As always, the color is almost golden straw but still young, and since the wine isn’t clarified not filtered, it is slightly hazy. On the nose, it combines elegance with power and intensity, a hard to obtain balance. Fruit is lush and sweet with both tropical notes, but also with nuances of cooler climate fruits such as yellow apples and still not ripe pears. Oak, of course, it there, but I find it to be extremely well integrated, another proof of the excellence of the winemaking brothers. There is also a touch of creaminess, derived from the full malolactic fermentation, but again perfectly balanced. Give the wine half an hour in a decanter, and it might fool even a well trained wine taster – it actually reminds me of a Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru! However, on the palate, due to the rich and creamy texture (of glycerol and the 14.5 percent of alcohol), this couldn’t be a burgundy. Also, there is not enough minerality in this wine to really be a great burgundy. It is too much of a great California chardonnay here. I just love the silkiness of wines like this, and even if alcohol is quite high, and the fruit is rich, there is still the right amount of true acidity and also mineral notes, to make this a great and very elegant wine.