Brewer-Clifton, Mount Carmel Chardonnay, Sta. Rita Hills

Pretty remarkable wine for 42 bucks. Maybe the best CA QPR ever. A decade old and still going strong. Golden color without a hint of browning. Fruit is pure and still deep. Pear, melon and zippy citrus. Expansive and mouth-watering with nutty notes and white stones to finish. I only had one bottle and glad I held it.

Golden yellow, full bodied. Honeysuckle, butterscotch, hint of minerality.

Incredible deep shimmering gold. Reticent nose at first, opening to hints of butterscotch, then tropical fruits and hazelnuts. Mouthwatering acidity is the key to this wine, and takes it to great heights. Great weighty mouthfeel, with the palate flashing all around ripe tangerines, mangoes, apricots, peach kernal and eventually lemon. Lots of spice, minerals, earth and smoke. This would never be confused with a European wine, but I would put it up against many Cote d'Or whites. Just totally different. …

Beautiful, medium gold. Nose of buttered popcorn, burnt sugar, hints of peach pits, ripe citrus, lanolin. Strong alcohol (bordering on too much, but not quite) on the nose and palate - a la California. Great acidity and fruit interplay. Delicious, high class, California chardonnay, at a perfect peak. Excellent length and complexity. Drink up, and for another 2 years max. Brilliant.

Good clean color. Some oxidation but did not affect the taste. Lasting but not over powering.

Medium gold. Burnt sugar/butterscotchy nose at first, subdued, with peach pit background. Nicely transparent flavors of dry, sour, almost over-ripe nectarines, peaches, apricots. Good acid shining through, providing a mouth-watering desire for rich food. Good length. 1 hour later: Total transformation - phenomenally complex nose of honey, marzipan, vanilla bean, clove, and nutmeg layer over sun-drenched, almost but not quite tropical, fruit. Great mid-palate. A mouthful of over-ripe pears, peat, and brown sugar combine with all manner of orange and …

Popped and poured. Becoming golden at this point in an appealing way. Big strong chardonnay with lovely oak integration but still too much alcohol for me to really enjoy and probably why I stopped ordering. It is more palatable in that respect than on release, however. Wife left her glass unfinished....cant go higher than an 89

WIML92-93 Tasted August 11, 2009. Opened and served immediately. Light yellow to yellow color in the glass, clear hue throughout. Nice nose and palate of pears, yellow apples and some vanilla notes. Medium acidity and body. Drink now.

Sucked down before it could really shine. Citrus at first, then deepening with the last swallows to confirm my previous note. Outstanding wine.

Pop and pour. C - Brass/straw with golden tones. Looks mature. N - Ripe, complex. Strange, stimulating cantaloupe hints to the vanillin, butterscotch, waxy and complex yellow-fruit profile. Amber resin and alcohol (pleasant) adding to the depth and power. And here comes the hazelnuts as well. P - Excellent tartness opens the front-end-oriented, muted explosion of rich, mature, leesy citrus fruits and starfruit. A very pleasant surprise: this is not your typical fruit-driven Chardonnay. Great minerality and acid creates a …

Well I must admit I had been eyeing this bottle for some time. I did not want to risk leaving it in the bottle too long and I must admit it is hard for me to shake my early education about drinking whites early. This was a vintage Chardonnay, only 2880 bottles were produced of this gem and it was in a word- stunning. It possessed all of the complexities and nuances one expects to find in a red wine. …

agree with Parker. Unfortunately I have no more.

Darker than the '96 O. Leflaive Folatieres, with a deeper golden hue. Very intense nose of pear, spice and toasty oak. This is a serious wine with a serious structure. It�s really big and weighty in the mouth with more complex notes like caramel and stone fruits. The wine shows very nice balance for its dimension. The length on the finish is very impressive. If I owned any of these I would age them several years as this wine seemed …

At home after dinner out. Rich golden color. Nose of citrus and stones -- clearly burgundian style. On the palate, complex flavors of butterscotch, lime, and stony undertones -- so much going on here. Long mouth-watering finish of 30+ seconds. Excellent now, but will benefit from age.