2017 Longoria Wines Cuvee Diana Chardonnay Sta. Rita Hills

It’s been a challenging year-long wait for master winemaker Rick Longoria’s Cuvée Diana, so we were ecstatic to receive the new vintage—a Chardonnay lover’s Chardonnay that shows the best of the Sta. Rita Hills at a price that will recalibrate your idea of what’s possible at $30.

“The 2017 Chardonnay Cuvée Diana is just gorgeous,” began the review by Vinous’s Antonio Galloni, who called it “impossible to resist.” Bright gold with a cornucopia of lemon custard, pie crust, toasty hazelnut complexity, Rick’s Chardonnay has elegance and finesse until the last drop—a hallmark expression from one of the hottest Burgundy-based AVAs in the Golden State.

Wine Access members made short work of our last allocation, which one gushing fan praised as having “the presence of a Premier Cru white Burgundy”—an apt comparison, considering that Longoria has assembled fruit from the premier sites of Sta. Rita Hills and packaged them into a sensational Chardonnay that you’ll find exclusively on Wine Access. We’ve got it at more than 30% off bottle one—just $30, marked down from $45.

We may be the only ones with this Chardonnay, but there are only 165 cases in existence, so don’t delay. They’ll go just as fast as last time, especially at half off. 

The names of the vineyards that Longoria has tapped—Fe Ciega, Hilliard Bruce, and Kessler-Haak—are like a roll call of Santa Barbara pedigree that should set hearts aflutter among California collectors. Iconic producers such as Ojai, Foxen, and Paul Lato all make single-site bottlings from these vineyards, and they rack up high scores and even higher prices. 

Rick Longoria is one of the few winemakers with the influence, know-how, and deep-rooted connections to pull from all these high-powered sites and blend them to perfection. His leathered, tanned face—lined with deep wrinkles like tributaries on a topo map—mark him as one of this region’s veterans and early pioneers, as does a résumé that reads like a timeline of the West Coast’s viticultural ascendance.

He’s been in the business since 1974, when he started out as a rookie cellarman at the historic Buena Vista Winery, where he was tutored by the godfather of California wine, André Tchelistcheff. He went on to work in Napa at Chappellet, but missed his spiritual home in the Santa Ynez Valley and did stints at J. Carey and Gainey before starting Longoria.

Planting Fe Ciega Vineyard—whose fruit comprises nearly 40% of this 2017 release—back in 1998 is one of Rick’s signature achievements. Located on a mesa hundreds of feet above the Santa Ynez River, its cool climate and clay-loam soil help produce fantastic Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, marked by fruit intensity and clean acidity that have made big fans out of Ojai’s Adam Tolmach and Foxen’s Bill Wathen. Kessler-Haak and Hilliard Bruce grapes supply juicy richness and freshness that supplement Rick’s Fe Ciega fruit. 

The result, as we can always expect from master winemaker Rick Longoria, is a Chardonnay that makes the Sta. Rita Hills shine at an insanely low price. There were few cases made, and there will be even fewer to be had by the time you read this far. Don’t delay, and claim your share of Cuvée Diana before it’s a memory. 

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Sweetness
• Acidity

• ABV 13.50%
• Enjoy right away
• Now – 2026
• % Chardonnay
• Serving temperature – 55°
• Cork