Nathan Kendall Chardonnay 2020 Finger Lakes
Tasted from a 10-cl mini sample bottle. The Chardonnay is sourced from two vineyards on Seneca Lake from vines over 40 years old. One site is on silt loam while the other is on shale stone. Spontaneous fermentation, aged for 12 months on gross lees in neutral French oak. Partial malo.
In a (small) line-up of Chardonnays from around this world, this racy, hazelnut-savoury, pithy, effortlessly elegant wine stole my heart and stole the show. This wine is like a liquid Isaiah Zagar; an unexpected mosaic of Chardonnay; metal and smoke and edge and cool-sharp-white, broken glass from the Old World, inlaid with pearls of nowhere; the glitter gleam of New World flash and show and its curve of ripeness and readiness; reckless colour and curve cut with quiet old-as-time tradition and soft stories. Remarkable Chardonnay. I'd happily pay twice the price. GV (TC)