Childhood friends Duncan Arnot Meyers and Nathan Lee Roberts founded Arnot-Roberts in 2001 and became leading voices of California's "new wave," favoring cool sites, low-intervention winemaking and restraint over ripeness and new oak. Their single-vineyard bottlings have become reference points for what California can do with a lighter touch.

This one comes from the 1971 Block at Sanford & Benedict, the original planting by Richard Sanford and Michael Benedict and home to some of the oldest Chardonnay vines in what is now the Sta. Rita Hills. The vines grow in gravelly clay loam over calcareous shale. The 2024 was whole-cluster pressed straight to neutral French oak barrels for native-yeast fermentation and aging on its lees, with malolactic fermentation skipped to protect its natural tension. The result is old-vine depth carried by real mineral energy.

Why You'll Love It

• Old-vine Chardonnay from one of California's most storied plantings, made without any heavy, buttery oak weight.
• Lemon oil, white peach and flint smoke on the nose.
• Broad and textured on the palate, with crushed oyster shell, a hint of salted butter and bright, mouthwatering acidity.
• A long, mineral finish that keeps unfolding in the glass.
• Delicious now, with the stuffing to age gracefully for more than a decade.

How To Serve It

• Serve lightly chilled, 48-52°F. Too cold and the old-vine texture hides.
• Decant for about 20 minutes to let the flinty reduction blow off.
• Burgundy stems give its broad, mineral bouquet room to open.
• Pair with halibut in a lemon-caper brown butter, Dungeness crab with drawn butter, or a crisp-skinned roast chicken with tarragon.