2008 Chardonnay, Durell Vineyard
Vineyard:Durell Vineyard lies in the southern most part of Sonoma Valley, in the Sonoma Coast appellation. The site is less than 10 miles from the San Pablo Bay and on the edge of the Petaluma Gap, with cool and reliable afternoon breezes that pull the fog in almost every summer day. The soil is part of an old creek bed, and so is very rocky. This, along with the Wente clone selection, gives us very small berries and clusters.
Winemaking:
The fruit is picked under lights in the very early morning and whole fruit pressed. The juice is allowed to settle over night, then yeasted with a very small amount of Burgundy yeast and chilled to 40F and put to 2/3 new and 1/3 used French oak barrels for 12 months. Fermentation is about 90 days, and malo-lactic will take place in the late spring. The wine is unfined and unfiltered.
Tasting Notes:
Nose is as complex as any Chardonnay I have ever made! Warm tropical, honeyed pear, white peach with infused vanilla, mango lemon oil, hazelnut, some wet stone and mineral tones. Mouth: Roasted grain, with sur-lies yeast concentration, austere with great acid. I would love to taste this wine in twenty years. Delicious! Very Bâtard Montrachet like!
Case Production: 226
$48.00