Hyde de Villaine Chardonnay Comandante 2019

The 2019 Chardonnay Comandante is a selection of six barrels that came from the original Wente selection vines at Hyde Vineyard, planted in 1979 and still on AXR-1 rootstock. It was matured in about 30% to 40% new French oak, and winemaker Guillaume Boudet notes, “Over the years we have been toning down the toastiness of our oak, so it integrates a bit better.” The 2019 is extraordinarily expressive, with concentrated fruits, flinty mineral character and integrated spicy nuances. The nose offers singular white peaches, lilac, dried herbs and lemon peel with tones of flint and beeswax, continually unfolding as it airs in the glass. The medium-bodied palate is satiny and rounded, with concentrated, slowly blossoming lemon meringue and spice and a very long, detailed finish. Wow!

I visited Hyde de Villaine in the spring of 2022 to taste with winemaker Guillaume Boudet and general manager James Eyer. Hyde de Villaine produced stunning lineups in 2018 and 2019, with exceptional elegance and balanced structures. 2020 was challenging, with both wildfires and extreme temperatures. “We made as much as we could in 2020, but the real issue was heat,” Boudet explained. “The fires started in August, and there’s really nothing you can do. The heat shut down vines, like in 2017. The heat and dehydration affected us more than the actual smoke.” The constant breezes at Hyde kept the air relatively clear, although there were some ashes on the vines. “We blew the grapes in the vineyard with a fan on a tractor to clean them and rinsed off all the berries with water, going super slow on the sorting table so the water could run off. Overall, we did our due diligence with the reds. But it is also about preserving relationships with growers. We test, we talk about price, we figure it out instead of dropping contracts just before harvest. COVID-19, frost, fire, ash?it was everything in 2020. It was really important to us to respect their overall work throughout 2020. It took courage and guts and risk for wineries to make wines in 2020. It may not be the greatest vintage ever, but the fact that it has the merits to exist?to me that is everything.”