Grown on the Montebello estate, this Chardonnay shows good acidity and a stony minerality from the rocks and soil. It’s very ripe and forward in pineapple, orange and peach jam fruit, and while only 10% of the mostly American barrels were new, it also tastes quite oaky and sweet in caramel. A flamboyant, sweetly flashy wine for drinking now. ——S.H.(9/1/2011)—— 89