Waypoint house spotlight
The Waypoint house film from the Melka and Sands cellar, the St. Helena project that bottles this Fort Ross Vineyard Chardonnay.
The market on this bottle
Wine-Searcher tracks this 2021 Waypoint Chardonnay Fort Ross Vineyard, Sonoma County across the open market. Their published U.S. low is $35.66 and the average is $75.28. Our slash is $35.00.
2021 Waypoint Chardonnay Fort Ross Vineyard, Sonoma County
Melka and Sands' Fort Ross Vineyard Chardonnay, ridge-top fruit a mile from the Pacific, a 2021 you can open at thirty-five dollars.
The 2021 Waypoint is 100 percent Chardonnay from Fort Ross Vineyard's steep Sonoma Coast slopes: white peach, lemon, sea air, crushed rock, and French oak texture, now $35.
True-coast Chardonnay from the named vineyard, not a foggy marketing line
Waypoint names Fort Ross Vineyard on the label. The site sits on steep Sonoma Coast slopes, 1,200 to 1,700 feet, less than a mile from the ocean and above the fog line. Waypoint calls it a Howell Mountain of the coast: slow ripening, acidity kept, high-elevation fruit. Philippe Melka and Matt Sands bottle it as a small-lot site wine. This is the bottle that argues a named coastal vineyard can still be thirty-five dollars.
The house
Waypoint is Philippe Melka and Matt Sands sourcing small lots from Northern California sites, based in St. Helena.
The vineyard
Fort Ross Vineyard on steep coastal slopes, 1,200 to 1,700 feet, above the fog, a mile from the ocean.
The wine
100% Chardonnay. Slow hang time, coastal acidity, French oak texture, sea air and crushed rock.
The drinker
Serve 48 to 52 F. No decant. Pan-seared scallops or herb-lemon roast chicken.
Peach, lemon, then sea air and crushed rock
Fort Ross Vineyard sits above the fog with a long, slow ripening season. The Waypoint bottling reads as coastal Chardonnay: white peach and lemon over sea air and stone, with enough oak texture for scallops and roast chicken, not a butter costume.
A concentrated California white year. High-elevation Fort Ross fruit kept acidity while flavor ran long on the ridge above the Pacific.
White peach, lemon, baked apple, toasted hazelnut, sea air.
Coastal acidity, French oak frame, slow-ripened high-elevation fruit.
Crushed rock, saline close. Serve 48 to 52 F. No decant.
Site first, oak as a frame
Waypoint wants Fort Ross Vineyard to speak. The site is steep, high, and above the fog, so hang time stretches and acidity holds. Melka and Sands treat it as a small-lot Chardonnay: coastal fruit, French oak for texture, no butter speech. That is why peach and lemon still show beside sea air and crushed rock.
The vineyard's own page at Waypoint compares the site to a Howell Mountain of the coast. Elevation and marine air do the work before the cellar.
Serve 48 to 52 F. A few minutes in the glass lets oak texture settle with peach and lemon.
A St. Helena quest, a ridge a mile from the Pacific
Waypoint follows great sites. Fort Ross Vineyard is the coastal ridge in that list, named on the Waypoint vineyard page beside Ritchie and Bien Nacido.
Waypoint is a limited-production series of single-vineyard wines from esteemed Northern California sites. Fort Ross Vineyard is one of those names.
Blocks sit 1,200 to 1,700 feet on steep slopes less than a mile from the ocean, above the fog. Slow ripening. Acidity kept. A high-elevation coastal terroir.
The 2021 names the vineyard. Melka and Sands bottled it. That is the authority in the glass.
Scallops, brown butter, then a lemon roast bird
Coastal Chardonnay wants sweet shellfish and herbs. Seared scallops are the fine plate. Roast chicken is the weeknight version.
Two plates. One sear of scallops. One lemon roast chicken. Both can take peach, lemon, and a saline line.
Serve 48 to 52 F. No decant. A few minutes lets peach and sea air widen.
Pan-Seared Scallops
A hard sear and brown butter. True-coast Chardonnay's classic landing.
Why it works: Sweet scallop meets oak texture. Lemon and sea air cut the butter.
View Recipe for pan-seared scallops (opens in a new tab)
Herb and Lemon Roasted Chicken
Crisp skin, lemon, herbs. The weeknight plate for ridge-top Chardonnay.
Why it works: Lemon follows citrus. Roast fat gives the oak somewhere to land.
View Recipe for herb and lemon roasted chicken (opens in a new tab)Put Fort Ross Vineyard Chardonnay in the cart
Melka and Sands, Fort Ross Vineyard, a mile from the Pacific. Thirty-five dollars.
Put it in the cart. This is Waypoint's named coastal Chardonnay, not a generic Sonoma white.
