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Wine Description
The Story
All of our ten vineyard designate Chardonnays are marked first and foremost by regional characteristics. Beyond that lies the personality of each of the vineyards from which they hail. All of the sites are planted to the same clone, a California heritage selection that we have been using for close to thirty years. Each wine is produced in the same fashion, with the focus being on the traditional techniques that elicit the earth driven, complex noble sulfides and resulting minerality inherent in the fruit from each site.
Each of our Chardonnay vineyards exhibits characters unique to the site, and hence unique to the wines bottled as vineyard designates. The bottling of wines of site is not a process we take lightly, as it is the main focus of our efforts. We often take years to assess the quality and individual personality of a site prior to deciding to bottle it on its own. We have been working with many of these sites for well over twenty five years.
Vintage 2007
A vintage of contrasts
The 2007 vintage contrasted with previous vintages and with early predictions—yet grape growers brilliantly adapted to changing conditions. The year began dry with a warmer-than-normal winter that continued into spring, resulting in earlier budding, bloom and set. A mild-to-cool summer finished with a Labor Day heat spike that added the boost of sugar development that fruit needed to complement the excellent acid structure developed in the white varieties.
Harvest started in early to mid-August. Unseasonably cool weather and nearly an inch of rain in the second week of October did not affect the crops as Indian Summer returned with warm, clear days and vineyard crews sprang into action to finish harvest for a vintage of exceptional quality.