Evening Land Summum Chardonnay 2023 (750ML)

Summum comes from just 14 rows at the rocky crown of Seven Springs Vineyard in the Eola-Amity Hills, on an east-facing slope where the vines push deep into soils laid down by ancient lava flows. Dominique Lafon fought to keep this strip of Chardonnay at Seven Springs nearly two decades ago. The 2023 was whole-cluster pressed, fermented with native yeasts and raised nine months in 500-liter Stockinger puncheons of Austrian oak, 70% new, then six months in stainless steel; 344 cases were made. It is a riper, more open Summum than usual: peach and apricot over lemon curd, preserved lemon and verbena, with flinty, saline tones, fresh acidity and a faint tannic grip on a finish that keeps going. Critics place it in a window from now into the early-to-mid 2030s. Its natural partners are seared scallops, roast chicken and butter-poached lobster.