2012 Chehalem Chardonnay Ian's Reserve Stoller Vineyards 750 ml

America’s 92-Point Dark Horse … Coming Up On the Outside

For those inclined to spend their greenbacks on products “Made in the USA,” the search for Chardonnay that can not just compete with but even outpoint white Burgundy has long been challenging.

But as we’d learn on the last day of March as we toured the backroads of Willamette Valley, there’s an American dark horse coming up on the outside, now threatening to give baseline Meursault and Chassagne-Montrachet a run for their money.

Trust us on this: The very best Oregon single-vineyard Chardonnays, particularly in a warm and juicy vintage like 2012 and in the hands of brilliant winemakers like Erik Kramer at Domaine Serene and Harry Peterson-Nedry at Chehalem, are drop-dead replicas of top-flight Meursault.

The extraordinary quality of the 2012 vintage — Wine Spectator’s highest-rated Oregon growing season in the publication’s history — has already been well documented on these pages. In what Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar would call “a vintage for the record books,” bud-break came late, in the last week of April. An unusually dry spring followed by a warm June and July yielded tight-fisted Pinot Noir and Chardonnay clusters, strewn with tiny berries of high skin-to-juice content.

Sunshine bathed the manicured rows of Stoller Vineyards but there were no significant heat spikes, allowing the small berries to reach physiological maturity even as sugar readings were kept in check. Cool nights kept acidity readings firm, and Harry Peterson-Nedry took full advantage, opting to delay the call to harvest until October 8th. Entirely barrel-fermented in an equal mix of new, one-, and two-year-old barrels for 11 months, the 2012 “Ian’s Reserve” was bottled on September 18, 2013, and has been resting quietly in the cool confines of the Chehalem cellar for nearly three years.

One need only look at the finished numbers to understand the Meursaultien nature of this magnificent Chardonnay. BONE dry. Alcohol measures a reasonably hefty 13.9%, yet total acidity is an electrifying 6.5 grams/liter, with finished pH a riveting 3.24, exactly where you’d expect it to be — if the front label read “Chassagne-Montrachet!”

Tasted over the course of two nights alongside a 2012 Corton-Charlemagne from Louis Latour and a 2012 Puligny-Montrachet from Matrot, the 2012 “Ian’s Reserve” more than held its own. Brilliant pale-straw in color. Mouthwatering aromas of baked apple, butterscotch, and lemon curd, framed by new-wood vanilla. Rich, juicy, and multi-layered on the attack, dense and juicy, filled with ripe citrus, poached pear, and apricot pit, finishing with stunning, high-tension vibrancy and persistence. Drink now-2026.

92 points from Wine Spectator. Suggested Retail: $44. Today on WineAccess: $31. That’s the good news. The bad? Just 480 bottles are up for grabs. Shipping included on 4.