Lot 65 — 2024 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay
Lot Overview
- Region: Sonoma Coast (Occidental area)
- Vintage: 2024
- Varietal: 100% Chardonnay (single vineyard)
- Alcohol: 13.9%
- Oak Aging: ~20% new French oak
- TA / pH: 5.6 g/L TA, 3.5 pH, Malic 0.13 g/L, Lactic 1.44 g/L
- Cases Available: ~125
- Cam Price: $12.42/bottle ($149/case)
- Retail Estimate: ~$60+/bottle
- Claude’s Source Guess: Marnet Wines — Daniel Ricciato (Sonoma Coast Chardonnay, likely Mill Station/Dutton Ranch vineyard)
- Wine Berserkers Guess:
- Drink Window: 2025–2033 (peak 2026–2030)
Cameron’s Release Notes
Burgundy-meets-California styled beauty!
Gorgeously aromatic and just dripping with mouthwatering minerality, this is perhaps the finest Chardonnay I have ever put into the bottle, certainly in the top 3! There’s not much I can say about the producer other than they know more about vineyard sourcing on the north coast than just about anyone and the winemaking is, without a doubt, world-class.
Normally priced for just over $60/bottle (actually a decent value given the wine scores in the mid-90’s!), Lot 65 2024 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay can be yours for the quite reasonable price of just $149/case!
This wine is every bit as good as, if not better than, Lot 4 2023 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay (personally, I think it’s better and I know it’s less expensive). If you missed Lot 4, then you won’t want to miss this Lot 65.
Tasting Notes
Pale gold with a hint of green in the glass. Grilled Meyer lemon, apricot, pineapple, beeswax and brioche burst forth, framed by jasmine and honeysuckle blossoms all riding a beam of citrus-dusted crushed slate. Beautifully textured on the palate with perfectly ripe fruit, absolutely glorious, mouthwatering viscosity backed with lemon oil and sweet-tart crusted acidity providing incredible tension. The finish is chock full of toasty lemon and lemon cream pie notes echoing for seemingly forever in a beautiful finish. Seductive and dense with outrageous texture, mouthfeel, and chiseled precision.
⏳ Bottle Shock Status
Wine Future — bottling today, shipping April 2025. Best after Summer 2025.
Claude’s Source Guess: Marnet Wines — Daniel Ricciato (Sonoma Coast Chardonnay, likely Mill Station/Dutton Ranch vineyard)
The 53-year-old vine math is the key clue. Cameron says “53-year-old vines” on a 2024 release, putting the planting at approximately 1971. Charles Heintz Vineyard sits just east of Occidental on Goldridge sandy loam, is consistently described as one of the oldest and most iconic Chardonnay sites on the Sonoma Coast, and is dry-farmed — checking every geographic and agricultural box Cam drops. The Heintz family has owned the land since 1912, with old-vine blocks predating the more widely cited 1982 Clone 4 planting that most producers reference.
The style is a dead match. Lemon oil, crushed slate minerality, beeswax, extreme acidity tension, and a Burgundian frame at only 20% new oak — that’s textbook Heintz-zone fruit. Littorai’s Heintz Chardonnay retails around $60–65, DuMOL’s Isobel is in the same range, and both fit the stated retail price and mid-90s score tier perfectly.
Cam’s producer clue — “they know more about vineyard sourcing on the north coast than just about anyone” — reads less like a grower and more like a winemaker or operation with deep sourcing connections across multiple sites. That points toward Ceritas (which sources Heintz, Zephyr, and others) or a Duckhorn-tier operation like Migration, which has long-standing Heintz contracts and retails their single-vineyard Heintz Chardonnay right at the $60 mark.
One data point worth noting for cellaring: the very low malic acid (0.13 g/L) confirms near-complete malolactic fermentation despite the restrained oak — classic Burgundian technique, and a sign the wine is already in structural balance and built to age.
Alternative consideration: Bohème Wines (English Hill or Taylor Ridge Vineyard). Kurt Beitler sources from several dry-farmed Occidental-area sites, is deeply embedded in north coast vineyard networks, and makes world-class Burgundian-style Chardonnay in the $49–65 range. The “knows more about vineyard sourcing than just about anyone” line could fit Beitler’s profile as well.
✅ Confidence: Medium-high on Heintz Vineyard as the source site; moderate uncertainty on which label/producer.
Drink Window
Early Enjoyment: Summer 2025 once bottle shock settles — lemon, apricot, and floral notes front and center.
Peak Drinking: 2026–2030, when acidity integrates and beeswax/brioche tertiary notes develop.
Hold Potential: Up to 2033 with proper cellaring. The high TA (5.6 g/L) and near-zero malic say this wine is built for the long haul.