2021 Soberanes Vineyard Chardonnay
Santa Lucia Highlands AVA


Tasting Notes
“Medium yellow hue. Brilliant scents of lemon, grapefruit, and white peach unite with notes of fig, kiwi, and tangerine to provide a pleasing start to this Chardonnay. Upon taste, the characteristics flow towards grapefruit, fig, kiwi, and apple pie. The texture is undulating and lively which evolves nicely to a bright, fresh and pure finish. Enjoy now through 2031”
~Bill Brosseau, Director of Winemaking
January 2023
“Soberanes Vineyard was fairly recently-planted, as these Wente Clones are twelve years of age, but it is beautifully situated, lying next to Gary’s Vineyard that Adam Lee at Clarice Wine Company sources for one of his top bottlings of pinot noir. The 2021 Soberanes Vineyard Chardonnay from Testarossa was aged for twenty months in just over forty percent new oak and comes in at a svelte 14.2 percent alcohol. The wine’s aromatic constellation is refined and complex, offering up scents of fresh pineapple, pear, orange zest, a hint of butterscotch, beautiful soil tones, lemon blossoms and a classy framing of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and still quite primary, with a superb core of fruit, fine soil undertow and grip, bright acids and lovely balance on the long, focused and promising finish. This lovely wine deserves three to five years in the cellar to allow its secondary layers of complexity to start to properly emerge. It will be an excellent wine once it has blossomed, but drinking it now (albeit quite enjoyable) is infanticide. (Drink between 2026-2040).” 93+ points.
John Gilman
View From the Cellar
Mar/Apr 2023 Issue
Production Data
Growers: Pisoni and Franscioni Families
Winemaker: Bill Brosseau
Appellation: Santa Lucia Highlands
Elevation/Exposure: 400 feet; East/Northeast
Soil: Rocky, sandy loam
Vineyard Age: 13 years
Viticulture Practice: Sustainable (SIP Certified)
Vinification: Pressed Whole-cluster, fermented in French Oak
Cooperage & Ageing: 14 months in 100% French Oak, 31% new
Production: 14 barrels
Composition: 100% Chardonnay (100% Wente Clone)
Acidity: 3.27 pH, 6.81 TA (g/L)
Alcohol: 14.2%
Harvest: October 4, 2021, hand harvested
Club Release: January 2023
Release Price: $55
Drink Now through 2031

Past Vintage Wine Scores
The Soberanes Vineyard
The Soberanes Vineyard is the fifth and newest vineyard in the Pisoni and Franscioni family partnership. It is located in the heart of the Santa Lucia Highlands and builds upon a tradition of high quality hand-winegrowing. Gary Pisoni says the Soberanes Vineyard is their best property to date and they are expecting great vintages from it in the future because they have been able to apply all of their experience in this new location. There are 27 acres of the Pisoni clone Pinot Noir planted and 8 acres of Chardonnay. The property is adjacent to Garys’ Vineyard with an east/northeast orientation at 400 feet in elevation. The soil is rocky, sandy loam. The vineyard was originally planted in 2008.