Nose
The nose opens up with creamy ripe peach and pineapple with a hint of brioche.
Palate
The fruit intensifies on mouth adding apricot and a touch of citrus. In the background is sweet toasty oak that serves to support the fruit, and the crisp acidity finishes out with some mineral at the very end.
Growing Conditions
The growing season of 2015 brought some challenges to our harvest. The spring brought us very early bud break but fortunately no frost. However during bloom the weather turned cold and rainy which resulted in the vines setting a very small crop. Weather through the summer was optimal without any excessive heat spikes or rain events. Between the small crop, the early budbreak and bloom the warm summer the fruit ripened to a near record early harvest.
- Main Clones: UCD 96, UCD 4, UCD 5, UCD 108
- Average Yields: 3 Tn/Acre
Harvest
We started picking at the end of July, and while a couple of heat spikes during harvest kept us on our toes, mostly moderate weather allowed us to bring in the fruit at a reasonable rate. With the small crop and good weather the vines produced grapes with excellent concentration and intense character. The Chardonnay grapes from individual vineyard blocks were gently hand harvested at night into small 30# picking boxes in order to bring the fruit into the winery intact and cold.
Harvest handpicked August 29th, 2015 to September 2nd, 2015
Winemaking
Then they are gently whole cluster pressed and transferred to a stainless steel tank for cold settling. The racked juice was inoculated and transferred to French oak barrels (20% new) in our barrel caves for barrel fermentation. About 25% of the wine was allowed to undergo malolactic fermentation to soften the bright acidity of our Carneros Chardonnay. During monthly topping the barrels were stirred (battonage) to mix the lees to build the supple mouthfeel of the wine. The wine rested for 9 months prior to bottling.
Aging
100% French oak (20% new) for 9 months
Food Pairing
The partial malolactic fermentation and oak aging compliment semi-hard cheeses such as goat gouda or cave aged cheddar with pepper pineapple jam, add herb roasted macadamia nuts to round out your cheese board. Pairs well with a variety of main courses including grilled garlic and saffron prawns, savory Dungeness crab bread pudding, adobo rubbed chicken with salsa verde, or citrus grilled pork tenderloin with orange marmalade glaze.
