2020 Tessier Camino Alto Skin-Contact Chardonnay

Region: El Dorado  < California Grapes: Chardonnay Vineyard/Cellar Stats: Uncertified organic farming from the Camino Alto Vineyard; picked on 9/4/20 at 22.8 brix. Destemmed, spends 4 days on skins, then pressed to tank; bottled unfined/unfiltered with 20ppm So2; 13.8% ABV; 150 cases Winemaker: Kristie Tacey NEW VINTAGE!  The Tessier homepage, with a provocative image the 1965 film Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! and the Velvet Underground line, “Here she comes, you better watch your step,” tells you a lot about Kristie.  She is fierce, and not afraid to flex her power, or her femininity. She’s also incredibly smart. I mean, really, smart -- as in “former microbiologist who worked on the Human Genome Project” smart. In 2006, she left the field of science for wine, but never lost the discipline, bringing that scientific precision and geekiness to her winemaking.Kristie started her own project in 2009, working with a handful of family-farmed vineyards in NorCal, and at first, played it s