Sugar Shack is produced from Montrachet clone vines grown in Rutherford AVA. It is aged in French oak barrels, 70% new. A barrel sample, the 2019 Chardonnay Sugar Shack has a fabulously flamboyant nose of juicy Bosc pears, ripe apricots and ginger cake with hints of orange blossoms, crème caramel and toasted almonds. The palate is concentrated, full-bodied and beautifully textured with loads of stone fruit and spice layers, finishing long with a chalkiness coming through on the finish.

The 2019 Chardonnay Sugar Shack balances the richness of this site with the cool nature of the year. Rich, oily and viscous, yet also incredibly gracious the Sugar Shack is arrestingly beautiful. Lemon confit, dried herbs, crushed rocks and tangerine oil open in the glass, but it is the wine's balance that carries the day. Rating: 95-97