Wine Making:

After a mild winter, the 2021 growing season got underway with early bud break occurring in March followed by timely fruit set. 2021 will be remembered as a very hot year with record-breaking temperatures in late June. Less frequent cooler nights coupled with the heat led to efforts to retain acidity in the grapes by picking earlier. While yields were somewhat impacted by the exceptional temperatures, phenolic ripeness was more easily achieved in the grapes harvested.

Our estate grown Chardonnay grapes (grown mostly from original vines planted in 1993) were handpicked in late September of 2021. They were hand sorted and then dropped whole-cluster into our pneumatic press for a gentle extraction of the juice. Gravity fed into barrels and tank; 75% of the juice was fermented and aged in barrels while the remaining 25% was fermented and aged in stainless steel tank. Each method has its own advantages: barrel fermentation (followed by regular bâtonnage over 3 months) introduces savoury and subtle oaky undertones along with a softer, rounded texture while fermentation in temperature-controlled tanks produces vibrant, yet lean wines. Partial malolactic fermentation (27%) was followed by 10 months of ageing in barrel for the majority of the wine (75%). The wine was blended before later being filtered and cold stabilized prior to bottling. It was then allowed to further age in bottle before its release.