The Wonderland Project· Sonoma Coast / Atlas Peak

I keep one California project on this list, and this is it. Matt Ahern built the Wonderland Project around three wines, each from a different stretch of the north, White Queen, a Sonoma Coast Chardonnay; Two Kings, a Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir; and No. 9, an Atlas Peak Cabernet. The fruit is contracted rather than estate-grown, which in California means nothing about quality at any level.

The White Queen is the one that pulled me in. It is made without malolactic fermentation, genuinely rare for California Chardonnay, and the result tastes of lemon and wet stone and not much else. No butter, no toast, no tropical fruit. It is closer to Chablis in philosophy than to anything its zip code would suggest.

The No. 9 Cabernet is the other pole. From Atlas Peak at 500 metres, it is dense, dark, and volcanic, blackcurrant, iron, firm tannin that wants five years. The altitude keeps the acidity high even as the fruit ripens to the full.