Nose
The nose is attractive and ripe, made of clean stone fruit flavors and vibrant citrus
notes.
Palate
The silky texture and the long, crisp, fruit-filled finish complete our wine, unobscured by oak.
Growing Conditions
Bud break was in early April in 2006, flowering on June 8th, verasion from August 10-
15th and harvest on September 23rd and 27th. We cane prune these vines annually. We
shoot thin in mid-spring, cluster thin at verasion, and do not leafstrip. Long before the
fall, these steps promote excellent canopy balance and develop concentrated fruit early
in the season. The shaded fruit and small crop create the grace and concentration of our
wine. The spring and summer is when our vines develop fruit expression and minimize
herbaceous flavors. The fall weather ripens our summer work.
Bottling
Bottled on on August 8th, 2007.
Winemaking
We began hand-harvesting on September 23rd at dawn. The fruit was physiologically
mature at 23.0°brix hydrometer, 9.5g/L organic acids, and 3.45 pH. We grew nine
pounds of fruit per plant. We hand sorted clusters and both whole cluster pressed and
crushed the chardonnay clusters using a new method I designed to allow for greater
extraction in the wine. Our new methods will al low us to continually provide the rich and
powerful character of this 2006 vintage. The raw juice fermented entirely in 90%
mature Burgundy barrels. This wine’s balance is naturally developed in the vineyard. We
never add acids or water to our juices to adjust acidity or alcohol. Instead, we grow our
fruit to balance the natural juice acids so th at our wine needs no additions. We partially
ferment the malic acid for stylistic crispne ss. This wine was milk-fined to improve its
long finish. The chardonnay was lees stirred until bottling.
