History
Kistler Vineyards has produced a McCrea Vineyard Chardonnay every year since 1988, one of the longest unbroken single-vineyard runs in California Chardonnay. The land's older name, Athearn, was added to the label in 2002, so bottles read McCrea Vineyard, Athearn Estate. Kistler does not own the property; it recently secured a thirty-year extension on its lease, which is the sort of arrangement that makes a designate this old possible.
The Site
A bench on the eastern flank of Sonoma Mountain, in the Sonoma Mountain AVA rather than the Sonoma Coast where much of the Kistler range sits. The soil splits: red Sonoma volcanic on one part of the property, pale limestone and silica on the other, and Kistler has used the difference to separate the vineyard designate from its broader Sonoma Mountain bottling.
Vines and Blocks
Chardonnay across the bench, farmed to the same specification as Kistler's estate sites.
The Wines
Kistler's McCrea Vineyard Chardonnay is the mountain counterpart to the winery's home bottling, and the pale limestone ground is the usual explanation for its tighter, more mineral cast.