Antica Terra Aurata 2021
Antica TerraGrape: Chardonnay
Vintage: 2021
Type: White
Rating: 99/100
Reviewed by: Jeb Dunnuck
A brilliant yellow/silver color, the 2021 Chardonnay Aurata is expansive in the glass, with notes of white grapefruit oil, delicate toast, ripe apple, lemon confit, sweet herbs, and pineapple. It’s full-bodied and rounded on the palate, with lush sapidity, saline, and fantastic underlying structure. Remarkably balanced, with ripeness but never fat, its crystalline feel carries through the long finish. Drink this over the next 15 years. These wines are reflective and illuminating.
Maggie Harrison is a first-generation winemaker, having grown up in the Midwest. With an educational background in International Relations and Conflict Resolution, she fell in love with wine while working in restaurants and set out to follow that passion and create wine. She went on to land the position of assistant winemaker to Manfred Krankl at Sine Qua Non, where she remained for eight years. She is currently the co-owner and winemaker for Antica Terra, producing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay since 2005, and is also responsible for the Syrah at Lillian Winery in Santa Barbara. Initially, it had been her goal to only produce a singular wine, but during blind tastings for blending, she felt the various components would not necessarily complement one another and would overpower or detract from the other. Rather than force them to homogenize, each of the wines bottled today chases the individual and opposing personalities each possesses. Her wines are impeccably expressive and worth seeking out if you can get your hands on them.
I have always found with these wines that I am never compelled to overly coax the wine in tasting. They are distinctive, singular wines that, when given the time to allow the wine to come to you, make the transcendence to art.
- Audrey Frick (9/17/2023) © 2024 Jeb Dunnuck