2014 Napa Valley Chardonnay Magnum

The 2014 vintage was sunny, just warm enough, and bountiful — the fundamental, or at least superficial, criteria for a “great” vintage. The truth, naturally, is more complex. While no one ever complains about beautiful weather and a bumper crop, we tend to look at vintage characteristics a bit differently. If there are good or great vintages, then there necessarily must be bad vintages and these sort of blanket statements are hyperbole at best. Just as any good chef will tell you that nature doesn’t make bad ingredients, we see the trends, challenges and idiosyncrasies of each vintage as an opportunity to decode our soil, vineyard and region through the lens of our fruit. It’s this perspective and our inherent intellectual or creative curiosity that sets us apart as the details and nuances of each growing season are what make each year special and unique in its own right, and thus the final wines “great.”