HARVESTED: August 25th – September 6th, 2022
VINEYARD: Santa Cruz Mountains
SOILS: loamy clay
BOTTLED: April 2023, 225 cases
COMPOSITION: 100% Chardonnay
ALCOHOL: 13.5%
WINEMAKER: Andrew Vingiello
VINEYARD MANAGER: Thayer Dunwoody
VINTAGE NOTES
The 2022 vintage started with a chilly and dry winter although, fortunately, there had been considerable rainfall late in the previous year which helped saturate soils. Spring remained chilly and dry until late March when rains developed for a few weeks into April while warmer temperatures prompted an earlier budbreak. The continued severe drought had a predictable (and not bad) effect: the berries themselves were smaller, which generally means smaller crops, smaller clusters but concentrated, high-quality wines. The post-veraison period was warm but mostly moderated, until September when a heat spell set in. Fruit continued to develop evenly until reaching phenolic ripeness. Vintages of such magnitude generally deliver wines with great transparency to the vineyard.
WINEMAKING NOTES
Grape clusters were hand-picked, sorted, and destemmed. The fruit was then gently basket pressed to a stainless steel tank. The juice started fermentation in stainless steel and then was racked off the gross lees to finish fermentation in a variety of French barrels including new oak. Aged in oak for 9 months then bottled.
TASTING NOTES
The 2022 chardonnay leaps from the glass with aromas of pear, powdered citrus, lemon rind and honeysuckle. Bright, concentrated fruits saturate the palate with just enough mineral and acid in the mid palate to deliver a laser focused wine. The wine offers a long, defined and penetrating finish framed by notes of richly toasted oak.
CELLARING
Enjoy now or over the next 3-5 years.