Kongsgaard Chardonnay, Napa Valley, USA 2022

Fifth generation Napa natives, John and Maggy began the Kongsgaard wine endeavor planting the Judge vineyard to Chardonnay in the 1970s on family land in the hills east of Napa. 1996 was the inaugural vintage. Our son Alex and Evan Frazier, both winemakers, joined the partnership a decade later. Our production, limited to what Alex, Evan and John can make with their own hands, is primarily our two Chardonnays–The Judge and the Napa Valley bottling. Our intensely farmed, shy-bearing vineyards and our archaic, low-intervention winemaking produce powerful, graceful wines–vivid expressions of vineyard and variety.

Our historic blend of the Hudson and Hyde vineyards is augmented in 2022 with fruit from the spectacular Coombsville estate planted by Warren Winiarski for a wine of both energy and opulence. In line with the previous bottlings, the wine is defined by the tension of citrus and honeyed aromas over a vibrant, saline, mineral finish. When Robert Parker was visiting, he called this the Bâtard-Montrachet of Napa.