The 2018 Chardonnay Cahill Lane has very pretty scents of quince and baked apples with notes of crushed hazelnuts, beeswax and white blossoms. The medium-bodied palate is satiny and packed to the gills with concentrated, layered flavors, and it finishes long with bright freshness calling you in for another sip. 907 cases produced.

The 2016 Chardonnay Cahill Lane gives up loads of honeyed peaches and ripe apple notes with touches of nutmeg, baking bread and marzipan. Medium to full-bodied, it fills the palate with layer upon layer of bread, nut and stone fruit flavors, supported by bright, refreshing acid and a creamy texture, finishing with fantastic length. 1,064 cases produced.

The 2015 season resulted in tiny clusters and small berries with production levels off by a minimum of 25%. The following 2015s will be bottled unfined and unfiltered. The 2015 Chardonnay Cahill Lane is made from 100% Old Wente clone and planted in one of the few areas of his vineyard that has adobe-clay soil intermixed with sandy Goldridge material. The yields tend to be relatively large, so Stephen Hansel crop-thinned by at least 30%. The result is a big, beautiful wine that reminds me of a Corton-Charlemagne. Plenty of deep, poached pear, white peach, nectarine, tangerine oil and caramelized citrus are all present in ths wine that shows virtually no oak, full body and loads of texture. Drink it over the next 7-8 years.

The 2014 Chardonnay Cahill Lane emerges 100% from the Old Wente clone. This is in heavy clay and fertile Goldridge soils and cropped in by at least 30% to improve concentration. This wine, which is less intense than his other Chardonnays, offers notes of lime and other citrus, with crisp acidity. It is medium-bodied, lighter and more restrained. Anticipated maturity: Now-2021.

A few late-released wines include the 2013 Chardonnay Cahill Lane, which is 100% from the Old Wente clone. Hansel always claims these are tiny berries and the result in 2013 is that the wine is just starting to show well, with notes of white peach, honeysuckle, a touch of pineapple and pear in an elegant, fleshy, but crisp zesty style with subtle background oak. This full-bodied Chardonnay should drink well for 5-7 years, if not longer.