Staff Notes:

"The 2019 Marine bottling of chardonnay from Seth Long is composed from a slightly different blend of vineyard sources compared to the 2018, as this year it is only produced from two of the three vineyards that contributed fruit last year. The composition this year is sixty percent grapes from the Loubejac Vineyard and forty percent from the Yamhill Vineyard. Fermentation for both lots started in stainless steel and was finished in barrel. As is customary with Seth’s chardonnays, the wines spent one year in cask and then were assembled in tank for six more months of finishing elevage. The wine ended up seeing fifteen percent new oak and comes in at 13.2 percent alcohol in 2019. The nose jumps from the glass in a mix of apple, pear, almond blossoms, a touch of lime peel, a lovely base of soil, hazelnut and a faint touch of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is elegant, full-bodied, complex and beautifully balanced, with fine depth at the core, superb transparency and bounce, zesty acids and a long, nascently complex and vibrant finish. The wine is still a touch youthfully shut down on the backend, but it is delicious already if given a bit of aeration; it will be even better with some bottle age." 92+ Points John Gilman, View From the Cellar