The 2018 Benevolent Neglect Chardonnay was one of the most talked-about wines of 2019. They’re also one of the wineries that the eminent Jancis Robinson was referring to when she urged her readers to “ take advantage of the creativity of California’s new generation of wine producers.” So naturally, we are delighted to have finally secured a small allocation.
Don’t expect a big, over-the-top bottling, though—like all of Benevolent Neglect’s wines, the 2018 Chardonnay showcases precision and purity. Winemaker Matt Nagy says of his wine, “The goal with this wine was to eschew traditional ‘California Chardonnay’ as a style and make something more akin to a Cru Chablis.” As you might expect, the wine delivers on Matt’s vision. The nose leans towards fresh citrus flavours of yuzu and tangerine, with orange blossoms and hints of oyster shell. The palate is electric and direct, with white peaches joining the party alongside lemon marmalade, white pepper, and a mouth-watering finish.
This Chardonnay comes from a vineyard site that was special enough to warrant “a rehab project,” according to Matt. Organically farmed since the 1970s, the Chardonnay was ungrafted—a rarity in California that trades the eventual death of the vines by phylloxera, a soil-based parasite, for an extra layer of precision and intensity of flavour in the finished wines. The vines had been not-so-benevolently neglected over the last decade, but the raw material was so promising that Matt and his team poured in the work to bring the site back to greatness—and this bottling is proof that their effort was worth it.
As you might expect from the name, the winemaking style at Benevolent Neglect is to stay out of the way. The wines are fermented with native yeasts and this Chardonnay is aged in a minimal amount of new oak to allow the innate quality of the vineyard to shine through. Drink now – 2028.