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Wine Details
Price:
Description:
Sweet, gentle aromas of fresh apricots, wildflowers, clover honey, toasty oak and vanilla. The palate is soft at entry, very rich and full, with bright apricot and fresh orange juice flavors which melt into a warm, buttery/creamy finish. Cinnamon and nutmeg tones balance the toasty oak character. This Chardonnay was hand-harvested from a vineyard at the very edge of San Pablo Bay, in the coldest part of Carneros. It is entirely made from the Dijon 76 clone of Chardonnay. The fruit was whole-cluster pressed and fermented in 100% French Oak, of which 75% was new. The wine was kept sur-lie for 10 months, with battonage (lees stirring) for the first 6 months. All of the wine has undergone complete malolactic fermentation.
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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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