The vintage of 2017 had a mild spring and a warm summer. This coupled with a light
crop for Chardonnay led to an early harvest of our cool, coastal vineyards. Starting on
September 5th, each vineyard was picked as it reached the peak of ripeness and
brought to the winery for gentle, whole-cluster pressing. After settling overnight, the
juice was fermented on a combination of French and Hungarian oak. After primary
fermentation was complete, we allowed the young wine to continue to age in contact
with the yeast lees for an additional six months stirring every few weeks. This
classic method of sur lie aging gives the wine great viscosity and balance and a
delicious creamy finish.
During aging the wine then underwent a secondary malolactic fermentation to soften
the natural acidity and add complexity. When aging was complete each vineyard lot
was tasted by our winemaking team before being selected for our Sonoma County
Chardonnay blend.
