2021 Silvestri Vineyards Carmel Valley Estate Chardonnay

“Just as each note brings its own voice to the melody, each vine brings its own unique personality to the wine.” – Alan Silvestri, Composer/Winemaker

My Chardonnay people - including my mother in Maine - this is for you! Lush, creamy, buttery Chardonnay that ticks all the boxes. Whether you're posting up on the deck of the Lobster Pound on the coast of Maine, or sitting poolside in Southern California, or anywhere in between, it delivers the goods.

For under $20!

Silvestri is a genuinely small, family-owned, boutique winery in Carmel. Proprietor/winemaker Alan Silvestri has an illustrious career as a highly acclaimed Hollywood composer, the genius behind soundtracks such as Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, Father of the Bride, The Avengers... just to name a few. You can browse the full list here. Alan and his wife purchased their property, planting vines in 1989, and have made small amounts since, while living a parallel red-carpet life with the rich and the famous down in LA.

Maybe that's why they chose Carmel Valley, a hidden gem shared by the likes of Bernardus, Galante, and Talbott. The New York Times explains that “Many people equate the name Carmel with Carmel-by-the-Sea, a tourist magnet whose downtown shopping district channels a 16th-century European village. But Carmel-by-the-Sea has a country cousin - a vast expanse of grassland, forest, and chaparral-covered hills a few miles in from the coast… Grapevines, likewise, have been growing here since the 1800s. In 1983, Carmel Valley was designated an American Viticultural Area, but with only 300 acres under cultivation, its production is minuscule relative to the 45,000 acres of the Napa Valley.”

And the wine? The use of new French oak gives it a pristine, crisp, and creamy style. While it does show off a richer, buttery side, it’s not dominating at all, allowing notes of lemon meringue, Asian pear, honeyed beeswax, nutmeg, and intense minerality all to come into a beautifully crisp focus on the long crescendo of a finish. A dangerously delicious, smoother operator Chard, as we might say, composed in perfect harmony (see what we did there?) And for a song (oops, we did it again!) we all could drink like the stars pretty much every day.

Not much was made, to begin with, and we maybe have enough to go around...