I've long thought that there was something especially fascinating about aged white wines. Sure, aged reds get most of the attention, but when a white wine ages beautifully, adding complexity and depth while retaining its vital vibrancy and focus, I find it truly compelling. That is exactly how I felt when I recently tasted these stunning bottles of Chardonnay from Legacy. To be honest with you I was shocked at how fresh and youthful the wines were. The 2016 could easily trick you into thinking it was a 2021 vintage wine. The complexity wines gain from aging are only just starting to emerge here adding subtle nuance to the stunning purity of fruit and racy minerality the wine possesses in spades. Baked golden orchard fruit, toasted barley grains, crush rock minerals, salted lemon, wet river stone, freshly baked wholegrain bread, hints of quality, spicy oak are beautifully integrated. The initial attack of the wine is youthful and primary, but in the finish you can just start to pick up on some savory, yeasty, nutty development hints, but at this point the wine is most definitely still in its ascendancy. A beautiful wine with undeniable pedigree that's entering its prime drinking window with another 5-8+ years of aging potential and probably more. Incredible wine that will continue to improve for several more years and probably drink well beyond 2030.

This very Burgundian re-release from Legacy was quite the pleasant surprise from the holiday season. A great nose of honeycomb, savory herbs, baked pears and citrus. Starts out clean on the palate and quickly fleshes and fills out with yellow apple followed by Granny Smith apple. There is some noticeable oak that tends toward a cleaner style. There is some nice ginger spice on the lingering finish that is citrus dominant. An extremely interesting wine that is unique and complex.

Compared to their 2013 vintage, Stonestreet's 2016 Legacy bottling shows a more pronounced penchant for acidity and herbal characteristics - bright and clean aromatics of fresh bee balm, dried white verbena flowers, with touches of wild honey spinning around the edges of these herbal tones. The palate has a lifted, focused acidity that peels right into a rockier minerality when compared again to the 2013, the minerality is still river-stone dominant, but just a hint more lively, think roughly hewn riverbed rocks as opposed to slow rounded stones, in a very positive manner! With this mineral lift in mind, the palate pays a touch closer attention to crisp orchard fruits of green apple and lime, while still allowing depth from oak to flesh out and deepen the tenser fruit on display. Blow-torch roasted pineapples, slices of sea-salted green apple, playful corners of toasted marshmallow and vanilla bean - a truly stellar deal for a truly stellar library release California Chardonnay!