Chardonnay, 2019. Hoopla

We wondered what all the Hoopla was over the name until we found out the vineyard is owned by Lindsay Hoopes. Oops! Lindsay grew up on a farm in Napa working in her father's vineyard. She literally learned grape growing from the ground up. But, Lindsay was an adventure lover and yearned to find out what the rest of the world was like. So, she travelled extensively and lived in all manner of places from Ireland to Costa Rica. She studied international law and worked in that position for the San Francisco Attorney General's Office.

Once the grip of the vine gets hold of you, it never lets go. So finally, the draw of her roots brought her back to the Hoopes Vineyard in 2012. Now in charge, she changed the vineyard practices to biodiversity, organic, and sustainability. She founded a rescue sanctuary for animals and now lives at the vineyard with her husband and children, along with rescue dogs, pigs, goats, chickens, mini horses, a turkey, and a donkey. Most likely, there's never a dull moment.

Hoopes Vineyard is in Yountville, the southern-most and coolest appellation in Napa. Most of the Napa Chardonnays are grown in Yountville because of its temperatures which can be 15 degrees cooler than that of Calistoga in the North. This is a classy, unoaked Chardonnay that thrills the senses with its peach, apple and roasted almond flavors mixed with citrus notes and creme brulee. All the components fit together forming a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts and ready for shrimp pasta or lobster thermidor.

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