Paumanok, on the North Fork, reserves the Grand Vintage designation for its finest wines. Its last Grand Vintage chardonnay was made in 1995. The 2000 version scores 94 on my 100-point scale.

The only way Charles and Ursula Massoud, the owners of Paumanok, can maximize consumers' pleasure is to limit sales of their remaining 80 or so cases (down from 132) to one bottle to a customer.

''We harvested our 2000 chardonnay in perfect condition,'' Mr. Massoud said. ''The Grand Vintage was a selection of six barrels from all the lots, which stood out in their quality. They largely came from a block which was planted in 1991 with the muscat clone of chardonnay,'' which is ''characterized by its tropical fruitiness.''

The political correctness that prevents American wine critics from using gender-based descriptions doesn't silence their French counterparts, who would call this chardonnay a ''feminine wine.''

They would mean, in Mr. Massoud's words, that it is ''striking'' by virtue of ''its softness and elegance'' and is not an ''in-your-face wine'' like brawny California chardonnays that intimidate judges and win contests.

Everything conspired to bring the 2000 Grand Vintage chardonnay into exact balance. Though the alcohol reaches a high 13 percent -- a point above normal -- and the wine was barrel-fermented and went through a secondary fermentation, converting malic to lactic acid, it is virtually weightless.

And while the barrels were new, the oak is not at all intrusive. It remains discreetly in the background and gently supports an assortment of fetching aromas and flavors.

The wine, mouth-filling, displays a seamless beginning, middle and end; seems virtually sweet though it is technically dry; displays pineapple, butteriness and litchi in the bouquet and on the palate; and shows a silken texture, fresh acidity and a long, clinging aftertaste.

All told, the wine is restrained: an emblem of good breeding. No wonder it will appear on the wine list of La Caravelle in Manhattan.
HOWARD G. GOLDBERG