DIATOM “Bar M” Chardonnay 2018

(Santa Barbara County, CA) $30

Winemaker Greg Brewer describes Diatom’s Bar M Chardonnay as being like “tuna belly, or some wonderfully plump oceanic thing.” I love the description, for Bar M is one of the rare California chardonnays that manage to pull off deep textural richness plus vibrant, almost briny, minerality. The wine is bracingly fresh yet, at the same time, so lusciously sensual on the palate that it may as well be illegal. (No oak is involved; the wine is fermented and aged in small stainless steel tanks). The name Diatom is a reference to plants known as diatoms which are algae that live in “houses made of glass”—that is their cell walls are composed of transparent, opaline silica (the only organisms on the planet for which this is the case). Diatom Bar M is one of my favorite chardonnays with roast pork and with “meaty” seafood, like lobster and crab. And Congratulations to Greg, who this week was named Winemaker of the Year by Wine Enthusiast Magazine! (14.5% abv)

94 points KM

Available at Brewer-Clifton