NEW Dog Ear Chardonnay

Pairs with: Butter-poached lobster, pan-seared scallops with lemon-herb butter, roasted chicken with cream sauce, wild mushroom fettuccine, or a platter of rich Brie and aged Gouda.

Good for: Curling up with a great novel and a lush glass of California white; entertaining guests with a balanced, crowd-pleasing oak-and-fruit Chardonnay; or celebrating Monterey County’s cool, fog-influenced coastal terroir.

Grape: 100% Chardonnay.

I am from: Monterey County, California, USA (Sourced from certified sustainable vineyard sites planted on well-drained, sandy benchland soils cooled by Monterey Bay's marine layer).

The Story: Dog Ear pays homage to the legendary literary history of Monterey, once a bustling creative home for iconic writers like John Steinbeck, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Henry Miller. Crafted under winemaker Alison Crowe, this bottling is designed as the ultimate companion to a good read (leaving the choice to "dog ear" the pages up to you). The grapes are cultivated across Monterey's cool benchland vineyards, where heavy morning fog and chilly mists off Monterey Bay slow ripening, allowing the Chardonnay fruit to retain bright, natural acidity while slowly building lush tropical and stone-fruit complexity.

In the cellar, the winemaking team focuses on creating texture and depth while maintaining regional freshness. Individual vineyard blocks undergo separate malolactic fermentation to cultivate a velvety, rounded mouthfeel balanced by lively natural tension. Maturation takes place in medium and medium-plus toasted oak barrels, integrating warm spice, subtle vanilla, and buttery richness into the wine’s crisp orchard-fruit core.

Why You'll Love Me: It is a harmoniously balanced, rich, and satiny Chardonnay that pairs sunny California fruit depth with cool-climate coastal freshness. In the glass, it shines a radiant straw-yellow hue with pale gold glints. The nose is lush and inviting, opening with an aromatic bouquet of ripe yellow pear, pineapple, mango, and white peach, seamlessly woven with top notes of lime blossom, warm vanilla, and sweet butterscotch. On the palate, it glides with a smooth, medium-to-full-bodied stride; succulent flavors of crisp green apple, lemon curd, and nectarine are enveloped in a creamy texture and lifted by a beam of refreshing citrus acidity. Balanced, indulgent, and refined, it glides into a long finish marked by trailing notes of toasted oak, baking spice, and a persistent, stone-dust mineral snap.