Variety: Chardonnay

Anthill Farms is a group of three friends who went against all the odds to start a winery in California. They didn’t have money saved nor were they born into the business. They were cellar rats, the guys moving hoses and cleaning floors, for some pretty significant wineries, Williams Selyem being the most influential. However, while still quite young, the three decided to pull together a tiny amount of cash and started making wine at a crushpad facility. Before long the wines had a cult following and we’ve been drinking them ever since. Many of Anthill’s wines only make it to a mailing list or restaurants; we are lucky to include their small production wines.

Peugh Vineyard, located in the middle of the Russian River Valley, has head-trained Chardonnay vines, something rarely seen for this variety. This is normally used on crazy, rocky soils with Syrah, Grenache or Mourvedre, but not Chardonnay. The reason this happened is the vines were planted in the early 1940s when California growers had no idea what they were doing. The result today is that this unique Chardonnay is produced from some of the oldest vines in the entire state.