2024 Neely Chardonnay 'Home Block'

100% Chardonnay (clone 4); own rooted vines planted in 1981; fermented in barrel with no malolactic. Aged in 20% new oak for 10 months. 12.6% alcohol. 88 cases made.  Neely is a bit of a hidden gem in the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation, albeit with some serious pedigree. Set across 240 acres with just 16 acres planted close to the town of Portola Valley, the Neely family has owned this place since 1995, their Spring Ridge Vineyard originally planted in 1980 by the Varner brothers to Chardonnay and Gewurztraminer. 

96 points, Jeb Dunnuck. "From one of the highest elevations on the estate at 900 feet, the 2024 Chardonnay Estate Spring Ridge Vineyard Home Block comes from a flattened parcel ringed by trees, where the sun comes off the grapes earlier and the vines are shadowed. Floral, earthy, and savory, the wine is a moody, contemplative white with less upfront fruit, more cerebral with savory, mineral-driven, flinty character accenting a medium-bodied frame of barrel-fermentation spice and creaminess. Drink it now through 2036."