La Follette Zephyr Farms Chardonnay Sonoma Coast 2021 (750ml) *

The cool, fog-shaped stretch of the Sonoma Coast gives Chardonnay a lean, energetic frame, and this 2021 bottling from La Follette, drawn from Zephyr Farms, works within that idiom. It spent eleven months in French oak, only a fifth of it new, which keeps the wood in a supporting role rather than the foreground. The color is a pale straw, the style medium-bodied and built for restraint over power.

There is real layering here: poached pear and honeysuckle up front, then preserved citrus and a whisper of fine spice. The wine moves across the palate with a weightless, almost floating quality, its texture elegant and gently pithy, before closing on a floral note. Nicely composed and holding some upside, it should reward a few years of patience.