2018 Whitcraft "La Rinconada Vineyard" Sta Rita Hills Chardonnay

Winery notes: Drake Whitcraft took over the family winery in 2007 (the winery was founded two decades before, in 1985 by his parents, Chris and Kathleen). His goal was to make balanced Central Coast wine of purity, honesty, and finesse. He grew up within the culture of wine and California winemaking. He was perpetually under the tutelage of both father Chris and friend Burt Williams, founder of the legendary Williams-Selyem winery in Sonoma. Drake is vinifying with the same old school techniques his dad used (hand-harvesting, foot-pressing etc, no added enzymes or coloration) and with much veneration to Mother Nature herself. The resulting wines are clean and impeccably balanced. They represent a cross section of the emerging class of site-specific wines coming out of Central Coast California today.