Chardonnay Helfer Vineyard, 1998

$ 65.00

The Helfer Vineyard is located in the Vine Hill area of the Russian River Valley. The vineyard’s densely planted vines require hand cultivation and yield more concentrated fruit than can be achieved by traditional California vine spacing. We bottle this Chardonnay without fining or filtration to preserve its finer qualities.

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Winemaker's Notes

This is a new wine for us. The vineyard is located on Vine Hill road, near a couple of famous vineyards you might recognize. Few California vineyards are planted so densely as this (42″ apart); so weed control is accomplished with a lawn mower (generally by Patricia Helfer). There are three ‘clones’ planted, and the total production of these 799 vines (0.22 Ac) should average about two barrels per year. The wine was made in the same way as the Scherrer Vineyard Chardonnay, but the expression of fruit is quite different: more like burgundy than California. This is one of the finest Russian River Valley Chardonnay I have been fortunate enough to work with.

Specs

AVARussian River Valley
VineyardHelfer Vineyard
Vintage1998
Sizes750 mL
Cases Produced45
Release DateJul 2000
Release StatusCatalog

flavors: lime zest, star fruit