2012 Ultramarine - Blanc de Blancs Heintz Vineyard (91 pts)

2012 Ultramarine - Blanc de Blancs Heintz Vineyard (91 pts) @ultramarinewine @crusewine · 🍾What is your favorite sparkling wine that is NOT🚫Champagne❓· ℹ️ This wine is a single vineyard wine from the Charles Heintz Vineyard in Sonoma Coast, California. This wine is 💯 Chardonnay. All Ultramarine wines are bottled, riddled, and disgorged by hand. The dosage for this wine is 2 g/l· 👁 Medium gold color· 👃 Pronounced intensity on the nose. Aromas of smoke, slate, lemon zest, lemon custard, citrus pith, green apple, pear, yeast, marzipan, and dried herbs· 👄 The wine is dry, high acidity, medium- alcohol (12%), and medium+ body. The bubbles are fine and pervasive with a good texture. The finish is medium+ length of preserved lemon and slate· 🔔 The last time I tried this vintage, was two years ago. This bottle shows a ton of improvement. That wine was probably recently disgorged and a little disjointed. The smokey extinguished candle note initially jumps out the glass. Lots of citrus and yeast notes as well. The palate sings with tension between acidity, texture, and the weighty California Chardonnay fruit giving the wine a supple body. I will continue to cellar these a few years after release to get them into the proper drinking window. That being said allocations are limited, but highly recommend people getting on this list. Ultramarine stands as my favorite sparkling wine Producer in America.