2018 Kern & Co. Foxcroft Vineyard Chardonnay🔥 94pts

I taste lots of Chardonnay over the course of a year, and this is in my top 5 Chardonnays in 2025. In my quest of finding Chards with a little more oak, I found peace and enjoyment with Kern & Co. Coming from one of my very favourite vineyard parcels in the country at Foxcroft Vineyard. The 25% new oak (for 22 months) provides richness, boldness and personality. On the nose, this wine exudes aromas of white peach, lemon meringue, chamomile, and vanilla. A point of acidity remains on the palate, balancing the oak and 13.8% alcohol. Flavours of ripe Meyer lemon, blood orange, salty lime, toffee, and a long, flinty and saline finish. This is truly the Wismer Foxcroft typicity I've learned to detect through the years that Thomas Bachelder has bottled this vineyard, only with more new oak, which turned out delicious. Wow, absolutely fantastic! If there was a comp alongside Meursault from Niagara's 2018 vintage, this would be the one! (Carl Boucher, December 4, 2025). 

Winery Notes:

Farmed by Wismer Vineyards

Hand harvested on September 29th, 2018

Whole cluster pressed, then fermented and cellared in select French oak barrels (25% new) for 22 months

Layered aromatic profile with golden peach, pineapple, and meyer lemon zest, followed by hints of cedar and elderflower. Finely textured and savoury on the palate. Flavours of creme brûlée, poached pears and lingering minerality on the finish.

1248 bottles & 390 half-bottles produced, sealed with individually screened natural corks.