 |
|
Wine Details
Price:
$27.00 per bottle
Description:
The 2004 vintage in Northern California is already becoming celebrated for its Chardonnay. The growing season enjoyed an early start, free of frost or rain. Then a long cool summer and a succession of beautifully warm weeks in late August and early September fully ripened the crop. Grapes for our Carneros bottling come from the Sangiacomo Kiser Vineyard, just west of Sonoma; the neighboring Yamakawa vineyard; and one of the lower elevation parcels on the El Novillero Vineyard, in the hills at the western limit of the Carneros appellation. The soil is rich with clay. The vigorous, wild yeast fermentation makes for a wine that is loaded with tropical fruit, but that long buttery finish is equally attractive.
|
|
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.
|
|