About This Wine

Vintage
2006 featured one of the longest growing seasons in recent memory. Fantastic weather during bloom left us with a real crop on the vines, something quite different than 2005. The longer cool growing season was ideal for producing lovely aromatics and silky textures, real hallmarks for us in 2006. The vintage yielded wines that are remarkably pure and translucent, highlighting regional and vintage characteristics.

Vineyards
The Albutom Vineyard is our smallest block of Chardonnay, yet what it lacks in quantity it surely makes up for in quality! It seems to epitomize all that we love about the Chardonnay we grow in the mountains. Minerals, rocks, subtle fruit, bright acidity, etc.. This vineyard always brings these various components together in a finally knit Chardonnay of great elegance and subtle power. Very thin soils and a cool eastern exposure lead to precise wines with great potential for age.

Winemaking
We harvest our Chardonnay early in the morning to ensure cold fruit, which preserves aromatics and delicacy in the resulting juice. The grapes are added to the press for gentle whole-cluster pressing followed by a cool barrel fermentation. Weekly batonage during the 18 months in French oak barrels (50% new) added flesh and texture to the brilliant spine of acidity and bright mountain fruit. We bottled the wine unfiltered to preserve the magnificent texture and delicate aromatics.

Tasting Notes
This is always a favorite of the staff here at the winery. It seems to just possess the right amount of everything: subtle fruit, minerality and just perfect weight. The wines from this vineyard always seem to age particularly well. Why? Probably the near perfect balance and low yields in the vineyard. With age more complex flavors and richness begin to emerge. Drink now or over the next 3-7 years.

TECHNICAL DATA:

Appellation
Santa Cruz Mountains

WINEMAKER
Michael Martella and Nathan Kandler

VINEYARDS
100% Albutom Estate Vineyard

Distance to the ocean: 10 miles
Elevation Exposure: 1930 Feet/ Eastern, very steep
Climate: Cool, Mountain, Maritime
Soils: Hugo and Josephine loam over gravel, Fractured Shale and sandstone
Finished alcohol: 13.8%
Acid/pH: .73/3.24
Oak Treatment: 100% French 18 Months, 50% New Oak
Total production: 99 cases
Release Date: March 28, 2009
California suggested retail: $35.00

 

Buy this wine