As always with this vineyard, the wine is superripe, almost overripe, with extracted pineapple, pear, nectarine and peach flavors that are impossibly ripe. New oak adds even richer vanilla, caramel and buttered toast notes. Great acidity and a firm minerality fortunately balance all this flamboyance, but it’s still a pretty powerful Chardonnay. Drink with rich lobster, scallop and tuna dishes. ——S.H.(11/1/2011)—— 93

From their estate vineyards, the 2008 Chardonnay Sleepy Hollow Vineyard has a beautiful nose of honeysuckle, tropical fruit, and other assorted floral notes. Light straw-colored, it possesses full-bodied richness, good acidity, and some subtle underlying minerality. This is a beautiful Chardonnay to drink over the next 3-4 years. This is the most impressive lineup of wines I have seen from Talbott in a number of years. Their less expensive second label is a noteworthy value.Tel. (831) 659-3500; fax (831) 659-3515

Shows the typicity of this bottling, a fantastically rich, strong Chardonnay, almost overwhelming in late harvest pineapple, apricot, tangerine and creme brulee flavors. But it’s bone dry. These wines age well over a decade, becoming drier in fruit and acquiring roasted nut notes.——S.H.(7/1/2011)—— 90