Winemaker's Notes
I want to write lyrics about this wine to an Eagles song something like: ‘I like the way your sparkling aromas lay, along your angles and your rounds, and I want to sip you as the daylight fades to night, with your crisp green apples all around.’ 2023 was a special vintage where malic acid levels were unusually high due to cooler than typical temperatures when this organic acid would have been more thoroughly respired in the grape. As a result, the wine would not naturally undergo malolactic fermentation and so retains an uncommonly high level of tartness. I revel in this juxtaposition of circumstances.
Fresh, crisp, vibrant pomme fruit notes greet the nose, yielding a little to the very complex nuances that a couple years on yeast lees bring to offset the pure fruit notes. By mouth, the wine is super salivary, almost like our rosé. I love Chablis but long ago gave up the idea of finding a place locally that could render something akin to that unique and historical place for this Chardonnay. This vintage gives me a suggestion of this sensibility in Russian River Valley in a special vintage that we may not see again in a very long time.
