Earlier in the year, I tasted a Chardonnay from The Hilt that completely blew me away. It was salty, mineral, with blistering acidity, while simultaneously ripe, fleshy, and textural. I’d never tasted anything like it from California.
Obsessed with learning more, I began digging deeper into the source of all that flavor: Radian Vineyard, a treacherous vineyard on the far end of the Santa Rita Hills AVA, planted in chalky, silty, diatomaceous earth on the steep slopes of a giant wind tunnel that moves west to east off the Pacific Ocean.
I spent over an hour in the vineyard yesterday, sampling both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines from Radian, having my mind even further blown. I’ve never been anywhere like this in California, and I’ve never tasted wines like this from America.
More soon.
-David Driscoll