99% Sauvignon Blanc, 1% Sémillon

Food pairings: Fresh oysters with lemon or a light mignonette, seared scallops, ceviche and sashimi, grilled white fish with herb or citrus sauces, and fresh goat cheese.

Scores:

• 96 points, Decanter (Jonathan Cristaldi)

Winemaking: Winegrower Chiara Mondavi leads both the winemaking and the artistic vision of Sentium. The 2023 grapes were selectively hand-picked and gently pressed, then fermented and aged in small vessels split in equal parts between concrete, neutral French oak and stainless steel, each offering a different glimpse of the Sauvignon Blanc. The wine rested on its lees for nine months with gentle stirring and was racked once before bottling in June 2024. The vintage brought above-average winter rain and cooler weather that delayed budbreak, then a moderate-to-cool growing season with ample sunshine; harvest began later than average, on September 8.

Vineyards and terroir: Seeking a vibrant, mineral-driven white inspired by their family history and by the great wines of the Loire, the family looked north to Mendocino County's Redwood Valley and Potter Valley, with their rich history of old vines and organic farming. Sentium comes from small, family-owned vineyards planted in the 1940s and 1960s whose growers embrace organic practices, in the belief that old vines have richer stories to tell. Diverse soils, steady afternoon breezes and cool nights give a long, cool ripening that protects the natural vibrancy of the fruit.

Family and history: Sentium is the dream of the fourth generation of the Mondavi winegrowing family: siblings Chiara, Carissa and Dante Mondavi, children of Tim Mondavi, and their cousin Brian Mondavi Borger, son of Marcia Mondavi. It builds on three generations of experience with Fumé Blanc. In the 1960s their grandfather Robert Mondavi championed crisp, dry California Sauvignon Blanc under that name, a nod to the Loire's Pouilly-Fumé, and Tim later took the family's Sauvignon Blanc to an artisanal, site-driven level. Sentium extends the family's collaboration at Continuum Estate, founded in 2005 by Robert, Marcia and Tim Mondavi. Chiara, who worked alongside her father at Continuum and Robert Mondavi, also drew the native California wild iris on the label.

In the pictures: Old head-trained vines in a Redwood Valley vineyard under snow in February 2023, the winter that opened this vintage, and old vines at Calpella in the Redwood Valley AVA in late summer (photos: Sarah Stierch, 2023, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons).