Lot Overview
- Region: Napa Valley (82% Los Carneros / 18% Oak Knoll)
- Vintage: 2024
- Varietal: 100% Chardonnay (Wente Clone, old vines — Carneros component)
- Oak Aging: ~38% new French oak, medium toast
- Alcohol: 14%
- TA / pH: 6.1 g/L TA, 3.45 pH, malic 0.45 g/L, lactic 1.35 g/L
- Cases Available: ~150
- Cam Price: ~$11.50/bottle ($139/case)
- Retail Estimate: $70+/bottle (Carneros component program); ~$35–45 (Oak Knoll component)
- Claude’s Source Guess: Sequoia Grove Winery — Haire Vineyard Carneros (Wente clone) + Cunat Vineyard Oak Knoll
- Wine Berserkers Guess:
- Drink Window: 2026–2032 (peak 2027–2030)
Cameron’s Release Notes
Lot 4 fans, you’re gonna want to get in on this.
Lot 73 is an absolutely beautiful Napa Valley Chardonnay, amply-weighted with terrific structure, fantastic energy and mouthwatering complexity! Stylistically, this wine is right up the middle with perfectly deployed oak, beautifully integrated and, by comparison, a bit more lively on the palate than Lot 38 Coombsville Chardonnay (which is also fantastic, but just a different style — Lot 73 is more Burgundian). I am confident the mouthwatering complexity here will be broadly appealing.
A little over 80% of the wine comes to us from a $70/bottle estate program featuring old vine, Wente clone Chardonnay grown in a legendary vineyard in the heart of Napa Carneros, barrel-fermented in 40% new, medium toast French oak. The remaining gallonage comes from an Oak Knoll estate program that uses a lighter hand on the oak (30% new French) but both wines consistently score in the low-to-mid 90s…either is stand alone quality but they blended perfectly together!
It also happens to be an incredible value at just $139/case!
Tasting Notes
Pale yellow in the glass. Gorgeous bouquet of orange blossom, jasmine and honeysuckle wrapped around a core of orange and nectarine notes with a kiss of papaya and ginger. There is also a real sea breezy, crystalline quality to the bouquet with plenty of nuance and delicately rendered notes throughout. Super pretty with just a kiss of toasty oak. Beautifully textured on entry with a silky yet energetic vibe with ripe nectarine and citrus zest speckled, chalky minerality. There is all the depth, complexity and nuance befitting an old vine, $70/bottle Chardonnay here with a perfectly balanced, long, energetic, mouthwatering finish that keeps you coming back for more!
⏳ Bottle Shock Status
2024 vintage, just bottled and released. Allow 30–60 days before opening. Drinking well upon arrival but will improve with rest.
Claude’s Source Guess: Sequoia Grove — Haire Vineyard (Carneros) + Cunat Vineyard (Oak Knoll)
Sequoia Grove, the Rutherford-based Napa producer founded in 1979, fits this lot with uncommon precision. Their flagship Chardonnay program has long been built around two anchor sources: the Haire Vineyard in Carneros, planted to 30+ year old Wente clone specifically for Sequoia Grove, and the Cunat Vineyard in the Oak Knoll District. Those are exactly the two components Cam describes — an 82% Carneros old vine Wente clone program and an 18% Oak Knoll program. The $70 price point also fits Sequoia Grove’s Vineyard Series Haire Vineyard Chardonnay, their single-vineyard step-up tier above the nationally distributed Napa Valley Chardonnay.
The Haire Vineyard in Carneros has legitimate “legendary” status in knowledgeable Napa circles. The old Wente clone blocks there are planted to the chicks-and-hens cluster structure that produces natural concentration and complexity — exactly what Cam describes as “all the depth, complexity and nuance befitting an old vine $70/bottle Chardonnay.” The Cunat Oak Knoll component brings the lighter-touch oak and structure that Cam describes as the secondary piece using “a little lighter hand on the oak (30% new French).”
Cam’s reference to “Lot 4 fans” is worth noting — Lot 4 was an earlier Napa Chardonnay that presumably shared some characteristics. The style description — “right up the middle,” “Burgundian,” energetic rather than heavy — fits Sequoia Grove’s winemaking philosophy under Jesse Fox, which emphasizes tension and freshness over weight. The lactic reading (1.35 g/L) also suggests partial but not full malolactic, consistent with how Sequoia Grove manages Haire fruit.
One caveat: Sequoia Grove’s nationally distributed Napa Valley Chardonnay retails at ~$35 and uses Haire and Cunat as its backbone. It’s possible Cam received surplus or whole-lot fruit from those same vineyard sources rather than specifically from Sequoia Grove as the producer — meaning the $70 program Cam references could be a boutique label using Haire exclusively rather than Sequoia Grove’s blended program. If so, the Haire Vineyard remains the Carneros anchor regardless.
✅ Confidence: Medium-High — the Carneros old vine Wente clone + Oak Knoll combination is quite specific and Sequoia Grove’s sourcing matches it almost exactly. The $70 single-vineyard tier and “legendary” Haire Vineyard pedigree align well. Community intel on this one would help confirm.
Drink Window
Early Enjoyment: Summer 2026 — the low lactic (1.35 g/L) and moderate oak (~38% new) mean this is accessible early without suffering for it.
Peak Drinking: 2027–2030. The old vine Wente clone concentration and partial malolactic structure will fill out beautifully over 2–3 years.
Hold Potential: 2032. Not a long-aging wine by design, but the natural Carneros acidity (6.1 g/L TA) provides the backbone to evolve gracefully for 6–7 years from vintage.
My Call: ⏳ Drink window: 2026–2032 (peak 2027–2030)