2012 Chardonnay Belle-Côte

According to Nick Morlet, 2011 gave his team a small crop that it made even smaller by severe selection in the vineyard and on the sorting table. "You weren't going to make very much wine, for sure, so you might as well make the best of what you're able to produce," he said. In sharp contrast, 2012, thanks to a thinning-down of the crop and "some of the best fruit we have ever seen," will turn out to be what Morlet described as an ageless vintage for chardonnay here. In fact, he believes that the '12 chardonnays will need at least a decade to hit their stride and then cruise along effortlessly for many years thereafter. It's still relatively early days for Peter Michael's 30-acre Seaview Estate vineyard (the total property is over 400 acres in size and vines were first planted in 2006) in the Fort Ross-Seaview AVA, but Morlet is thrilled with the results so far. "It's an incredible place for pinot, thanks to its altitude and exposure to sun and wind," he said, and he predicted that it will produce wines "that can age with no effort but always be fresh."