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Wine Details
Price:
$60.00 per bottle
Description:
The 2003 vintage exhibits classic fruit and mineral aromas, a rich mid-palate and an extremely lengthy finish, typical characteristics produced by this old chardonnay vineyard. This wine also shows more of the musqué aromas often seen in old Wente selections. The harvest occurred September 17th and 18th. Once harvested, the grapes were gently whole-cluster pressed, and the juice was then gravity-fed to French oak barrels in Rudd’s underground caves. Native yeasts were allowed to induce a leisurely primary fermentation, then native bacteria completed the malolactic fermentation. Weekly stirring of the lees occurred until the secondary fermentation was complete in late spring, and then the wine was stirred monthly for the remainder of time in barrel. After 17 months in barrel, the wine was racked to tank, settled, and minimally fined before being bottled unfiltered in May 2005.
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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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