As always, our Chardonnay is pale straw in color, and once you put your nose to the glass and inhale the aroma of pure Chardonnay fruit, you won't be able to put it down! With the first sip you'll taste a complexity of flavors dominated by citrus and green apple with an underlying current of earth and stone, which we call minerality. Winemaker Mike Chelini says, "Wow, that's a mouthful! A couple more years and it will be a big, rich wine."
If we wanted a totally 'clean" wine we could ferment and age in stainless steel tanks. But by using 'neutral' oak barrels, our wines gain complexity as they age without picking up the oaky flavors that dominate so many California Chardonnays today. It's that added dimension of subtlety that we're after. Mike's Farm House Prawn Risotto and Peter's Grilled Quail with Wilted Cabbage Slaw would be great matches with the 2008 vintage.
2010 Aging Recommendation: This wine is still a baby. Please see above description.
Tech Details
| Farming: |
dry farmed |
Age of Vines: |
14-23 years |
| Appellation: |
Napa Valley |
Varietal: |
Chardonnay |
| Grapes: |
100% grown, produced and bottled at Stony Hill Vineyard |
Harvest Date: |
8/26/2008 – 9/6/2008 |
| Fermentation Time: |
2 weeks in 5 to 25-year-old barrels |
Fermentation Temp: |
60 degrees |
| Aging Time: |
10 months in old French oak barrels |
Filtering: |
Filtered to remove yeast and inhibit malolactic fermentation |
| Bottling Date: |
6/24/2009 |
Total Acidity: |
.68% |
| Residual Sugar: |
Dry |
Alcohol: |
13% |
| pH: |
3.43 |
Aging Potential: |
5 years + |
| Production: |
2,171 cases in 750 ml bottles; 100 cases in 1.5L bottles |
Release Date: |
September 2010 |
| Price at Winery: |
$42.00 per bottle |
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