Tasting Note:  This is a lovely, balanced and delicious 100% chardonnay blanc de blancs. It is showing some maturity with lemon-gold colour. The nose is a fine weave of baked apple/peach fruit with barley sugar, candied pecan, crisped onion and a hint of orange pith. Almost exotic, and really appealing.  It is light to medium weight, elegant and alive with just-right rounding sweetness and this lovely candied nuttiness throughout. The flavour focus, balance length are excellent to outstanding.

Backgrounder: Stonebridge is a vineyard property in the Four Mile Creek appellation of Niagara-on-the-Lake, as well as a brand under the same ownership as Lailey Vineyard.  Faik Turkmen is the proprietor, formerly in financial services, but a man totally wine smitten by wine who showed up in my WSET wine course a few years back.  He hired star consultants Peter Gamble and Ann Sperling to guide vineyard restoration and winemaking, with Niagara College grad Rebecca Ruggeri recently taking the helm after working internationally and in B.C. (Checkmate, Play Estate). From the cooler, sparkling friendly 2021 vintage, this was aged 39 months on its lees.