In The Vineyard

The 2015 growing season could be described as a tragic romance with heartbreak, folly and a silver lining ending. Despite warm winter months and early bud break, May’s unrelenting cool, damp weather during bloom handicapped pollination and led to poor fruit set and shatter. A little more than half of our normal crop size developed into viable fruit. Late summer heat spikes of several 100-plus-degree days then harkened fast and early ripening of the crop that remained, hindering normal sizing of fruit prior to veraison. The beauty that quells this farmer’s heartbreak is that the limited amount of wine made from the 2015 vintage shows amazing concentration, bright acidity and exciting cellaring potential.

In The Cellar

To preserve the character of both the vineyard and vintage, the grapes are whole-cluster pressed directly to 15% new, 75% neutral French oak and 10% stainless steel. The wine is fermented with indigenous yeast followed by native ML fermentation, with 11 months on lees. This gentle process provides us a stable wine requiring neither fining nor filtration before bottling.

Data

Appellation: Santa Cruz Mountains
Winemaker: Ehren Jordan
Acreage: 1.3 acres Chardonnay, 100% Estate Grown
Exposure & Slope: South facing mountain slopes, 15-20%
Soil Type: 10-18” of silty clay loam over fractured shale subsoil
Marine Influence: 9 miles from the Pacific, adjacent to redwoods
Elevation: 675’ to 725’
Clone Selection: Dijon (17, 76, 96)
Rootstock Selection: 3309
Vine Spacing: 7’ x 4’ (1600 vines/acre)
Yield: 1.9 tons per acre
Harvest: September 24, 2015
Barrel Regimen: French Oak, François Frères, 15% new, 75% neutral; 10% stainless steel
Barrel Aging: 11 months
Finished Alcohol: 13.9%
Chemistry @ Harvest:

• 22.6 Brix

• 3.54 pH

• 7.2 g/L titratable acidity

Bottled: August 17, 2016
171 cases produced