2 bottles ‘on days and nights’, 1 bottle ‘if and only if’ $350.00 with free Shipping - only 7 packages available

Ok. This is a bit crazy, and maybe I am too, for believing you will tap into this particular vein of insanity with me. It’s been many, many years since I’ve had to offer American Chardonnay in a parcel like this, but, then again, it has been many years since I’ve had anything quite this special on offer. It started for me when I first heard- over the grapevine, so to speak- that someone other than the Jackson Family’s Stonestreet had made a wine from the vaunted Upper Barn Vineyard in the Alexander Valley. This vineyard, which Jess Jackson purchased back in 1995, has been the site of some of America’s most iconic and historic Chardonnays. Those of us old enough to remember, think fondly about those magnificent Gauer Family ‘Upper Barn’ Chardonnays from the 1980s! In fact, it was those Chardonnays from the vineyard’s distinctive Old Wente clone that inspired Helen Turley to bottle her first Marcassin from the Upper Barn. And then came the amazing Peter Michael Chardonnays from the same site. Those were some of the best American whites we’ve ever tried! Anyway, once the vineyard fell into the hands of Jess Jackson, that old vine, old clone fruit became the sole possession of his new Stonestreet winery. Until Sphaerics! So how did this amazing fruit from the original block- right in front of the ‘upper barn,’ wind up in the hands of a fledgling wine project? It’s complicated, but let’s say that Laura Jones, a Chardonnay winemaking specialist with tenures at Cliff Lede and, notably, for five years as Mark Aubert’s assistant at Peter Michael, had a friend in the right place at the right time who was able to secure for her a contract for the grapes.  Laura, and her husband Brian Ball, had long envisioned a Chardonnay-centric wine project, but only ‘if and only if’ something truly special came their way. And here is was. The perfect confluence of Chardonnay maker and Chardonnay vineyard! This past week I had the honor of tasting the result of this happy circumstance- the 2023 Sphaerics ‘if and only if’ Upper Barn Chardonnay. In short, here it was: A 2025 iteration of all those Gauer, Marcassin, Peter Michael Chardonnays of yore. I won’t fill up this page with purple prose about how good this wine is because only six of you are going to get a bottle. Please, just take my word for it, you want to try one. If you are confirmed lover of Chardonnay and Chardonnay history, you will treasure this bottle. Fortunately, Laura makes a second Chardonnay that’s just about as special and one I can get more than just a few bottles of. This one, from a steep, rocky Russian River Valley vineyard near Chalk Hill that must remain anonymous but with a fabulous pedigree, is nearly as good! This is a cool site in a warm appellation, and it shows in the wine’s incredible density and in the quality of fruit. Make no mistake about it! This is a big Chardonnay! But there is acidity too. Lots and lots of it. In fact, the ‘on days and nights’ is Chard with the controls turned to 11 on both the bass and treble. The quality of the site shows in the wine’s impressive, almost Chassagne-Montrachet-like mineral finish. This is, indeed, a delicious and seductive mouthful of Chardonnay and, again, lovers of the variety and those who remember the aristocratic wines of the likes of Stony Hill, El Molino, Kistler, Peter Michael and Marcassin will find so much to love! Laura made around 200 cases each of these wines and it’s kinda cool to be in on the ground floor of this project. Still, the only way I can sell the ‘if and only if’ is as a package deal- get 2 bottles of the Russian River Chardonnay and you get one of the Upper Barn. Sorry! But I promise you, you’ll be happy you made this deal with the crazy man……