Apollo's Praise Apollo's Praise Chardonnay Lahoma Vineyards 2023 750ml

Joyful and juicy but also concentrated and very precise, this is a stunning cool-climate chardonnay. Brimming with sliced pear, white peach and white flower aromas. The delicate oak is already beautifully integrated on the mouth-filling yet only medium-bodied palate. Then comes a wave of toasted hazelnut flavor in the very long and super-silky finish. Drink from release.

The 2023 Chardonnay Lahoma Vineyards, from umbrella-trained vines, is incredibly compelling, more so than pretty much every Chardonnay I've tasted in the Finger Lakes. Concentrated and deeply mineral, it was fermented and aged in new 500-liter puncheons for ten months. A flicker of reduction presents as notes of gunpowder and white smoke, adding an intrigue to the core of sweet pear fruit, mint and chamomile tea... a standout wine in the Finger Lakes

The 2024 Chardonnay Lahoma Vineyard is a little soft around the edges, but it offers attractive layers of minty, gingery, creamy orchard fruit. The inclusion of two new puncheons in vinification and aging brings a notable new-oak influence that feels somewhat intrusive at this stage. Hopefully that will integrate with time, but I'll remain conservative for now.