12 under $12

From the winery: With a name meaning “out of” in Latin, EX speaks to our focus on expressing the personality and characteristics of our Certified Sustainable (SIP) estatevineyard. Our 2021 EX Chardonnay comes from the original 35+-year old, own-rooted Clone 4 planted on our estate vineyard. It is fermented (primary only) and aged for 3 months in stainless steel. The resulting unoaked wine is bright and direct, yet deceptively rich. The nose has a subtle tropical note and flavors offer guava, banana and green apple. There is a noticeable but balanced
acidity with a full mouthfeel.

The Rudy Zinfandel ‘North Coast’ 2018, definitely shows its Napa roots with plenty of firm, bluer fruits and a nice streak of pepper, all mediated with time in the bottle.  All in all, it’s a very fine representation of Zinfandel, the varietal, with a lot of character and an easier demeanor probably thanks to that bottle age.  Super-classy, textbook old-vine Napa Zin (of which there’s almost none left with the race to plant more Cabernet), we liked the wine before we even heard the price.