I first tasted this wine at the Eastern Winery Exposition 2020, in Lancaster, PA.
Randy and Laura Graham are the owners of Courtyard Winery. Randy's great grandparents packed baskets of fresh-picked grapes and sent them to New York City by railcar from North East. Laura’s grandparents were also fruit farmers who settled in the Bay Area of California. They met in California, but moved to the town of North East, Pennsylvania where the environment was also more to their liking for starting a family.
In 2007 after years of growing and selling grapes and making wine at home, they decided to add a winery to their 125 acre vineyard farming operation. Today, there are over 30 varieties of grapes grown on 10,000 acres of vineyards in North East, Pennsylvania.
Courtyard Chardonel Sidehill Road Overlook Vineyard 2018 is made with Chardonel, a grape variety developed by Cornell University. In essence, it is a cross between Seyval Blanc and Chardonel.
According to Wikipedia, "It is distinguished by its superior wine quality combined with high productivity and cold hardiness superior to its acclaimed parent Chardonnay. The vine is vigorous and productive, producing green grapes with large clusters."
This wine was a lovely surprise. As with any relatively new grape, it usually takes almost a decade for good wines to consistently derive from that fruit. (The same was good for Traminette as well). It starts of with lovely tropical notes as well as green apple and ripe pear. A ;lovely, bright middle, and a refreshing acidity that makes it quite lovely. A terrific wine, and one of the best Chardonnel's I have had. Really shows you the possibilities of this grape.
Great job to the folks at Courtyard Winery.