Name: Peter Michael "La Carrière" Chardonnay 2023
Brand: Vins Rare
SKU: 102314
Price: 125.00 USD
Availability: OutOfStock

Notes:

The 2023 Chardonnay La Carrière has intoxicating scents of white peach, grilled grapefruit and Meyer lemon plus nuances of flint, vanilla, panna cotta and lemongrass. The full-bodied palate is silky and expressive with energetic layers of flinty citrus and stone fruit. It offers high concentration for its elegant frame, and its oak spice is seamlessly integrated. It’s balanced by bright, focused acidity and has a long, dynamic finish. 2,478 cases were made. Wine Advocate 96

Producer: Peter Michael Winery was founded by Sir Peter Michael in 1982 in Knights Valley, on the western slopes of Mount St. Helena. The estate’s Chardonnay program is built around individual mountain vineyards rather than a single house blend, with La Carrière, Belle Côte, Ma Belle-Fille, and Mon Plaisir bottled separately. The vineyards occupy steep, elevated terrain where volcanic geology, exposure, and elevation create meaningful differences between sites. The cellar approach draws heavily on Burgundian methods—native-yeast fermentation, French oak, prolonged lees contact, and bâtonnage—but is applied to ripe, mountain-grown Sonoma Chardonnay. La Carrière means “the quarry” in French, a direct reference to the extremely rocky nature and bowl-like shape of the vineyard.
Vineyard: La Carrière was planted in 1994 and occupies some of the steepest Chardonnay ground on the Peter Michael estate. The vineyard rises from approximately 1,200 to 1,700 feet elevation, with slopes exceeding 40% grade and predominantly southern and southeastern exposures. Its soils are shallow, exceptionally rocky, and derived from volcanic-origin rhyolite. The combination of limited soil depth, excellent drainage, low fertility, and steep terrain typically gives La Carrière the lowest Chardonnay yields on the property. Those conditions naturally restrict vine vigor and make this a very different site from richer valley-floor Chardonnay vineyards. The 2023 season was unusually long and cool: a wet winter and cool spring delayed budbreak by nearly a month, while a temperate summer without major heat spikes allowed Chardonnay to retain acidity through an extended ripening period. Harvest at La Carrière ran from September 27 through October 25, considerably later than normal for the estate.
Winemaking: The 2023 is 100% Chardonnay and was 100% naturally fermented with native yeasts. Fermentation took place entirely in French oak barrels from selected artisan coopers, followed by 12 months of élevage sur lies. During barrel maturation, the lees were stirred weekly through bâtonnage, a technique that builds texture and incorporates the fine lees into the wine. Despite the substantial barrel program, the combination of low-yielding mountain fruit and naturally high acidity provides enough concentration and structure to accommodate the élevage. The wine was bottled unfiltered on February 7, 2025, preserving the material developed during fermentation and lees aging. Production for the vintage was 2,478 cases.
Technical Details: Knights Valley AVA, Sonoma County; 2023 vintage; 100% Chardonnay; single-vineyard estate bottling; La Carrière Vineyard planted 1994; approximately 1,200–1,700 feet elevation; south and southeast exposures; slopes exceeding 40% grade; shallow, rocky volcanic rhyolite soils; typically the lowest-yielding Chardonnay vineyard on the estate; harvested September 27–October 25, 2023; native-yeast fermentation; 100% barrel fermented in French oak; 12 months sur lies; weekly bâtonnage; bottled unfiltered February 7, 2025; 14.9% ABV; 2,478 cases produced; released April 1, 2025.
Food Pairing: Butter-poached lobster, Dungeness crab, seared scallops, roasted halibut, grilled swordfish, king salmon, lobster risotto, roast chicken, chicken with morels, veal chops, pork loin, truffled pasta, wild mushroom risotto, Comté, Beaufort, and aged Gruyère. The concentration from La Carrière’s low-yielding mountain vines and the texture developed through barrel fermentation and lees aging make richer seafood, poultry, and cream-based preparations particularly good matches.

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Peter Michael "La Carrière" Chardonnay 2023

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