2025 Anonymous Wine Collective Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay

This stunning bottle of Chardonnay under our Anonymous Wine Collective label really captures the complex terroir of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The wine comes from two unique vineyard sites in very different sub-regions of the AVA, each contributing a distinct character to the finished blend. One vineyard is extremely coastal, sitting just a few miles from Monterey Bay and receiving daily fog along with consistent cooling winds off the ocean. Sandy soils and a long, slow growing season produce a bright, focused style of Chardonnay with wonderful verve, vibrant acidity, and a distinctly saline mineral character. The second vineyard sits on the opposite side of the mountain range, looking down toward Silicon Valley. Here, a warmer climate and rocky Franciscan shale soils yield a more powerful, structured expression of Chardonnay, with greater depth and breadth. The two components complement each other beautifully, creating a layered, complete wine where the sum is truly greater than its parts. The coastal site brings freshness, energy, and salinity, while the warmer mountain site adds weight, structure, and complexity. Together they form a compelling expression of the remarkable diversity found within the Santa Cruz Mountains. The finished wine was aged for 10 months in mostly seasoned French oak barrels (just 20% new oak) and 10% of the wine was fermented and aged in concrete egg.