Joullian Vineyards

When Joullian Vineyards was founded in 1982 in the Cachagua Valley section of the Carmel Valley AVA, Chardonnay was part of the mix in the vineyards. But winemaker Ridge Watson correctly realized that the climate there really wasn’t suitable for Chardonnay, and the vines were grafted over to Zinfandel.

Now Joullian depends on cooler sites in the Santa Lucia Highlands and Arroyo Seco AVAs for its Chardonnay needs. This single-vineyard bottling is from the “B” block of Robb Talbott’s Sleepy Hollow Vineyard, near the northern end of the Santa Lucia Highlands bench. It’s a zippy Chardonnay, with a firm, racy core of acidity and a slight minerality that’s unusual for the appellation. The fruit profile is mostly lemons and pears, with some creamy oak nuances. The wine is 100 percent barrel fermented, then it spends 10 months in French oak, 30 percent of it new. The winery recommends drinking this $28 Chardonnay with grilled or baked salmon, swordfish or sea bass (I’d add halibut to the list), with raw oysters or with pasta with a seafood cream sauce.

Reviewed March 15, 2007 by Laurie Daniel.