Vineyard

The Winter of 2018 was cold and moderately dry which led to a late budbreak and bloom. Summer temperatures were ideal with warm days and cool nights. The ideal ripening weather continued through the Fall. We began harvest on September 12.

Cellar

Our Reserve Chardonnay is made following techniques I learned during my internship at Domaine des Comtes Lafon in Meursault, France. We began 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. The Reserve Chardonnay has less than 10% new oak. 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.

We then aged the Reserve sur lies (on its sediment) in barrels in our caves for 15 months and utilized bâtonnage (stirring the lees) every two weeks to give the wine a creamy texture and a flinty aroma. The wine was bottled in January 2020.

Drinkability

At a tasting in August 2023, we tasted the 2018 Reserve Chardonnay and here are our notes: Opens with an elegant flintiness enhanced by notes of candied lemon peel, pink grapefruit and crême brûlée. Round and complex on the palate, it has flavors of toasted brioche, poached pears and sweet vanilla cream.

At Harvest:

22.6° Brix sugar
0.65 g/100 mls acidity
3.34 pH

At Bottling:

13.8% alcohol
0.46 g/100 mls acidity
3.44 pH