Chardonnay Marcassin Vineyard 2009 Marcassin

Professional reviews

Robert Parker (96)

Year in and year out, the Chardonnay Marcassin Estate is one of the two or three most profound Chardonnays made in California, and a wine that could dominate any tasting of white Burgundies. The 2009 offers up notes of honeysuckle, citrus oil, tangerines, white peach and wet gravel followed by a wine with a full-bodied mouthfeel and zesty acidity. It should evolve for 10-15 years. Both 2009 and 2010 were cool years, and both were eclipsed in coldness by 2011. I still have their vintages from the nineties, both the first Estate bottlings and of course wines they made from vineyards such as the Upper Barn-Gauer (now owned by Kendall-Jackson) and the Lorenzo Vineyard from the mid-nineties that are still in fabulous conditions. So there is an argument to be made that Marcassin along with Mt. Eden and the old Chalones from the seventies and early eighties are examples of the longest-lived Chardonnays ever produced in California.

Winespectator (97)

A full-blown, mature Chardonnay at its peak, layered and complex, unfolding with anise, smoky oak, roasted fig, apricot and honeysuckle flavors. What makes this sing is the richness and proportionality of the flavors. Lingers and gains on the finish.

BOW (8.50)