The 2000 harvest was one of the best in recent memory in the Napa Valley. Mother Nature cooperated by withholding any untoward weather during the growing season. The vines grew vigorously and the resulting wine, we think, represents the best that Stony Hill can offer. Old fans will recognize the intense Chardonnay fruit and mineral quality of our soils, and new friends will delight in the delicate, Chablis-like, and food-friendly style of this wine.

When Mike Chelini sat down to taste the 2000 vintage last month, his first comment was "ah, this reminds me of the 1973." Mike had come to Stony Hill the year before, had pruned every vine on the ranch that winter, and had cultivated every vineyard that spring. The 1973 crop was a huge one, and it was Mike's first vintage, under the tutelage of Fred McCrea. Being used to the more opulent styles made in new barrels at other Napa Valley wineries, he wasn't certain at first that he'd got it right when he tasted the crisp, lean, mineral, citrus style of Stony Hill. But Fred's comment reassured him, "Yes, my boy, you've got it exactly right for our particular grapes." All of us who tasted the 1973 vintage last July at our 50th anniversary party loved it. We found that at age twenty-nine, it had fulfilled its youthful promise and still offered us great richness, entrancing lemony fruit and notable acid balance.

Currently the 2000 vintage is delicate and subdued, with earth, flint, mineral and lemon in the nose. It tastes of green apples and has the good acid structure we like to see in our young Chardonnays. Over time the fruit flavors will coalesce around this backbone and develop the depth and richness that characterize mature Stony Hill Chardonnays.

This is our millennium wine, made for the ages!