Birichino Chenin Blanc, Jurassic Park Vineyard Old Vine/Vignes Quarantenaires 2022

Jurassic Park - a bit north of Buellton in northern Santa Barbara County - is one of the few chenin blanc vineyards in California with which we are familiar that routinely produces wines with the vast array of tones of which the variety is capable. The 2018 sports a perfume of orange blossom honey, apple butter, brim- stone, and some peculiar precursor of lilac which activates not merely the olfactory system, but also the limbic system, auto- nomic nervous system, and other systems located in more distant sectors. Where the 2017 Jurassic Park Chenin Blanc benefited from the development of botrytis early in the ripening cycle, the 2018 takes its charms from the classic, cool, long vintage and relatively small crop and is a bit prettier and more crystalline. The Jurassic Chenin is often the last wine each vintage to relax and resolve, though this is already very lovely, lithe, and likely long-lived. And as with previous vintages, this wine fermented in stainless steel without inoculation, and was aged until the following Spring in 9 stainless and 2 neutral Hungarian oak barrels.