93pts James Suckling

Sliced cooked apple with some apple puree and apple blossom as well as lemon rind on the nose. Medium-bodied with creamy texture. Flint and mineral flavors. Good acidity and energy. Hints of fresh straw underneath.

Winemaker Notes

Our 2021 Jayson Chardonnay offers a captivating interplay of richness and finesse, with a soulful complexity revealing itself with each sip. The nose is greeted with aromas of orange blossom and honeysuckle, lemon oil, and crushed Marcona almond. Notes of preserved Meyer lemon introduce the bright, finely detailed palate, the integrated oak profile lending a complementing mid-palate richness. Interwoven notes of butterscotch, marzipan, and grilled pineapple slowly emerge and sustain through a long, layered finish.

Jayson Chardonnay is a marriage of three distinctive Napa Valley regions: bright, elegant Carneros hillside; and rich, ripe St. Helena valley floor; with intense mountain fruit at its core. Across our sites, we employ tunneling (pulling internal leaves) in our canopy managment to increase airflow without risking berry integrity. The finished wine has a fresh and bright palate with beautiful aromatics and just enough intensity and richness to impart an unmistakable gravitas. Aging in heavily toasted François Frères barrels allow pure fruit aromatics to be front and center with a subtle butterscotch and salted caramel underscore.

Winery Notes

Pahlmeyer was founded in 1986, by a desire to be great by its eponymous creator Jayson Pahlmeyer. With a dream to create a California Mouton, Jayson and his partners spared no resource to make this dream a reality. Whether it was finding the perfect piece of land high atop Napa Valley’s Atlas Peak or covertly smuggling in Bordeaux cuttings, all pieces of Pahlmeyer’s history have led to its place as one of the top brand names from Napa Valley. From the very beginning, Pahlmeyer has been dedicated to crafting fine wines from the best fruit sources possible. In California, this means high elevation mountain sites, where the grapes are afforded more sunlight, cooler temperatures, and less fertile soils, which together create ideal conditions. Pahlmeyer sources the majority of their fruit from four key locations: Pahlmeyer Estate (Atlas Peak), Stagecoach (Atlas Peak / Pritchard Hill), Rancho Chimiles, and Antica.