2008 Chardonnay Reserve

Jeffrey Patterson is one of the most soft-spoken winemakers in California, but don't let that fool you; he is a man of deeply held convictions, with strong views that inform all of his wines. Mount Eden and its sister estate Domaine Eden remain surprisingly under the radar. Part of that is undoubtly a result of the decision to sell most of the production through distribution rather than direct to the consumer, where there is a greater opportunity to build a stronger bond and brand awareness with the end customer. What that means in practical terms is that these wines sell for far less than wines of similar quality from other parts of the US and around the world. The Mount Eden wines remain reference points for the Santa Cruz Mountains, while the Domaine Eden range is designed to deliver that pedigree at more accessible prices. In addition to these current releases, Patterson also showed me all of the vintages of his Chardonnay Reserve. For his Reserve, Patterson takes a portion of the Chardonnay juice and gives it an additional six months in tank, a reductive approach favored by a number of top growers in Burgundy, including (Domaine) Leflaive and Roulot, among many others. Lastly, Patterson has decided to put all of his Mount Eden wines on the same release schedule, which means the 2013 Pinot Noir will be released with the other 2013s next year. Although the Santa Cruz Mountains has seen a rush of interest in the last few years, when all is said and done there are two winemakers who remain the unquestioned reference-points because of their unparalleled track records; Paul Draper and his team at Ridge and Jeffrey Patterson at Mount Eden.

Mount Eden is one of the United States' great heritage estates. The Chardonnays and Pinots have a track record for aging spectacularly well. As outstanding as the Chardonnays and Pinots can be, I was also pretty surprised by the quality of the Cabernet Sauvignons. Winemaker and proprietor Jeffrey Patterson favors indigenous fermentations for all his wines, which are also bottled with no fining or filtration. The top Chardonnay bottling, the Estate, spends a year in barrel and six months in steel, as do so many of the top whites in Burgundy these days. The Pinots are made with anywhere from 20-50% stem inclusion, which can make the wines hard to understand when young. If I am looking for an aged bottle of California Chardonnay or Pinot, Mount Eden is always at or near the top of my list. In this section, I have listed all of the wines from Domaine Eden, Mount Eden's second label first, followed by the wines of Mount Eden.