Chardonnay Firebird 2024, Novak & Mason Cellars
- Regular
- $32.00
- Sale
- $32.00
- Regular
- Unit Price
- per
The 2024 Firebird Chardonnay from Novak & Mason Cellars captures the luminous side of Suisun Valley, where warm afternoons and cool bay breezes shape fruit of rare balance and depth. True to the winery’s “heritage-style” philosophy, the wine begins with a slow native fermentation before finishing with a touch of cultivated yeast—an approach that honors both intuition and precision. The result is a Chardonnay that feels alive in the glass: fragrant with white peach, lemon blossom, and honeysuckle, grounded by a gentle thread of almond and wet stone.
On the palate, Firebird glides between richness and restraint. Juicy orchard fruit and Meyer lemon meet a subtle creaminess from lees contact and malolactic fermentation, creating a texture that’s both polished and vibrant. A whisper of saline minerality and citrus pith gives lift and length, carrying the finish into a lingering glow of brightness and spice. It’s the kind of Chardonnay that reminds you why California’s coastal valleys are so prized—ripe yet poised, confident yet unforced.
Versatile at the table, Firebird pairs beautifully with roasted shellfish, citrus-accented poultry, or creamy vegetable dishes like corn velouté or artichoke risotto. Enjoy it now for its youthful energy or let it evolve over the next few years as orchard fruit gives way to notes of baked apple, hazelnut, and honey.
About the winery
Novak & Mason Cellars is a boutique Californian producer devoted to what they call heritage-style winemaking, marrying time-honored techniques with a modern sensibility. Their core belief is that wine should reflect the “virtue of the fruit,” not the hand of the winemaker, so every cellar decision is in service of expressing vintage and vineyard.
They work with small, independent growers whose farming practices align with their vision of authenticity and place. They embrace risk in the cellar — from ambient fermentations and basket pressing to moderate sulfur additions and acceptance of subtle oxidative character — in order to coax out nuance, vintage variation, and depth in each bottling.
Though still young and experimental, the wines of Novak & Mason are positioned in the artisanal lane: limited in volume but rich in story. Their lineup includes offerings like Firebird Chardonnay (Suisun Valley fruit) as well as varietals such as Zinfandel and Muscat, each intended as a living, evolving expression of site and season.