2010 Chardonnay Kazaoto Sta. Rita Hills

Fans of Diatom will notice that starting with the 2010 vintage Greg Brewer has disposed of vineyard designations for the wines in favor of Japanese Kenji characters that he believes evoke "a personal and specific representation of origin." Anybody who has spent time with Brewer knows his focused and detailed personality, not to mention his fascination with Japanese culture ("clarity, precision, simplicity"), so as curious as this move may seem on its face, it makes some sense. As usual, the wines are fermented at very cold temperatures in stainless steel tanks and the malolactic fermentations are blocked. Brewer has caught some flak for the often-elevated alcohol levels of the Diatom wines but he's unfazed "because the whole point is to let each wine be what it wants to be, without any adornment from me. Where it wants to go, it goes. My job is to protect it and that's it."