Sonoma-Cutrer Les Pierres Chardonnay 2023

95 Points, James Suckling

The ‘Les Pierres’ bottling is where Sonoma-Cutrer gets serious. While Russian River Ranches is the easy-going crowd favorite, this is the wine the winemaking team makes to prove what they’re truly capable of. Hand-harvested, whole-cluster pressed, barrel fermented on the lees in French oak, then aged an additional six months before release. This is a Grand Cru approach applied to Sonoma Chardonnay: meticulous, deliberate, terroir-driven — Burgundian in every sense of the word.

James Suckling went absolutely nuts for the 2023 vintage and rightfully so, giving it a rave 95-point review in which he declared: “As one of the early top Chardonnays in Sonoma County, it’s still a gem.” He described it as “lush and ripe with matching precision and detail, a bracing almost grippy texture lifting the indulgent poached pear and vanilla bean flavors for good balance, drive and length.” This is a gorgeous Chardonnay that rewards you with every sip.