Vineyard

We had a cold, dry Winter (our rainfall was half of normal) and warm Spring temperatures which led to an early budbreak. We anticipated an early harvest, but moderate Summer temperatures, specifically a cooling trend in August, allowed the grapes to mature slowly. Harvest began on August 29.

Cellar

Our Reserve Chardonnay is made following techniques I learned during my internship at Domaine des Comtes Lafon in Meursault, France. We begin in the vineyard by using a Burgundian-bred Chardonnay clone (Dijon 76) for our grapes. At the winery, we inoculated the juice with two Burgundian yeasts (Montrachet and CY 3079), then barrel-fermented the juice in new and one-year-old French oak barrels to give the wine a roasted nuts aroma and a richness on the palate. After primary fermentation, we moved half of this wine and its lees (yeast sediment) to older French oak barrels to allow the wine to develop and mature without becoming too oaky. Like at Lafon, all of the wine underwent malolactic fermentation. This traditional Burgundian technique converted the grapes’ natural malic acid to the softer lactic acid, adding richness and complexity to the palate.

The Reserve was then aged sur lies (on its sediment) in barrels in our caves for 15 months and stirred every two weeks to give the wine a creamy texture and a flinty aroma. The wine was bottled in February 2016.

Drinkability

At our Annual Vertical Tasting in May 2022, we tasted the 2014 and these are our notes: Fuji apple, quince, lemon blossoms and tropical fruit. Supple, soft with pear tart, Chantilly cream, flinty and toasted brioche notes. Well balanced.

At Harvest:

22.7° Brix sugar
0.63 g/100 mls acidity
3.34 pH

At Bottling:

13.6% alcohol
0.59 g/100 mls acidity
3.45 pH