Chardonnay 2019 – Cartlidge & Browne

In 1980, with no money to buy vineyards and seeing no reason to, Tony Cartlidge started his winery in an undistinguished Napa Valley garage. Possibly the original Californian ‘garagiste’ he set out to source the best possible grapes to handcraft his wines in this unassuming home. Nearly 40 years later, still sourcing from vineyards as wide ranging as Sonoma to the Sierra foothills, continuing to produce high quality wines, Cartlidge & Browne has become a byword for varietally pure Californian wines, whilst sticking to their garagiste roots of taking a different path. Cartlidge & Browne sources fruit for their wines from vineyards across the North Coast. Sourcing from this region gives them the flexibility to select only the best lots of Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay from Napa and Sonoma Counties. The garage where it all started may now be gone, but the philosophy lives on. Winemaker Paul Moser prefers to focus on making wines in a fruit driven style in perfect balance with the environment and to display the sense of place rather than powerhouse reds and whites. The wines are considered to be more European in style than other wines from the region.