2018 Boars' View Chardonnay The Coast by Schrader Cellars | Sonoma Coast California 750ml

I can't decide if I like the 2018 or the 2016 more, but both are brilliant wines. The 2018 Chardonnay Sonoma Coast has a slightly fresher, more vibrant style while still being packed with ripe peach, apricot, honeysuckle, and brioche aromas and flavors. Despite being brought up in new barrels, it's soaked up the élevage beautifully and is balanced and full-bodied, with terrific freshness and a big finish. It should drink well a decade or more. | 95 points, Jeb Dunnuck for
jebdunnuck.com

We are long time devotees of the wild and extreme Sonoma Coast and the Boars' View vineyards sit two ridges away from the edge of the Pacific on a rugged hilltop in the Fort Ross - Seaview AVA. The remote mystery of these storied coastal ridges beckoned to Fred and Carol Schrader just enough to capture their attention (which is usually fully devoted to their highly praised wines of Schrader Cellars in Napa) and they, together with long time friends Charles and Nell Sweeney and David and Judy Steiner embarked on the intrepid journey to Pinot Noir Greatness in 2007. Development of the vineyards was managed by the legendary Ulises Valdez working closely together with Winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown who hand-selected California Heritage Clones Calera, Mt. Eden, and Swan - carefully matching clonal variety to site. Pinot Noir, and now Chardonnay as well, made by Thomas Rivers Brown bursts with intensity and richness as we have seen before in his Rivers Marie wines and Boars' View seems set to follow a similar path. The wines are un-fined, unfiltered, barrel aged in a consummation of Francois Freres, Ermitage, and Remond French oak for 10 months and built for depth and concentration with nuance developing in maturity. This is extraordinary wine that we will witness a blossoming in with each year to come. | Falling Bright