Little Frances Beechworth Chardonnay 2023

Erin Pooley has been making wine under the Little Frances label since 2012, initially producing a single site Semillon but not from the Hunter Valley! All of the wines under the Little Frances label were produced from specific sites across California, inspired to create table wines that celebrate Californian grapes with a lighter touch. 

Her range includes a Semillon coming from a high altitude vineyard in Lake County, towards the northern part of the Napa Valley. It's from the 2015 vintage, which means the wine is starting to show those toastier secondary characters we love from Semillon. Lake County is predominantly planted with Bordeaux varieties, so she was able to source a small parcel of Sauvignon Blanc from the same vineyard to make a fresher blend, more approachable in its youth. There's even a Chenin Blanc in the range (so that's Pete taken care of...). Rounding things out is her Merlot - certainly not traditional in approach and we thank her for it. A much fresher, lighter, gently extracted rendition of Merlot that we would love to see more of!