The 1997 Chardonnay Hudson Vineyard (about 275 cases) tips the scales at a lofty 14.4% alcohol, but you would never know that when tasting the wine since there is not a trace of hotness. Sadly, the Turley/Wetlaufer team has decided to no longer purchase fruit from this vineyard, preferring to deal only with vineyard sources that they can totally control. The wine's exotic nose of jammy orange marmalade, pineapple, and loamy soil notes is brilliant. Complex, rich, and expansive on the palate, with medium to full body, and a slightly closed personality, it offers an exotic, spicy, earthy, mineral-dominated finish. This is a superb, complex, Burgundian-styled Chardonnay that should be at its best between late 1999-2006. It displays an eerie resemblance to a Chassagne-Montrachet grand cru.Owners Helen Turley and John Wetlaufer continue to reside at the top of a short list of producers making the world's most prodigious, complex wines. They were hesitant about showing me the 1997s since my visit was only one week following bottling. Consequently, these evaluations, as ecstatic as they might be, are probably on the low end of the pleasure/complexity scale of hedonism and intellectual satisfaction. Although quantities are still minute, the total production has risen, as the 1997 vintage was a generous one.Tel. (707) 258-3608; Fax (707) 942-5633

The 1997 Chardonnay Hudson Vineyard E Block displays an evolved light gold color as well as an exotic nose of smoked tropical fruit intermixed with orange marmalade and roasted coffee scents. Layered, rich, and boisterous, but not nearly as complex or nuanced as the Gauer Ranch Upper Barn or Lorenzo, this is a full-throttle, exuberant, flamboyant Chardonnay. Drink it over the next 3-4 years. (release date 3/00) This wine is available through the winery's mailing list, although some preferred Napa Valley restaurants, particularly the French Laundry, and in New York (Daniel and La Bernadin), seem to receive noteworthy allocations. Tel. (707) 258-3608; Fax (707) 942-5633