Orofino 2019/20 Chardonnay 750ml

It’s sometimes hard to imagine how far BC wine has come until you taste something like the Orofino 2019 Chardonnay. It is not even estate fruit, but the family manages the Cawston Flats site and farms the fruit. There is important, direct input with the grape growing and harvesting, and the wine is boffo for the price. It is fermented in 20% new French oak, which in my opinion, is the max for northern chardonnay fruit. It spends nine months on its lees and another nine months in bottle before it is released. The attack is all mineral, sand, bones, citrus and Meyer lemons with crisp fruit dusted in sagebrush and desert scrub magic dust. Savoury, salty, focused, and delicious, there is nothing but finesse here. And they are giving it away. Burgundy be scared.

Score: 92 points -- Anthony Gismondi, gismondionwine.com, 2021