2018 Benevolent Neglect Chardonnay Massa Organic Estate Carmel Valley 750 ml

Benevolent Neglect is not only the Wine Access team-favorite that produced one of our company’s most talked-about wines of 2019. They’re also one of the wineries that the eminent Jancis Robinson was referring to when she urged her readers to “ take advantage of the creativity of California's new generation of wine producers.” 

After first discovering their wines at Michelin three-star SingleThread in Healdsburg last year, we crowned their Syrah as our #1 new find—and our tiny allocation sold out instantly. Their beautiful Counoise disappeared in a flash as well, which is why we’re thrilled to have an allocation of their Chardonnay... which will, no doubt, disappear quickly.

There’s only a minuscule quantity of it made, and if it weren’t for the relationship that our VP of Wine (and unofficial Napa Mayor) Eduardo Dingler has with winemaker Matt Nagy, this Chardonnay would certainly disappear to their rabid mailing-list following and Michelin-starred restaurants around the world.

Don’t expect a big, over-the-top bottling, though—like all of Benevolent Neglect’s wines, the 2018 Chardonnay showcases precision and purity. Nagy says of his wine, “The goal with this wine was to eschew traditional ‘California Chardonnay’ as a style and make something more akin to a Cru Chablis.”

As you might expect, the wine delivers on Nagy’s vision. The nose leans towards fresh citrus flavors of yuzu and Pixie tangerine, with orange blossoms and hints of oyster shell. The palate is electric and direct, with white peaches joining the party alongside lemon marmalade, white pepper, and a mouth-watering finish.

Winemaker Matt Nagy learned from the best under Napa legends Thomas Rivers Brown and Steve Matthiasson and launched his label on the side while making 100-point, $400 Napa Cabernet at Seaver Vineyards during the day.  We (through Eduardo) had been nagging Matt for more bottles all year to make sure we were first in line for whatever he had next, and that’s paid off in spades.

His Chardonnay comes from a site that was special enough to warrant “a rehab project,” according to Matt. Organically farmed since the 1970s, the Chardonnay was ungrafted—a rarity in California that trades the eventual death of the vines by phylloxera, a soil-based parasite, for an extra layer of precision and intensity of flavor in the finished wines. The vines had been not-so-benevolently neglected over the last decade, but the raw material was so promising that  Matt and his team poured in the work to bring the site back to greatness—and this bottling is proof that their effort was worth it.

As you might expect from the name, the winemaking style at Benevolent Neglect is to stay out of the way. The wines are fermented with native yeasts and this Chardonnay is aged in a minimal amount of new oak to allow the innate quality of the vineyard to shine through. A perfect pairing for winter dishes that have richness and texture, it’s also a lovely candidate for a three-to-five-year sleep in the cellar.