Nose
Golden apple, stone fruit and shaved almond.
Palate
Citrus, green apple, crisp pear and brioche.
Harvest
We sourced a special clone of Chardonnay to create a sparkling wine of distinction. The Rued clone, also known as “Chardonnay Musqué,” produces high-toned floral aromatics and a rich, lush mouthfeel. The source vineyard for this wine is planted to sandy loam soils in an isolated, wind-protected canyon in Santa Barbara County’s Santa Maria Valley AVA. During the growing season, morning fog burns off earlier than in the heart of the valley, allowing for perfect growing conditions that draw out luscious fruit tones. The 2022 growing season was slightly warmer than average. Mild conditions prevailed through spring and early summer, followed by a heat wave and extended warm temperatures in September that accelerated fruit ripening. On average, the grapes were picked a week earlier than typical.
Winemaking
After harvesting, Chardonnay grapes were whole-cluster pressed into stainless steel tanks for settling at 30 degrees. The juice was then racked off the heavy lees into stainless steel tanks for fermentation. Select Chardonnay lots were narrowed down and a blend was assembled in January of 2023. Following heat and cold stability, the wine was filtered and bottled with crown caps for tirage in mid-February of 2023. This wine was made using the méthode champenoise technique, where secondary fermentation was slowly completed in the bottle and the sparkling wine was able to mature on its lees for six months. Riddling occurred in early September of 2023 to settle the lees into the neck of the bottle. After a short period of chilling, the individual bottles were disgorged; the dosage was added; and the bottles were corked.
