2012 Albarino Hudson Vineyard Napa Valley

My annual tasting with John Kongsgaard is always a treat, and his 2011 releases, not surprisingly, are among the best of this tricky vintage.Kongsgaard harvested all of his white grapes in September, prior to the rains, with the exception of his Hyde chardonnay, which he declassified.He described the 2011s as particularly precise wines, while the 2012s are deeper.Owing to the copious flowering in 2012, he thinned the chardonnay and syrah clusters in July and early August, just before veraison, except in his Judge vineyard, where crop levels are always low.Kongsgaard expressed the opinion that the 2012s will be better sooner and last longer than the 2011s.