Nicolas Jay Affinities Chardonnay 2022 750ml

USA : OREGON : WILLAMETTE VALLEY

Chardonnay — Bishop Creek estate (Yamhill-Carlton), Spirit Hill & Von Oehsen (Eola-Amity Hills)

MED-BODIED, PEAR, CHAMOMILE, CITRUS ZEST, HONEYCOMB, NEUTRAL OAK

Jean-Nicolas Méo of Domaine Méo-Camuzet — one of Burgundy’s most revered addresses, working Richebourg, Clos de Vougeot, and Corton Clos Rognet — applies three decades of grand cru winemaking to Willamette Valley fruit alongside Jay Boberg (co-founder of IRS Records; the man who signed R.E.M., The Go-Go’s, and Blink-182). The Affinités draws on three sites: Bishop Creek, their organically farmed estate in Yamhill-Carlton, plus Spirit Hill and Von Oehsen in the Eola-Amity Hills. Barrel-fermented with native yeasts, 13 months in French oak at 25% new — enough texture, not enough to show.

The 2022 vintage was a hard year. Spring frosts knocked out roughly 60% of Nicolas-Jay’s Chardonnay crop; what survived is concentrated. Wine Enthusiast gave it 93 points: “juicy and crisp in the mouth, with its blazing acidity and flavors of guava, chamomile tea, lemon grass and honeycomb.”

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