The Vineyards:
The grapes for this wine were sourced from several sub-appellations of Sonoma County , principally from the Russian River Valley , Carneros, Sonoma Valley and Dry Creek Valley . The combination of fruit from the various sub-appellations, as well as the diversity of Chardonnay clones and micro-climates, allows us to ensure consistent quality in our Sonoma County Chardonnay.
The Vintage: The 2005 vintage was one of our coldest and longest Chardonnay vintages in over a decade. It gave us fruit with more minerality and citrus flavors, and hence, a wine more Burgundian in style, rather than a ripe, rich California Chardonnay. There were no heat spikes during the summer, and we had a very mild Fall, resulting in lots of “hang time” for the fruit. We had to be incredibly patient with Chardonnay this year because it didn’t fully ripen until well into October. Fortunately, we had little rain in October, so we were able to bring in fully-ripened, undiluted fruit. We harvested until early November.
Winemaking We hand-picked and whole cluster pressed the grapes in order to express more Chardonnay fruit flavors. We took an unusually light press cut to minimize green, bitter flavors. Fifty percent of the juice was racked into barrels for barrel fermentation after cold settling. The lots from warmer sub-appellations were tank fermented cold and aged on light lees. I used the following barrel regime: 45% French oak (made by renowned coopers in Burgundy), 40% Hungarian oak (from 2 coopers that use tight grain, which makes for slower extracting wood) and 15% American oak (from both Missouri and Minnesota). We stirred the lees frequently in May and June to add more texture and richness. All barrel lots were racked out in July and lightly fined with Bentonite and Isinglass prior to bottling. It was bottled in September 2006.
Winemaker's
Notes This wine has nice minerality and citrus fruit in the nose, as well as golden apple and pink grapefruit nuances, due to the cool vintage and the extended hang time. We used a lighter oak regime than in the past in order to showcase its beautiful elegance and silkiness. The bright acidity keeps the fruit and texture nicely in balance, and the finish is laced with vanilla and praline flavors.
Mark R. Lyon, Winemaker
Technical
Data
Appellation:
Sonoma
County
Composition:
100%
Chardonnay
Cooperage:
Aged in 45% French, 40% Hungarian, 15% American oak for 10 months sur lie
Winemaking