McCrea Vineyard

McCrea Chardonnay has enticing notes of ripe grapefruit, white peaches and lime leaves with hints of baking bread, fresh ginger and coriander seeds. Medium to full-bodied, richly fruity and offering a decadent oiliness to the texture, it fills the palate with layers of citrus and stone fruit, finishing long and spicy.

"If Kistler could be magically transported to the middle of the Côte d'Or, then it would very quickly achieve a reputation as glorious as that of the best Burgundian grand cru producers" Robert Parker

Kistler is an estate dedicated to growing and making Chardonnay and Pinot Noir using traditional Burgundian methods applied to New World vineyards. Founded in 1978 by Steve Kistler (a graduate of Stanford University) and his brother John, the estate was later joined by Mark Bixler who studied chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is an iconic estate and the wines are only submitted to two wine critics, Robert Parker and Stephen Tanzer. They are only sold directly to consumers. There are very few importers who are lucky enough to have an allocation. The majority of the grapes that go into Kistler's wines come from vineyards owned by the estate. They stretch from western Sonoma, five miles from the Pacific, to the Carneros region north of San Francisco. Yields are strictly controlled and the grapes for the ten Chardonnays all come from the same Californian clone (Old Wente) which has a tendency to millerandage, thus producing small grapes with a high concentration of material. Fermentation takes place in seven independent cellars with indigenous yeasts, and the barrels are French with wood that has been dried for three years. All wines are bottled without fining or filtration. There is no need to come to the estate, you will not be received. The few who have had the privilege of being received have never tasted anything. Besides, there are no glasses, says Mark Bixler, a great admirer of India and Bollywood films, by way of excuse.

This is the first time this wine has been imported to France. It is a blend of several vineyards of Kistler's parcel selections, and the quantities are a little larger than for the classic parcel selections. It is a wine with a rich texture that is comparable to a Meursault with vanilla and spicy notes.