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Chardonnay, Dry Creek Valley

Reserve Chardonnay, Dry Creek Valley Wine Details
Price: $24.00 per bottle

Description: The best barrels from our estate vineyard Chardonnay were handpicked to produce the 2002 Dry Creek Valley Reserve. Lemon, pear, and tropical fruit aromas along with spicy cinnamon and brown sugar dominate the nose of this wine. The fruit and spice flavors follow through in the mouth, while barrel aging for 16 months in French Oak give toasty, smoky notes. Malolactic fermentation and lees stirring two times per month lend a creamy rich texture and long finish.

Varietal Definition
Chardonnay:
Chardonnay is by far the most widely planted grape crop in California and dominates California’s cooler, coastal, quality wine regions. The natural varietal ‘taste and smell’ of Chardonnay is surprisingly unfamiliar to many wine drinkers, as its true character is often guised with dominating winemaking signatures. Chardonnay’s rather subdued primary fruit characteristics lean toward the crisp fruitiness of apples, pears and lemon, but the variety’s full body is capable of supporting a host of complementary characteristics, such as oak, butter and vanilla. Regardless of what is the appropriate style for Chardonnay, the varietal continues to dominate vineyard plantings in every corner of the world. Close attention to clonal selection has made this broad geographic and climactic range of Chardonnay viable in thoughtful viticultural hands.


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