2023 La Rinconada Vineyard Chardonnay
Santa Rita Hills AVA
Tasting Notes
“Pale straw hue. Generous aromas of lemon, passionfruit, white peach, and grapefruit start off the sensory excitement. With some air, additional notes of coconut, mango, kiwi, and fig provide immense pleasure. These characteristics stay consistent on the palate and the texture offers juicy unctuousness. This wine finishes plush and lively and will age gracefully through 2032.”
~Bill Brosseau, Director of Winemaking
March 2025
Production Data
Growers: Terlato Family
Winemaker: Bill Brosseau
Appellation: Santa Rita Hills AVA
Elevation/Exposure: 235 feet; Northwest
Soil: Bayshore silty, clay loam
Vineyard Age: 26 years
Viticulture Practice: Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing (CCSW)
Vinification: Pressed Whole-cluster, fermented in French Oak
Cooperage & Ageing: 14 months in French Oak, 52% new
Production: 21 barrels
Composition: 100% Chardonnay (Clone 15 & Wente Clone)
Acidity: 3.14pH, 7.19 TA (g/L)
Alcohol: 14.2%
Harvest: November 1, 2023, hand harvested
Club Release: February 2025
Release Price: $59
Drink Now through TBA
Past Vintage Wine Scores
“Beautiful aromatics of fresh yellow fruit, nectarine, hint of green mango, and a slight hint of oak. Gorgeous phenolics with a firm, rich backbone, mineral-like character in the mouth, and a long, focused finish. Excellent balance. pH 3.25, 14.2% alc. Clone 15 and Wente Clone matured 15 months in 34% new French oak.”
International Wine Review
May 2024
“Bright tropical fruit, tempting toast and vanilla bean aromas lead to a ripe but still tangy palate of crisp apples, poached pears and lemon zest. Offers a full body, a rich but also crisp mouthfeel from 3.1 pH and great balance. This has everything, all in good measure. Sustainable. Drink or hold.”
James Suckling
May 2024
“The 2022 Chardonnay La Rinconada Vineyard is more focused and mineral-driven, with a core of salted citrus, white flowers, spice, and subtle mineral nuances to go with a medium-bodied, focused, pure, precise style on the palate. It’s another beautiful effort from this team that has tons to love.”
Jeb Dunnuck
May 2024
“Offers a toasty, fragrant aromatic thread of honeycomb and spices mixed with a core of intense lemon curd, fresh pineapple and apricot flavors. Shows a crisp lemony edge and mouthwatering acidity. Drink now. 504 cases made.”
MaryAnn Worobiec
Wine Spectator
May 2023
“Light hints of mint, freshly cut lemon and tangerine and polished stones awash in glacial melt make for an utterly fresh nose on this bottling. The racy palate is laser-focused, jetting from stone and ash to white melon to lime pith, with a citrus balm finish.”
Matt Kettmann
Wine Enthusiast
August/September 2022 Issue
“A delicate nose of apricot and white-fleshed stone fruit is splashed with lemon zest and a kiss of butter on the delicious entry to this bottling. It’s extremely tight on the palate, where sea salt and honeysuckle blossoms are extremely balanced, focused and pure.”
Matt Kettmann
Wine Enthusiast
December 2021 Issue
“Lush, ripe and juicy with silky texture and deep, polished fruit; rich and tropical with balance, style and finesse; long and nicely structured.”
Anthony Dias Blue
April 2020
“Another single vineyard, the 2018 Chardonnay La Rinconada Vineyard offers a touch more iodine and marine notes as well as spiced orchard fruits and brioche. It’s medium-bodied, balanced, and certainly outstanding.”
Jeb Dunnuck
August 2020
“Both bright and engagingly juicy with outgoing aromas of sweet apples overlain by notes of vanilla and a delicate wisp of minerals and stones, this nicely polished bottling combines the expected juicy fruit of the nose with lots of enlivening acidity in a refreshing and vital, extremely well-integrated mix and exhibits terrific stamina and tactile length. Perhaps not quite as deep as several of it cellarmates, it is drinking beautifully right now and has the pieces in place to age famously.”
Connoisseurs’ Guide to California Wine
August 2020
“Ripe and toasty with vanilla and bright acidity; long and rich, elegant and showing finesse, generous and refined.”
Anthony Dias Blue
April 2019
“Shimmering straw-gold. Exotic, deeply perfumed aromas of ripe tropical and orchard fruits, peach nectar and fig; floral, mineral and citrus pith nuances add welcome energy. Fleshy and seamless in the mouth, offering juicy peach, pear and mango flavors and a touch of buttered toast. Tightens up nicely on a very long, silky finish that leaves vanilla, pear nectar and honey notes behind.”
Josh Raynolds
Vinous
November 2019
“Along with its equally appealing companion from the Sanford & Benedict Vineyard, this wine makes an exceptionally fine showing from the Santa Rita Hills and displays a wealth of very deep and outgoing, handsomely oaked, optimally ripened fruit in a fairly full and nicely polished, ever-lively package. It is already showing a good deal of layering and is a safe bet to show even more over time, but it does come with the problem of being so out-and-out rich and tasty right now that waiting is not likely to come easy. “
Connoisseurs’ Guide to California Wine
“Silky and juicy, elegant and fresh with tangy, racy style; fresh and balanced.”
Anthony Dias Blue
June 2018
“Vivid yellow-gold. Fresh pear, tangerine, iodine and toasted brioche aromas show excellent clarity and mineral lift. Lively, gently sweet and precise on the palate, offers concentrated white peach, orange pith, candied ginger and honeysuckle flavors that deepen with air. Juicy and nervy in style, delivering strong finishing thrust and strong, mineral-driven persistence. I really like the blend of power and elegance here. ”
Josh Raynolds
Antonio Galloni Vinous
November 2017
“Another outstanding wine from winemaker Bill Brosseau, the 2014 Chardonnay la Rinconada Vineyard is medium-bodied, elegant and classy, with beautiful notes of white fruits, flowers, apple peel and hints of cream corn. Aged roughly 11 months in 33% new French oak, drink it over the coming 4-5 years, although I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see it evolve for longer.”
Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
“The fantastic nose pitches French toast together with Meyer lemon pith, crushed rock, struck match and a slight sour-cream element. This wine is immediately lively on the tongue, with lots of but not overdone acidity. Yeasty toast flavors are cut by lemon and poached pear on a racy and focused palate. “
Matt Kettmann
Wine Enthusiast
“Editor’s Choice – The single-vineyard experts at Testarossa hit a homerun with this wine from a famed property. Aromas of 7-Up, recent rains and minerality kick off a refreshing experience, which is powered by a strong flavor combination of very ripe fruit (à la traditional California Chardonnay), barrel-related vanilla and brisk, lingering acidity (à la Old World).”
Steve Heimoff
Wine Enthusiast
The La Rinconada Vineyard
Planted in 1997, La Rinconada sits adjacent to the famed Sanford & Benedict Vineyard, the cornerstone of the Santa Rita Hills appellation in Santa Barbara County. The same soil and climate conditions that make Sanford & Benedict an ideal spot for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay exist in the neighboring La Rinconada Vineyard. The vineyard is made up of 11 acres of Pinot Noir and 9 acres of Chardonnay. Testarossa has been making both since 2012.