Growing Conditions

The warmer-than-normal winter, along with relatively dry weather, allowed for an earlier budbreak with flowering beginning in the early part of May. Mild temperatures continued through July, paving the way for harvest towards the beginning of August. The vintage is remembered as a drawn-out one due to cool temperatures in August and September, with only a brief heat spike around Labor Day. With no rush to harvest, the grapes were picked at their optimal ripeness for sparkling wine, with delicious flavors, low sugars and high acidities.

County Composition: 55% Napa, 23% Sonoma, 16% Mendocino, 6% Marin

Bottling

Bottled: April 17, 2008

Winemaking

This wine is made from the vintage’s best Chardonnay and Pinot Noir stainless-steel tank and neutral French oak barrel wine lots, which are created from Schramsberg’s collection of 110 cool-climate vineyard sites in Carneros, Anderson Valley, Sonoma Coast and Marin.

Barrel Fermentation: 51%

Principal Blocks
Napa-Carneros: Jones, Hyde, Tognetti
Sonoma: Horseshoe Bend, Keefer
Marin: Stevens

Aging

Following secondary fermentation in the bottle, this exceptional wine was aged on the lees for seven years in Schramsberg’s historic caves, and was then hand-riddled and finished with a select brut dosage.