93pts Vinous

The 2022 Chardonnay (Napa Valley) is typically a blend of Hyde, Hudson, Arcadia and a few others. In 2022, Hudson was not in the blend. Dried lemon peel, tangerine oil, hazelnut and chamomile unfurl in the glass. The drought conditions of the year produced a wine of considerable intensity. Its weight and viscous intensity make it a sort of mini-Judge. The 2022 is very dense and phenolic.

Winemaker Notes

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.

Winery Notes

Fifth-generation Napa natives, Maggy and John Kongsgaard began their endeavor in the 1970s planting The Judge vineyard on their family land near Napa. The inaugural Kongsgaard wines came in 1996. Now, Kongsgaard produces The Judge, Chardonnay, VioRous, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon in their underground winery—a cave dug into the volcanic rock, high on the eastern rim of the Napa Valley where they have planted a spectacular mountain vineyard. Kongsgaard also directs the farming under long-term contracts on several perfect acres in the Napa Carneros and near the winery. These intensely farmed, shy-bearing vineyards and Kongsgaard's traditional low-intervention winemaking produce powerful, graceful wines—vivid expressions of vineyard and variety. Production is limited to what Maggy and John, with their son Alex, can make with their own hands.