Nose
Aromas of green apple, lemon,
guava, and lime.
Palate
The palate echoes the
apple and lemon from the nose, with
accents of Asian pear and a spicy, herbal
character. Bright and fresh, there is still a
sense of power, with intense, mouth-filling
texture, and a streak of minerality that
lingers on the finish.
Growing Conditions
Carneros is renowned for stellar Chardonnay, so although our project is focused on
Pinot, we couldn’t resist planting a small block of Chardonnay. The selection of Old
Wente Chardonnay came to us as budwood from the Winery Lake and Larry Hyde
vineyards. It’s a charming field selection, yielding a host of aromas and flavors from
classic apple to banana to floral, including the occasional heady perfume of a musqué
cluster.
Harvest
If the 2013 vintage felt warm compared to back-to-back cool vintages in 2011 and 2012, then 2014 was
positively scorching, with bud break at or near record early dates thanks to a warm and, of course, the
ongoing drought in California. However, we were in fact able to avoid any heat spikes, and summer
itself was relatively mild, meaning that harvest was only a few weeks earlier than in the previous cooler
vintages, as opposed to in August, as some had feared. Moderate weather prevailed throughout September,
allowing us to pick our various Pinot Noir and Chardonnay blocks as each ripened.
Bottling
We tasted through and selected our favorite eleven barrels, which were blended in tank and
bottled in January of 2016.
Winemaking
Our 2014 Chardonnay was allowed to settle overnight in tank, and then fermented in all French oak
barrels, with slightly over 50% in new barrels. The fermentation used native yeast and took place in the
coolest part of the cellar, at about 55 degrees. This results in a slow, steady fermentation which preserves
the delicate aromatics and increases texture.
Aging
The lees were stirred approximately once a month for six months to allow additional lees contact to
soften the mouthfeel. After that the wine was allowed to settle, and aged another 9 months in barrel.
Appearance
The 2014 Chardonnay is pale gold on color.
