These are Santa Cruz Mountain Chardonnays from the Mount Eden Estate.
This property has a very complicated history of owners and winemakers,
and a least part of it was planted by Martin Ray before he lost it in
legal battles.

There can be extreme variations in many Santa Cruz Mountain wines from
year to year. When everything is right, Mount Eden can produce one of
the top Chardonnys of California. Other years produced somewhat
unbalanced, overpriced wines.

The 1989 is now rather full golden. It has considerable fruit still, but
too much oak is showing through and it is a bit flat and heavy. It was
better a few years ago, but not one of Mount Eden's better efforts.

On the other hand, the 1990 is one of the best California Chardonnays I
have had in a long time. It is still quite fresh and probably will hold
well for several more years. It is a rather light lemon color. There is
refined fruit with hints of white peaches and apricots. There is enough
acid, not too much oak, and everything is in perfect balance. It is as
close to a top Puligny Montrachet as I have seen from California. It is
a pity that Mount Eden can not make a wine such as this most of the
time.

Mount Eden and Au Bon Climat are among the very few California firms
that can produce a Chardonnay that can improve for over 10 years. I have
found Au Bon Climat to be considerably more consistent in their reserve
Chardonnays. However, when conditions are right, Mount Eden can produce
a wine as good or better than Au Bon Climat, in a different sort of way.
I find a top Mount Eden to be more Puligny-Montrachet-like, while a top
Au Bon Climat tends to be more Corton-Charlemagne-like, with more
mineral character. Both often need several years of age and may not show
well when tasted young if you do not know how these wines can develop.

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