Robert Keenan Winery spotlight
The official Keenan Winery channel presents the Spring Mountain District Chardonnay, the same estate white as this 2023.
The market on this bottle
Wine-Searcher tracks this 2023 Robert Keenan Winery 'Keenan' Chardonnay Spring Mountain District across the open market. Their published U.S. low is $36.98 and the average is $46.22. Our slash is $40.00.
2023 Robert Keenan Winery 'Keenan' Chardonnay Spring Mountain District, USA
Keenan's no-malo Spring Mountain Chardonnay, citrus and lees cream at 1,700 feet, a 2023 you can open at forty dollars.
The 2023 is 100 percent estate Chardonnay, barrel-fermented without malolactic, stirred on lees for about seven months: citrus, pear, green apple, white peach, and a toasty close, now $40.
Mountain Chardonnay that keeps its acid, not a butter costume
Keenan ferments this Chardonnay in French and American barrels, stirs the lees weekly, and refuses malolactic so citrus stays in charge. The vines sit at 1,700 feet on Spring Mountain, above the fog. James Suckling scored the 2023 93 and called it focused and racy, with sliced apple, lemon rind, and a mineral close. Forty dollars is a Napa mountain white you can pour with lobster without writing a speech.
The house
The same Spring Mountain estate as the Cabernet and Merlot. Chardonnay is the high-elevation white Keenan still bottles as a food wine.
The wine
Hand harvested, destemmed, gently pressed. Fermented and aged in French and American oak about seven months, lees stirred weekly, no malo.
The scores
James Suckling 93. Sliced apples, lemon rind, spices, savory herbs, nuts, tangy acidity, mineral finish.
The drinker
Serve 48 to 52 F. No decant. Lobster with herb butter or a lemon roast chicken.
Citrus and pear, then lees cream and a toasty close
Keenan's sheet leads with citrus, ripe pear, and green apple, then lush white peach as it opens. Sur-lie aging adds richness. A touch of toasty oak returns on the finish. Suckling found the same apple-lemon line, then herbs, nuts, and a bright mineral close.
A cooler, wetter California year that favored whites with line. Seven months in barrel and a hard no on malolactic were chosen so the 2023 stayed citrus-first after the lees cream settled.
Citrus, ripe pear, green apple, white peach, lemon rind, savory herbs, nuts.
Medium, 13.1% ABV, sur-lie cream, no malo, about seven months in French and American oak.
Toasty, mineral, racy. Serve 48 to 52 F. No decant.
Barrel ferment, weekly lees, malolactic left in the barn
On the Keenan 2023 Chardonnay sheet the fruit is hand harvested, destemmed, and gently pressed. Juice ferments and ages in French and American oak. The wine stays on the lees and the barrels are stirred weekly. No secondary, or malolactic, fermentation is carried out. That is why the wine tastes like citrus and stone, not buttered popcorn. Bottled after about seven months.
1,597 cases. 13.1% alcohol. 100 percent Chardonnay from Spring Mountain District. Bottled May 1, 2024.
Serve 48 to 52 F. Lobster and roast chicken pull the peach and toast forward while the no-malo line keeps the plate honest.
The mountain white from a rebuilt ghost winery
Keenan Chardonnay is not a Napa floor project. It is estate fruit from the same 1,700-foot Mayacamas site Robert Keenan revived in 1974.
The Chardonnay vineyards on the estate were replanted in the 1990s. The house still barrel-ferments the lot and skips malolactic so the mountain acid survives the oak.
Michael Keenan has run the winery since 1998. The brief has not changed: food-worthy wines from a solar-powered hillside.
The 2023 is that white at full voice: citrus, lees, a little toast, a Spring Mountain name you can pour tonight.
Lobster, lemon, then a roast bird
No-malo Chardonnay wants sweet shellfish and herbs. Lobster with herb butter is the obvious plate. Roast chicken is the weeknight version.
Two plates. One butter-poached lobster. One lemon-herb roast chicken. Both can take mountain Chardonnay acid and lees cream.
Serve 48 to 52 F. No decant. Ten minutes in the glass lets peach and toast settle.
Butter-Poached Lobster Tails
Clarified butter, lemon, and herbs. Spring Mountain Chardonnay's classic landing.
Why it works: Sweet lobster meets lees cream. Lemon follows the no-malo citrus line.
View Recipe for butter-poached lobster tails (opens in a new tab)
Herb and Lemon Roasted Chicken
Crisp skin, lemon, rosemary. The weeknight plate that still meets mountain Chardonnay.
Why it works: Lemon and herbs echo pear and citrus. Roast fat gives the toast somewhere to land.
View Recipe for herb and lemon roasted chicken (opens in a new tab)Put Keenan Chardonnay in the cart
Spring Mountain Chardonnay, no malo, James Suckling 93. Forty dollars.
Put it in the cart. This is mountain white for lobster night, not a buttered Napa costume.
