Nose
f rich fruit, sweet butter, sea
spray and lemon blossoms.
Palate
white flowers.
Growing Conditions
2016 was a longer growing season than 2015, with more up and down temperature ranges than any of the five great
consecutive vintages. That said, when I examine the temperature graphs for 2016 I note that we did not have
many days over 100 and average day and night temperatures in the low 60s. That is cool. In summary, 2016 was
another drought year that helped trigger a small crop load. Our Chardonnays are very rich wines, very complex
from the get-go. Will 2016 be the best vintage of the five for chardonnay? Honestly, for some of the wines I think
it has a very good chance of being the alpha vintage. Time will tell.
Winemaking
Very Burgundian in style. Barrel fermented in small
French cooperage, favoring premium three year dry aged barrels at a Medium
toast level. The single new barrel cooper used is Saury. Fermentations begin
with native yeast for primary and secondary, and the wines receive the minimal
amount of handling through the aging period. Bottled unfined, unfiltered; we
work hard to bring honest and true expression of the vineyard to you.
