2018 Fairchild Estate Chardonnay Stones Russian River Perrarus Block A3

Community Tasting Notes (8) Avg Score: 95.6 points

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  5/4/2024 - Jhalpern27 Likes this wine: 97 Points

  Amazing wine. If you don’t see the bottle it was poured from you would swear it was a burgundy. I don’t agree with some of the other comments, this wine is seriously good.

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  4/7/2023 - clavy daddy wrote: 90 Points

  In my opinion, this wine is not what others say it is. It does not resemble grand cru burgundy. Nor does it resemble burgundy at all. It's just another California chard - over oaked, highly viscous, no acidity, etc, etc. It's not a bad wine if this is your style. It's not my style so my score is a bit biased to my preferences. But this wine is most definitely not "burgundian" in any sense apart from the grape varietal.

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  11/3/2022 - JJYoyo Likes this wine: 94 Points

  NYC tasting at the Modern. Well first of all, I have to say thank you to Lawrence and Jacqueline for their tremendous generosity in offering their *whole freaking line* of 2019s in a tasting. Now, even with air these were all painfully young so I have to project a little to what these will taste like when cellared for a while. What follows is wine specific:
  
  (Oops, noticed I have the wrong vintage. These notes apply to the 2019 not 2018
  
  So, when I read about how Burgundian a CA chard is I often - unreasonably - get my back up. This is, however , a restrained CA chard, and the comparisons to Meursault - my love/hate, addictive /abusive relationship with the whole commune came flooding back - well the Meursault comparisons have merit. High minerality but loose knit structure is there. Puligny might be closer. However I would offer Chablis as an even better comparison point because this wine, like a great Les Preuses, has that climat’s steely intense minerality and young reticence.
  
  (Yes I realize that the second half of the above paragraph reads like word salad to anyone who knows anything about white burgundy. Bear with me, I was sorting my impressions out on the fly….)
  
  The great contradiction of this wine was that, for me , it needed both lots of air and lots of chill. The wine definitely grew on me when I went back for seconds after about an hour.
  
  Upon reflection and exercising impartial judgment I have to say: this is just superb. Not for everyone - a definite style. It is however compelling and unique. It is not what you expect from a CA chard - not even Kistler, which I would put on the leaner, more old world style than most other CA chards
  
  Score 94+. Relative to expectations: ++. Not sure how this develops from here but it will be either really good or incredibly good.

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  10/28/2022 - sprusac Likes this wine: 98 Points

  I served this to wine lover friends on several occasions and the unilateral reaction is always one of awe and “ how do I get on the mailing list”. It’s up there with Grand Cru Burgundy. More Chassagne than Puligny for me, but whatever you think you detect, it’s simply amazing.

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  9/10/2022 - drmarc61 wrote: 98 Points

  If you had a blindfold on, you would swear you are drinking a world-class white burgundy. Mr. Fairchild and Mr. Melka crafted a masterpiece that raises the bar for NOCAL chards. I will be honest and say that I have tasted very, very few whites that were profound wines. This was one of them. The initial nose was one of stone fruit and some citrus notes, but the taste, that very long taste profile took you through the earth and mineral notes that only some great whites can do. I will actually reach out to them and try and get some more for my cellar for those very special occasions.

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