🏷️ Lot Overview
- Region: Freestone–Occidental, Sonoma Coast
- Vintage: 2023
- Blend: 100% Chardonnay
- ChatGPT Original Source Guess: Peay Vineyards
- Wine Berserkers Guess: Platt Vineyard (AXA MillĂ©simes – TRB) Chardonnay
- Alcohol: 13.2%
- Oak Aging: 15 months in French oak (~50% new)
- Cam Price: $129/case ($10.75/bottle)
- Retail Estimate: $100–$150
- Drink Window: Late 2025–2030
🍷 Cameron’s Release Notes
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If you’re into racy acidity, Burgundian precision, and serious pedigree, Lot 4 is going to light you up.
From a revered site just outside of Freestone, this hillside vineyard (Goldridge soils, prime elevation) is widely considered California’s Grand Cru for Burgundian varietals. Access is tightly held — and normally reserved for producers bottling $60 to $150 wines. But thanks to a well-timed connection, we got first crack at this inaugural release.
We paid up for it (2–3x market rate), but the result is pure gold in the bottle.
What’s in the glass?
Aromatics of citrus blossom, orange marmalade, and brioche lead into a beautifully layered palate of lemon oil, green apple, and crushed rock minerality. It’s linear, focused, and utterly elegant — a mouthwatering Chardonnay that hits all the right high notes, finishing with finesse and perfectly integrated oak.
This is a wine that speaks fluent French but lives in California.
Only 175 cases were made — and they won’t last long.
Tasting Notes
Pale yellow in the glass with an immediate bouquet of citrus and jasmine blossoms, orange marmalade, and toasted brioche mingling with savory caramel. As the wine evolves in the glass, beeswax, mint, lemon oil, and crushed rock emerge.
The entry is linear and pure, balancing crisp fruit with high-toned acidity in a distinctly Burgundian framework. Flavors of saline, lemon drops, orange marmalade, and green apple glide across a crystalline beam of minerality into a long, elegant, mouthwatering finish. Nervy, energetic, and finesse-driven, with beautifully integrated oak.
- 13.2% alc.
- pH: 3.2
- Aged 15 months in French oak (~50% new)
- 175 cases produced
- Bottled May 28, 2025
🧠ChatGPT says:
🔍 Source Guess: Peay Vineyards (most likely); possibly Littorai or Ceritas
🧾 Rationale:
- Vineyard Location: The wine is sourced from a hillside vineyard just outside of Freestone with Goldridge soils and elevations of 400–800 feet. Peay Vineyards, while located slightly farther northwest in Annapolis, sources from and has close relationships with top vineyards in the Freestone-Occidental area. The site described sounds very much like Freestone Vineyard, where both Peay and Littorai have historically sourced fruit.
- Winemaking Style: The wine’s linearity, precision, and high-acid structure point toward a producer known for Burgundian-styled Chardonnay. Peay’s Chardonnays often emphasize minerality, crushed rock, citrus, and elegance—exactly the descriptors used here.
- Price Point & Reputation: The original vineyard sells fruit to wineries making $60–$150+ Chardonnay. This matches the tier where Peay, Littorai, and Ceritas operate. Peay’s estate wines and collaborations regularly retail above $75, with some bottlings pushing into the $100–$120 range.
- Winemaker Relationship: The fact that Cam’s winemaker had a personal connection to the vineyard’s winemaker further supports the theory—Peay and Littorai have smaller production and tight-knit teams, making this a plausible scenario.
- New Ownership Note: The mention of new owners taking the vineyard fruit fully in-house aligns with what’s been seen in the Freestone-Occidental region recently, especially at vineyard sites previously shared among top producers like Peay, Littorai, and Ceritas.
🤔 Alternative Considerations:
Ceritas – Their wines are laser-focused, minimal-intervention, and high-acid. They work with some of the best coastal sites and could plausibly be behind a wine this nervy and precise, but they tend to bottle all of their own fruit.contention.
Littorai – Ted Lemon is meticulous about his sourcing and makes ultra-elegant Chardonnays from Freestone sites with similar oak usage and aging practices. However, Littorai typically doesn’t offload juice.
⏳ Drink Window
Early Enjoyment:
Late 2025 onward (needs ~6 months post-bottling to integrate).
Peak Drinking:
2026–2029. This is when the citrus, minerality, and oak will be in harmony.
Hold Potential:
Through 2030. Beyond that, high-acid Sonoma Coast Chards can age 7–10 years, but the window of peak vibrancy is shorter than Napa Cab. Expect honeyed and nutty development if held past 2030.
My Call:
⏳ Drink window: Late 2025–2030 (peak 2026–2029)
🧑‍🤝‍🧑🍷 Wine Berserkers Guess: Platt Vineyard (AXA MillĂ©simes – TRB) Chardonnay