Bonterra Vineyards

If you’ve followed the Bonterra story over the past few years, you can skip to the next paragraph about the wine itself. If not, here’s just one facet to consider. There are precious few front-line American wineries that have bet the ranch – (literally: McNab Ranch north of Hopland in southern Mendocino County) on organic viticulture and shown that it’s not just good for the earth, it’s good for the wine and the winery. In England, where it’s not a big deal to find whole wine stores (not to mention sections of the wine department in supermarket chains) devoted to well made, well priced wines that are grown organically and biodynamically, Bonterra sells tens of thousands of cases each year. The reason: Bob Blue and his mates have translated transparent viticulture into vivid wines.

In the tasting that included this wine, it was easily the most immediate, vivid Chard on the table. Everything you want from a Chardonnay aroma set just welled out of the glass – and not because it was amped up with oak or buckets of barrel fermentation. The wine’s entry is equally good: smooth and fruity, immediately refreshing and engaging. A moment later it spreads and grips the palate and warms up, expanding to add some sweet-side herbs and stone fruit to the apples and honey. The comparatively low 13.7% alcohol keeps the "weight" down and lets your tasting chamber hold the after-aromas for long minutes. The best wines take you for a ride three times: when you sniff, when you sip, and when you swallow. Each time you get immediate pleasure followed by more complexity and development. This wine has it.

Reviewed February 2, 2007 by Thom Elkjer.