Nose
The inaugural vintage of our Estate Collection Chardonnay opens with alluring stone fruit, pear, and gravelly aromas with lifted notes of honeysuckle and white pepper.
Palate
Creamy on the palate, this wine displays luscious flavors of fig and lemon curd with hints of blanched almonds and a toasty oak finish.
Growing Conditions
The Estate Collection is a series of limited-production wines available only at the Raymond Estate. Sourced from our finest estate vineyards and longtime vineyard partners, each wine represents our winemaking team’s commitment to crafting wines worthy of our five generation winemaking legacy in Napa Valley.
The grapes for our Estate Collection Napa Valley Chardonnay are grown in our estate vineyard in Jameson Canyon, from select hillside blocks that are somewhat protected from this extremely windy area. The grapes spend afternoons in temperatures warmer than the valley floor, but the mornings and evenings are spent in fog with cool, marine breezes ultimately helping to evenly ripen the grapes. This area is ideal for producing Chardonnay with bright acidity and creamy, citrus flavors.
Winemaking
After whole cluster pressing the grapes, the juice was 100% barrel fermented with a combination of native and inoculated fermentation.
Aging
The wine was aged sur lie for 8 months in 40% new French oak with partial malolactic to provide true varietal complexity and a medium-plus body with more creaminess but maintaining the acidity we are known for.
