Enfield Wine Co. Jurassic Park Chenin Blanc 2024

From the beginning, Enfield Wine Co. has never chased polish for its own sake. John Lockwood founded the project in 2010 after working with producers like Littorai Wines and Failla Wines, building Enfield around small historic vineyards and transparent winemaking. The wines lean toward restraint, texture, and site expression rather than overt ripeness or heavy cellar influence. Lockwood’s style is especially compelling with chenin blanc, where acidity, mineral structure, and phenolic grip can all coexist naturally. 

The 2024 Jurassic Park Chenin Blanc comes from the famed X2 block of Jurassic Park Vineyard in Santa Ynez Valley: own-rooted vines planted in 1978 on sandy, limestone-rich soils. The site has become one of California’s benchmark chenin vineyards, known for producing wines with tension, salinity, and unusually high natural acidity even in warmer vintages. The old vines yield tiny clusters and concentrated fruit, giving the wine both density and lift. 

In the cellar, Lockwood keeps the handling intentionally low-intervention. The fruit is pressed directly, fermented with native yeast in neutral 500L puncheons, put through full malolactic fermentation, then aged for roughly 11 months on lees. The wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered with minimal sulfur. That élevage gives the wine a layered texture and savory depth without obscuring the vineyard character.  

The result is a distinctly California expression of chenin blanc that still nods toward the Loire. Aromatically it moves between lanolin, chamomile, peach skin, mandarin peel, sea spray, and flinty citrus. The palate is intense but energetic — broad, waxy texture balanced by sharp mineral acidity and a long saline finish. There’s a little wildness to it, but that tension is part of the appeal. It drinks somewhere between Vouvray and Chablis while remaining unmistakably Santa Ynez.