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.

Vineyard
Our steepest and most “extreme” site for Chardonnay, the Portola Springs Vineyard produces seriously structured and intense Chardonnay. A few inches fractured sandstone and shale are all that separate the vines from gravel and bedrock. These meager soils and extreme exposure lead to some of the most unique and intriguing wines we make. This is always one of the last blocks to be picked at the winery.

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
The 2006 Portola Springs Vineyard is a stunner. Piercing acidity, lemon extract and crushed rock are highlights of this fantastic bottling. This should age fabulously, but drinks really well at present. This is not a “cocktail” Chardonnay, its structure and power really demand food. One of our finest Chardonnay bottlings in recent memory, drink now or over the next 3-7 years.

TECHNICAL DATA:

APPELATION
Santa Cruz Mountains

WINEMAKER
Michael Martella and Nathan Kandler

VINEYARDS
100% Portola Springs Estate Vineyard

ELEVATION / EXPOSURE
1920 Feet / Eastern, very steep

CLIMATE
Cool, Mountain, Maritime

SOILS
Various loams over gravel and bedrock,
fractured shale and sandstone

Distance to the Ocean: 10 miles
Finished alcohol: 14.1%
Acid/pH: .95/3.33
Oak Treatment: 100% French, 18 Months, 50% Ne Oak
Total production: 92 cases
California suggested retail: $48.00

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