Nose
The aromas are varietal with peach and apricot nectar with a touch of clove and cinnamon.
Palate
On the palate this wine is very juicy and concentrated with baked spiced apple which then becomes creamy and buttery while referring back to a tropical core of pineapple, guava and passionfruit. The wine finishes very balanced with the vanilla, oak and buttery components present in the entry and mid palate while finishing with ripe tropical fruit flavors some expressing sweet textures.
Growing Conditions
This grapes for this wine were selected from the Wood ranch off River road in the Russian River Valley. The vines are clone 4, cordon trained and are about 25 years old. The M-80 firework is extremely loud, explosive and dangerous. The same is true with our M-80 Chardonnay. We select choice Chardonnay grapes from the cool climate of Sonoma County, pick at optimal ripeness and ferment exclusively in French oak and put the wine through 100% Malo-Lactic fermentation.
Winemaking
We pick the grapes ripe at 23.5-24 Brix and whole cluster press the grapes, cold settle and rack off the gross lees after 2 days. We then fill equal parts of 2, 3 and 4 year old burgundy barrels and barrel ferment in the cold room over 2 weeks. After this primary fermentation has finished it was inoculated for malo-lactic fermentation to 100% conversion and aged Sur Lies for 9 months, which is where the buttery and some of its creaminess comes from.
Appearance
The color of this Russian River Chardonnay is pale straw and has noticeable viscosity.
