2024 Birichino - Chardonnay Saint Georges Central Coast (750ml)

Birichino was founded in Santa Cruz in 2008 by Alex Krause and John Locke, who draw on four combined decades of winemaking experience across California, France, and Italy, with a house style built around minimal intervention and old, carefully farmed vineyard sites.

The majority of the fruit for this bottling comes from Chardonnay vines planted in 1969 by George Besson Sr. on a former plum orchard in Hecker Pass, at the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains, a site that has been farmed by George and his son George Jr. for over five decades and was long sourced by Josh Jensen of Calera. It's complemented by additional Chardonnay from Coastview, an exposed, high-elevation site on limestone and granite soils in the Gabilan Mountains, and from the dry-farmed Peter Martin Ray Vineyard, planted in the early 1980s on fractured shale atop Mount Eden on the Saratoga side of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Each lot was picked, gently pressed, and fermented with native yeast in a combination of stainless steel and old barriques. The wine completed malolactic fermentation naturally in the spring, was racked once, and bottled in June 2025.

Saint Georges is not a single-vineyard designation but rather a proprietary name Birichino attaches to this blended cuvée, honoring the historic sites and growers behind the fruit. The result is a Chardonnay that leans on old vines and high-elevation, mineral-rich soils rather than heavy oak, typical of Birichino's restrained, terroir-first house style.

This is a versatile Chardonnay well suited to roast chicken, shellfish, or a simple herbed pasta dish.