral, stony quality which runs through the core, and lovely bright acidity. It finishes with some zesty lemon peel and Mediterranean herbs. Nicely balanced and very fresh.

Winemaker Description - Vintage 2023

Bramìto della Sala has an intense and bright straw yellow color. The nose is dominated by notes of white flowers and light hints of chamomile accompanied by Golden Delicious apple and delicate vanilla aromas. Fresh and pleasant on the palate with full expression of the varietal character. 

Expert Review

Scott and Jenny Schultz of Jolie-Laide make highly distinctive wines from grapes that are not among California’s usual suspects. The trousseau gris grapes for this bottle were farmed organically and stomped by foot. The wine is lively and aromatic and will go with a wide range of savory and sweetish things.- Eric Asimov “20 Wines for the Thanksgiving Table”, New York Times, Nov 2025

Winemaker Notes

Expert Reviews - Vintage 2023

James Suckling 91 Points | Spiced apples and pears with hints of citrus peel and raw almonds on the nose. Tense and juicy with medium to full body and a compact, lightly phenolic texture. Vivid and lingering. Drink or hold.

Winemaker Description 

'Shale and Stone' on the label is reflective of the deep minerality of the vineyard's ancient fractured shale soils and the freshness of the varietal. With long sur lie aging in concrete, it is taut but generous, and full yet bright on the palate.

Expert Review - Vintage 2024

Vinous 94 Points | The first of the two white wines, the 2024 Versante Nord is a blend of varieties sourced from six different vineyards at varying altitudes from the north side of the valley, which receives more sunlight during the day. This wine offers a wealth of power, with notes of salted pineapples, fresh sage, smoky earth, and saline. It’s bright with acidity, salinity, and a light wild side, though very well-managed. It had been bottled just three weeks earlier, so this tasting was a preview prior to its release. Drink over the coming 8-10 years.

Winemaker Description

Vibrant and mineral-driven white from the cooler northern slopes of Mt. Etna. Made from native Sicilian varieties grown on volcanic soils, it’s a wine of precision, tension, and layered complexity. Saline, citrusy, and full of energy, this is a must-try for lovers of terroir-expressive whites. A rising star from one of Etna’s most exciting young winemakers.

To get an idea of what this wine is, Eric Guido of Vinous Media said of last year’s vintage - 91 Points - A pretty blend of crushed yellow apples, lemon zest and ginger wafts up from the 2023 Uve Bianche Versant Nord. It splashes across the palate with tart orchard fruits and crunchy mineral tones enlivened by a core of sour citrus. Spice nuances embellish the close. This ends with a flowery concentration and sour lime, crisply refreshing yet potent and long. Fantastic.

Winemaker Description 

Xavier Flouret Fynbos Chenin Blanc is a vibrant white wine from Stellenbosch, South Africa. Crafted from 100% Chenin Blanc, it offers aromas of ripe pineapple, guava, and mango, with a crisp, clean palate featuring subtle acidity and tropical fruit flavors.

Its refreshing finish makes it an excellent pairing for shellfish, spicy dishes, or mild cheeses.

Expert Reviews - Vintage 2024 

James Suckling 93 Points | A fresh, fruity, juicy, crisp white that's generous in green apples, baked apples and minerals on a medium body. Subtle flavors of cream and butter come from partial malolactic conversion while maturing in stainless steel containers.

The Wine Advocate 90 Points | Made with 81% estate fruit, the 2024 Chardonnay has fresh aromas of red apples and pears, lemon peel, bread dough and spice. The medium-bodied palate is easygoing with ripe flavors, vibrant acidity and a long, flavorful finish.

Memo Summary Notes

The Crossbarn by Paul Hobbs Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2024 is a bright, refreshing style, a great expression of a cool-climate Chardonnay.

Food Pairings The wine's bright acidity and mineral core make it extremely food-friendly.

Seafood: Crab Louie, Grilled Shrimp, Oysters

Poultry: Roast Chicken, Chicken Pailla

Vegetarian: Mushroom & Asparagus Frittata, Creamy Risotto

Winemaker Description 

Fresh, crispy, citrus undertones. Slightly acidic, great quaffing wine.

Warehouse stored item - please allow one to three business days to fulfill.

Christina Pickard The Wine Enthusiast 90 Points |  Appealing aromas of lime, white peach and kiwi fruit lead to a palate that's shows lovely, delicate fruit woven neatly with bright acidity, and padded by a softly pithy texture. It steers clear of the green, underripe pungency common to this style and is the better (half) for it.

Warehouse stored item - please allow two to five business days to fulfill.

Chablis achieves its highly distinctive mineral character due to its cool northerly climate and its highly calcareous soil. The Domaine Louis Moreau Petit Chablis is fresh and aromatic, with notes of apple and citrus on the nose. Bright acidity and a roundness on the palate.

Warehouse stored item - please allow one to three business days to fulfill.

The Wine Advocate 91 Points | The 2023 Sauvignon Blanc is mineral and fresh, with almost spritzy acidity on the palate. This is all about green fruit and soft leaf herbs, gentle persuasions of white pineapple and mint and a salty Margherita character that is really quite attractive.

Warehouse stored item - please allow two to five business days to fulfill.

Complices de Loire La Grande Parcelle Chenin Blanc from Montlouis-sur-Loire, France. This is an elegant white wine made from the Chenin Blanc grape, typical of this Loire region. This wine offers a wonderful balance between freshness and complexity, with aromas of citrus fruits, peach and white flowers, as well as a mineral undertone that reflects the calcareous soils.

The wine has a lively acidity and a soft, refined structure, which provides a refreshing and well-balanced taste. It is an ideal accompaniment to fish dishes, shellfish or goat cheese. La Grande Parcelle is a beautiful representation of the terroir of Montlouis-sur-Loire, with a subtle but present depth.

Warehouse stored item - please allow two to five business days to fulfill.

Intensely aromatic and crisp on the palate, with aromas and flavors of yellow apple, white peach, pear and notes of white flowers.

Winemaker Description 

In an effort to produce a wine that pays honorable tribute to the esteemed AVA, we source our grapes from premium sites throughout the region. This blend includes several of the vineyards that have shown as standouts within the vast and rugged Sonoma Coast.

Bright and layered, the 2024 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay opens with aromas of citrus blossom, green apple, and Asian pear. On the palate, a lively core of lemon curd, crisp pineapple, and citrus zest is framed by subtle oak tones of vanilla and baking spice. The texture is both fresh and rounded, with vibrant acidity and a mineral lift that carries through to a long, clean finish.

Winemaker Description 

Aromas of ripe apples, pears and hints of dried fruit can be found in this charming, unoaked white. The tasty palate showcases pure flavors of citrus, with hints of vanilla and mineral. Long, lively finish. Pair it with mussels with garlic butter.

Domaine les Chenevières was established in the 1850s and has been handed down from father to son through six generations of the Lenoir family of winemaker-growers. Currently run by Benoit Lenoir, the 45-hectare estate is situated in the Saint Maurice de Satonnay, eight miles north of Mâcon, where he has established a reputation for producing high quality Mâcon-Villages. The estate is farmed sustainably, with biodiversity in the vineyard being encouraged and minimal treatments employed. Yields are controlled to obtain the richest grapes possible. Benoit aims for a balanced approach of combining tradition with contemporary winemaking methods, vinifying plot by plot to produce wines with a bright floral and fruit-forward expression and excellent Mâcon typicity.

The Mâcon-Villages appellation covers white wines produced in selected communes of the Mâconnais wine area in southern Burgundy. The landscape of the Mâconnais is one of rolling limestone hills, bordered in the east by the Saône River. The Mont Pele vineyard is south-easterly facing vineyard on a very dry, acidic limestone soil with some clay, which produces a light, fresh and approachable style of Macon-Villages, with the clay component providing good water retention properties, to nourish the vines during the warm summers. The 35-year old vines are pruned according to the Guyot Arcure method, an arched style of pruning, which allows for a better circulation of the sap. Where possible the soils are worked by hand, to reduce the need for synthetic preparations.

Following a gentle pressing, the juice was left to settle with enzymes to clarify the must. Selected yeasts were added and fermentation took place at controlled temperatures of 18 to 20°C, in stainless steel tanks lasting for three weeks. The wine was then racked and left on its fine lees to impart texture and complexity, until bottling.

A quintessential Mâcon-Villages, with a lovely creamy texture lifted by green apple notes and mineral freshness on the crisp finish.

Winemaker Description 

All of our eleven vineyard designate Chardonnays are marked first and foremost by regional characteristics. Beyond that lies the personality of each of the vineyards from which they hail.

All of the sites are planted to the same clone, a California heritage selection that we have been using for close to thirty years. Each wine is produced in the same fashion, with the focus being on the traditional techniques that elicit the earth driven, complex noble sulfides and resulting minerality inherent in the fruit from each site.

Each of our Chardonnay vineyards exhibits characters unique to the site, and hence unique to the wines bottled as vineyard designates. The bottling of wines of site is not a process we take lightly, as it is the main focus of our efforts. We often take years to assess the quality and individual personality of a site prior to deciding to bottle it on its own. We have been working with many of these sites for well over twenty five years.

Founded in 1978, Kistler Vineyards is a small, family-owned and operated winery specializing in the production of Burgundian style Chardonnay and limited amounts of Pinot Noir. Grapes are estate grown and purchased from vineyards in Sonoma County. In 1992, Kistler Vineyards moved all production to its Vine Hill Road Vineyard in the Russian River Valley.

One heritage Californian selection of Chardonnay planted across fifteen vineyards, from Carneros to Sonoma Valley, to the Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast. From those sites we produce eleven vineyard designate Chardonnays. We are wholly dedicated to the ideal of wines of site. It’s an unparalleled approach in the new world.

Our Expert Review

Debra of 67Wine.com writes 91 Points | This cool climate chardonnay, energetic, lively, fresh and concentrated , comes from Melville's Santa Rita Hills Estate.  

Polished, refined, linear with ample depth, shows a harmonious balance of acidity and  flavors of ripe apple fruits, citrus and a spicy finish.

For 'old world' chardonnay drinkers, this 'new world' chardonnay may just appeal to you. 

Expert Review - Vintage 2023

Vinous 94 Points | The 2023 Chardonnay Estate is exquisite. Floral and lifted, with striking precision, the Melville Chardonnay makes such a strong case for why Chardonnay is so ideally suited here. Lemon confit, jasmine and light tropical inflections are some of the notes that grace this sublimely elegant white. Bright acids pull it all together on the finish. I would give the 2023 six months to a year in bottle, as it is pretty tightly wound at this stage.

Jeb Dunnuck 93 Points | Ripe lemon and citrus fruits, some minty herbs, and chalky minerality all emerge from the 2023 Chardonnay Estate Sta. Rita Hills, a clean, vibrant, focused Chardonnay that has solid acidity, beautiful overall balance and texture, and a great finish. The estate comes all from the Melville Vineyard and was raised in neutral oak. 

Expert Review - Vintage 2022

Jeb Dunnuck 90 Points | Mostly Viognier (55%) but with other permitted white varieties, the 2022 Côtes Du Rhône Blanc has a medium-bodied, vibrant, pure style to go with lovely peach and tangerine-like aromas and flavors. Drink this outstanding, classy white over the coming 2-3 years. I never cease to be amazed at the quality of the Côtes du Rhône white from this team, especially given the quantities produced.

Winemaker Description 

Yellow gold, clear and brilliant. Freshness on the nose marked by the distinctive aromas of Viognier; white flowers, apricot, acacia and white peach. On the palate it is fruity with plenty of richness and body. A well-rounded wine with elegance, strength and balance.

Winemaker Description

Made in the heart of one of the oldest wine regions in the world, the Douro Valley, the winery boasts state of the art production. 

The wine is blended with traditional grapes of the regions including Malvasia Fina, Viosinho, Rabigato,Ferao Pires.

Our Professional Review 

The wine herbal with stone and tropical fruit.  Excellent balanced acidity. Medium boded, round.  Generous on the palate with richness.  Apricot and peaches.

Winemaker Description

Discover the vibrant Gilgal Sauvignon Blanc from Golan Heights Winery. Crafted from Sauvignon Blanc grapes grown in the unique volcanic soil and high altitude of the Golan Heights, this light to medium-bodied wine offers a symphony of guava, pineapple, lemon, peach, and melon, balanced with a subtle grassiness.

Enjoy its delightful aromas of pear and vanilla, complemented by tropical pineapple flavors, Gala apple, and refreshing mint notes. Perfectly paired with grilled seafood, light salads, or goat cheese, it promises a fresh, lingering finish. Ideal for enhancing any dining experience.

Expert Reviews - Vintage 2020 

Luis Gutierrez writes:  The white 2020 Blanco is a little closed, young, clean and tender with subtle oak. They produced a little bit more in 2020, and the wine has less oak and less buttery sensations, a change that started with the 2017 vintage, which seems to have found its style harvesting earlier to retain freshness; it has 13.04% alcohol and a pH @ 3.23 and matured in larger oak containers, 500-liter oak barrels and some concrete for 12 months. It's floral and expressive, a blend of Viura with 20% Garnacha Blanca that they still consider work in progress but moving in the direction they want to go. 16,200 bottles and 100 magnums were filled in March 2022.  Drinking 2022 to 2028.  - Robert Parker Wine Advocate 93

James Suckling writes:  A delicious, creamy white with aromas of apricots, baked peaches, hazelnuts, white chocolate and nougat. It’s medium-to full-bodied with a ripe and creamy palate. Lovely buttery pastry and nougat character, with a fresh finish. Drink now  - James Suckling 93

Pedro Ballesteros MW, Sarah Jane Evans MW, Pierre Monsour write:  Round and warm on the nose, with fine notes of smoke. A mouth-filling wine that's fresh and expressive.  Drinking 2024 to 2027.  - Decanter 90

Winemaker Notes

Contino Blanco 2020 shows a very intense nose, marked by its aging in barrel. It is fresh and fruity wine, a true reflection of the identity of our vineyard. San Gregorio offers a Garnacha Blanca with great complexity and volume. The soils are clayey-calcareous, with medium stoniness, key for good drainage.

Blend: 80% Viura, 20% Garnacha Blanca

Winemaker Description 

This wine exhibits a delicate pale orange hue, captivating the eyes with its alluring tint. On the nose, subtle yet enticing aromas unfold, evoking nostalgic memories of ripe red fruits, juicy strawberries, and luscious cherries. Upon tasting, the wine greets the palate with a linear entry, unveiling a harmonious balance between fruit and acidity. 

Expert Notes

Stephan Reinhardt writes:  The 2021 Sand & Kalk is a pure Weissburgunder (a.k.a. Pinot Blanc) that was vinified in 600-liter oak barrels (5% new) for almost a year. Bottled in September this year and released in November, the wine offers a clear and aromatic, very elegant and balanced bouquet of ripe, white and yellow seed fruits. Medium-bodied yet dense and intensely fruity, with fine phenolic grip and delicate citrus bitters, this is a textural and very elegant Pinot Blanc with a refreshing and stimulating bitter finish with lingering lemon aromas. This is another excellent white that should be paired with raw fish, freshwater fish, seafood, white meat or cheese. This is a lovely, uncomplicated but structured terroir wine for the Buchertberg in Vulkanland Steiermark. Marketed as Landwein, though. 12.5% stated alcohol. Screw-cap closure.  Drinking 2023 to 2030.  - Robert Parker Wine Advocate 91

Winemaker Description 

Seductively fresh Pinot Blanc with orange zest, honeysuckle flowers, and lemongrass and a luscious texture from the bit of skin contact that we greet us like a big soft hug. He manages to coax an intense amount of flavor out a relatively neutral grape, and we think it could go with anything from a bitter green salad with winter citrus to roasted chicken, pork tenderloin or seared scallops. This could easily be our everyday white! 

Because it has a nice, round body and prominent fruit, it also works as a Chardonnay alternative for those seeking a white with a bit more meat on the bones.

The HERRENHOF was a former wine estate of the Vorau Abbey. I started this project in 2006 from scratch, without vines. It required me 15 years to rebuild the winery. Since I have always been very close to nature, it is clear to me that I grow and vinify my wines exclusively organically. I want to bring the taste of the land where I grew up into the bottle of wine. Gottfried Lamprecht. 

The wine project at the HERRENHOF is pretty young. I've started to recutivate vineyards on this perfect slope in the year 2006 completely from the scratch. My mission: I want to present the Buchertberg, the place where I grew up in a bottle of wine. Because wine just can do that! Everything is harvested by hand of course. What makes me a special wine grower? I ferment 100% in barrels. 50% of my barrels are made of wood from my own forest. This brings my wines much closer to my terroir - closer to the Buchertberg, the place where I grew up. After fermentation the wines stay on their lees till bottling. Prior bottling I just about 20mg of Sulphur or less, or nothing and anything else. It depends on the wine.

Expert Review - Vintage 2023 

Vinous 95 Points | The 2023 Vouvray Sec Le Mont is precise, upright and flinty. It's less immediately charming than the styles we've seen in recent warmer vintages, but it was only tasted three weeks after bottling—this is one to revisit. There's just the right amount of juicy, peachy flesh within this light-bodied yet concentrated wine. It has the potential to charm but does so without showing off. Flinty and tightly sewn together, it has curves in the right places, but you're just going to have to wait for it to take shape.

Winemaker Description 

Le Mont wines are often the estate's most reticent, but develop the strongest perfume with age. Mineral-driven with a crystalline purity, this is the precision we've come to rely on with Le Mont.

Winemaker Description

The 2023 vintage of Illumination reveals aromatic purity and incredible depth. Classic notes of grapefruit peel, lemon curd, and white peach are layered with undertones of ginger tea, wild thyme, and clover blossom - the floral character a hallmark of the cool vintage. On the palate, flavors of kumquat and guava mesh with wet slate and elderflower. A lovely textural roundness is balanced by racy acidity and minerality. While vibrant in its youth, this wine's structure also promised aging potential. 

Expert Review - Vintage 2023 

Wine Spectator 95 Points | An extraordinary white, with details of beeswax, honeysuckle and lanolin giving way to succulent white peach, nectarine and lemon curd flavors on a plush, juicy frame. Shows details of marmalade and candied ginger, with hints of litsea oil and lemon balm that linger on the long, expressive finish. Drink now through 2035. 5,000 cases made.

Further Winemaker Notes

What started as a passion project for the Huneeus family, this limited bottling is one of Napa Valley's most sought-after Sauvignon Blancs. When making Illumination our ultimate goal is to produce a white wine of true character. We approach Illumination with the same care and attention as with Quintessa, with the aim of capturing the best qualities of our grapes and to craft a wine of harmony and balance. Illumination is alive with aromatic complexity, beautiful texture and bright fruit flavors. This is an incredible vintage and the perfect summer wine that pairs with a variety of appetizers and seafood.

Expert Review - Vintage 2023

The Wine Advocate 94 Points | Grapes for the 2023 Sauvignon Blanc L’Après-Midi were picked from September 21 through November 2—an especially long harvest window. “It was a special year because everything was pushed back,” Winemaker Robert Fiore says, noting that the cooler season resulted in very lively wines. Blended with 4% Sémillon, the 2023 L’Après-Midi is open and inviting. Pineapple, peach and guava are accented by tones of beeswax, dried tarragon and candle smoke on the nose. The palate is bursting with concentrated, tropical, spicy flavors. Its vibrant acidity provides the perfect foil, lending the wine a shimmery feel, and it has a long, perfumed finish. 1,850 cases were made. 

Winemaker Description 

2023 'L’Après-Midi' (The Afternoon) was named in honor of the pleasures of a slow and lazy afternoon, which according to Sir Peter is a good time to start enjoying this wine. This is one of our two estate-grown Sauvignon Blanc/Sémillon blends.

The grapes are grown alongside our red Bordeaux varietals within Les Pavots Vineyard, benefiting from the steep slopes, excellent drainage, and cool air at altitude. The wine is whole-cluster-pressed and then naturally fermented in a barrel, forgoing a second malolactic fermentation to preserve the fruity and zesty character of the Sauvignon Blanc. It is predominantly made from Sauvignon Blanc, with just a touch of Sémillon.

Expert Review - Vintage 2022

James Suckling 92 Points:A juicy, dense and aromatic Condrieu. The nose reveals notes of baked lemons, white peaches and fresh flowers. Medium-bodied with a dense core of white fruit and cooked lemons. Caressing texture, with a well-rounded, mellow and agreeable finish.

92 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: Mainly crafted from purchased grapes, the 2022 Condrieu from Guigal is always a delicate, elegant rendition of this appellation. Evoking aromas of ripe apricots, honeysuckle, pear and spices, it's medium to full-bodied, round and sappy with a seamless, enveloping texture, concluding in a long, delicate and ethereal finish enhanced by gastronomic bitterness. Consistently well-crafted, this Condrieu is engaging and quintessential to its origin.

Winemaker Description 

Guigal Condrieu has remarkably pure aromas; complemented by a soft roundness. It is a typical expression of Viognier grapes with its aromas of Whitepeach and apricot.

A wine that impresses with its elegance and delicacy. Color: Light golden yellow Bouquet: With intense aromas of flowers (violets) and fruits (apricots, Whiteand sour peaches) Taste: On the palate it is fresh and round, creamy.

The pleasant acidity harmonizes well with the fruitiness bathed in a fleshy roundness. Winemaker Description. 

Expert Reviews - Vintage 2023

The Wine Advocate 93+ Points | The 2023 Albariño, which represents their take of the vintage, was produced with grapes from 165 hectares of the 14 hectares they own. It goes back to the alcoholic degree of 2021, 12.5%, compared with the 13.5% of 2022. 2023 seems to be somewhere in between those two previous vintages: cooler and with a better distribution of rain than in 2022 but with warmer temperatures than 2021. The wine is still very young and primary, a little reductive even, with a balsamic hint that should go away with a little more time in bottle. This matures in stainless steel with lees until it's bottled. It has varietal notes of white flowers and grass. It's fresh and balanced, light to medium-bodied, easy to drink, sapid and tasty, with an almost salty twist in the finish despite its young age. It has a pH of 3.2 after going through full malolactic. There will be around 95,000 bottles, but not all the wine has been bottled yet, kept in stainless steel with the lees and the natural carbonic gas. The bottle I tasted was bottled in May 2024, but all bottles have the bottling date on the back label.

Tim Atkin, MW 93 Points | Pithy, nuanced, and poised, with aromas of laurel and wet stone, and flavors of lemongrass and green apple.

Peñín Guide to Spanish Wine 92 Points | White fruit, ripe fruit, hint of anise, and floral aroma, free-flowing.

Winemaker Description

Highly regarded for crafting world-class white wines from albariño with incredible transparency, flavor, and depth, Do Ferreiro has become a reference point for the variety. They farm over 175 tiny plots of albariño by hand, all located in the heart of the Salnés subzone of Rías Baixas. The valley’s proximity to the ocean, ideal climate due to the natural protection by mountain ranges, and decomposed granitic soil have gained the reputation for being the ideal region in Rías Baixas for producing profound, terruño-driven albariño wines capable of improving in bottle. Do Ferreiro does not blend other grape varieties into their albariño wines, as is common in Rías Baixas. Farming is practicing organic, and fermentations are exclusively carried out by native yeasts.

Do Ferreiro Albariño is a blend of the best fruit from different zones and terroirs within the Salnés Valley and it is the wine that defines the winery. It is serious and balanced, complex and very complete with fully developed aromas and flavors, with a long, harmonious palate featuring vibrant acidity and a strong mineral, stony component. Do Ferreiro is a very dry, varietally correct wine that is really representative of the Salnés Valley terruño. Expressive and harmonious,  combining power and freshness; Do Ferreiro Albariño is capable of developing in bottle for 10 years or more.

Vinification – Bunches are hand-selected in the vineyard, handpicked, and placed in small crates. Grapes are destemmed, cold-macerated for a few hours, and pressed. A natural yeast fermentation begins using a pied de cuve from the winery’s historic Cepas Vellas vineyard, followed by aging on the lees for six to nine months without bâtonnage in stainless steel tanks. No malolactic fermentation, unfiltered, light bentonite fining.

Expert Reviews - Vintage 2020

Jasper Morris 92-94 Points | Mid lemon. A little more stuffing than the very agreeable Chenevottes, digging deep into fresh yellow fruit, some citrus rind, good acidity, and a particularly appealing intense crisp white fruit finish. Old vines count! 

Neal Martin writes:  The 2020 Chassagne-Montrachet Les Champs Gain 1er Cru has a touch more mineralité on the nose compared to the Les Chenevottes, touches of gypsum and oyster shell intermingling with light white linen scents. The palate is very well balanced and beautifully poised, with entrancing white peach and nectarine notes toward the irresistible finish. Yes, yes, yes!  Drinking 2025 to 2048.  - Vinous 93-95

William Kelley writes: Aromas of citrus zest, peach and pear, mingled with hints of white flowers, hazelnuts and fresh bread, preface the 2020 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Champs Gain, a medium to full-bodied, satiny and nicely concentrated wine with a bright spine of acidity and a mouthwateringly chalky finish. This looks to be Colin's best Champs Gain since 2017.  - Robert Parker Wine Advocate 91-93

Winemaker Description 

Founded in 1970 by Marc Colin and his wife Michele, Domaine Marc Colin now spans 15 hectares encompassing 26 appellations in St. Aubin, Chassagne, Puligny, and Santenay. Most of the land was inherited from past generations of Colin and Ponavoy; certain parcels have been in the family for more than 100 years. While the family does own prime territory in Chassagne, home base in St. Aubin features parcels of the very best vineyards, En Remilly and Chatenière, to name a few. These vineyards accrue prestige due to their sloped location; while much of St. Aubin resides on flat ground (rendering less interesting wines) the Colin properties are all situated on finely pitched hillsides. The resulting wines shimmer with savory minerality and luster.

Today Joseph, Caroline, and Damien, the children of Marc and Michele, own and run the domaine. The fourth sibling Pierre-Yves (who made the wine at Marc Colin for 10 years) established his own project in 2005. Sustainable and organic agriculture, older vines, and clay-limestone soils are just some of the components contributing to the quality of the final product. Winemaking style would best be called traditional, though Joseph (who makes the whites) and Damien (who makes the reds) are certainly not shy of innovation. Whites strive for optimum freshness; there is no heavy, ungainly wood here. The red wines are characterized by silky texture, ever-present fruit and a certain roundness with just a kiss of oak. Production consists of 70% white and 30% red with total production maxing out at 120,000 bottles.

Winemaker Description 

The perennial favourite Tokaj dry white wine, made of Furmint grapes. Excellent accompaniment to any type of dish. Perfectly balanced acidity, pleasant and long finish.