2013 Chardonnay La Hermana

These 2013 Chardonnays from Liquid Farm were among the highlights of my trip through Santa Barbara earlier this summer. The wines are done with native fermentations and spend around 11 months in barrel prior to bottling, with the exception of the Four, which spends 18 months in oak. Readers won't want to miss out on these truly special Chardonnays from proprietors Jeff and Nikki Nelson, and their winemaker James Sparks.

Nikki and Jeff Nelson have fully settled into their own facility just north of metropolitan Buellton. They recently took on a full-time winemaker, James Sparks, whose brother-in-law Brandon Sparks-Gillis is part of the Dragonette team, whose space the Nelsons formerly used for their own wines. While there's a pinot noir on the horizon here, the focus is squarely on chardonnay, "made in the style of wines that we like to drink, which means Burgundy," according to Jeff Nelson. That said, the Nelsons are quick to point out that their goal "isn't imitation but emulation" and that they're not trying to suppress "the fruit that makes California, California. It's more a matter of not letting the fruit get the upper hand and running all over everything else, which means careful growing, harvesting at the right time, and then doing as little as possible from crush to bottling." The wines do indeed taste Burgundy-inspired and this winery has quickly moved onto a number of sommeliers' "A list" as a source for domestic chardonnay.