2019 Far Mountain - Chardonnay Sonoma Valley Myrna Bald Mountain Vineyard

Far Mountain is the debut project of Rodrigo Soto and his wife Mai Errazuriz, both veterans of California and Chilean wine country. Soto, originally from Chile, cut his teeth at Benziger in the Russian River before becoming chief winemaker for the Huneeus family's South American wineries and later estate director at Quintessa. Errazuriz brings her own pedigree, having worked in marketing for her family's celebrated Chilean winery before joining Quintessa herself. Together they scout remote mountain vineyards across Sonoma Valley, believing some of the region's greatest untapped potential lies in these harder-to-reach sites.

Myrna, meaning beloved, blends fruit from two dramatically different vineyards. The majority comes from Bald Mountain, planted in 1972 on fractured volcanic rock high in the Mayacamas range, where heritage Wente clone vines have been dry farmed for decades on a site once used as a Prohibition-era hideout. The remainder comes from thirty-year-old vines at Thornton Vineyard, near the base of Sonoma Mountain, where cooler ocean air adds brightness. The wine ferments with native yeast in barrel and ages twelve months with a small portion of new oak.

Aromas of white flowers, lemon oil, and chalk lead into a polished palate of sliced apple, lemon rind, and stone, finished with herbal, laurel-like spice. It pairs beautifully with seared scallops in brown butter, herb-roasted chicken, or a creamy risotto.