Kingston Family Vineyards Sabino Chardonnay 2016
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Wine & Spirits
The Kingston family’s ranch is in Las Dichas, in southwestern Casablanca, close to the Pacific. The cool site grew a chardonnay with mild notes of mint interspersed within dense white-fruit flavors. The depth of flavor contrasts crunchy herbal freshness with notes of apricots and honey. Chill it for coconut shrimp.
The Kingstons settled in Casablanca in the 1920's. One of Gramps's dreams of finding the "Gramps" Kingston motherlode yielded a 7,500 acre ranch with a herd of cattle, but no gold. Rumor has it that there is some gold deep down under "the Farm", but it is apparently so far down that maybe our great-great-grandchildren will hit pay-dirt.
Through the years, generations of Kingstons have been raised in the "casa patronal" on the Farm in Casablanca. Our wine's label is inspired by this old house still standing today.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
A region that has become synonymous with some of the best whites of Chile, the Casablanca Valley is full of dozens of bodegas who either grow fruit here or come from outside to source from local growers for their own white wine programs. The valley runs from east to west, which means that its westernmost vineyards receive the most cooling influence from the reliable afternoon sea breezes. The soils also tend to be heavier in clay in the west, whereas the eastern end of the valley is warmer and its soils are predominantly granitic. Sauvignon blanc thrives here, Chardonnay does well and Pinot noir is not uncommon.