Meyer Family 2021 Chardonnay Okanagan Valley 750ml

Another keeper from Meyer’s not-so vanilla regular bottling of chardonnay is an instruction manual on how this grape should be handled in BC. The fruit comes off four vineyards: two estate sites, Old Main Road on the Naramata Bench, and McLean Creek Road in Okanagan Falls; and purchased fruit from Anarchist Mountain Vineyard, Osoyoos, and Cellarsbend Vineyard on the Naramata Bench. The picking is numerous and spanned two weeks in late September and early October. The production is clinical: a gentle whole cluster press, an overnight cold settle, and then off heavy sediment to be fermented in an 80/20 mix of stainless steel and older neutral French oak barrels. It spends four months on its fine lees, and eventually goes through natural malolactic fermentation. In 2020 the fruit pops with vibrancy and freshness, with classic green apple, a bit of toast, and creamy lees that finishes clean. Incredible value for a quality BC wine and production is a healthy 1000 cases.

-- Anthony Gismondi, Gismondi On Wine