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2015 Reserve Chardonnay
Description
Winemaking Notes
The 2015 Reserve Chardonnay has wonderful aromas of baked apple, pineapple and baking spices. On the palate the creamy lemon meringue nutmeg notes are well balanced by crisp acidity and a rich mouthfeel. Enjoy this Chardonnay now with creamy pasta, herb crusted halibut, roasted chicken, or cellar it for enjoyment over the next few years.
History
Our Reserve Chardonnay is created in our small lot winemaking facility, the Artisan Cellar. Under the direction of consulting winemaker David Ramey, we employ cutting edge techniques such as whole cluster pressing, “double dry” barrel fermentation, and unfiltered bottling. With small tanks and equipment sized for the most discriminating vineyard selection process, our facility is truly state of the art, and represents the Klein family commitment towards producing the finest wines possible.
The Vineyards
Storms in late winter fi lled the soil with water that the vines would need in a few months. Warm days in late winter and early spring induced the Chardonnay into bud break a little earlier than normal. The crop turned out to be small, compared to the last few years. The weather alternated between cool periods and warm through the summer, with a few heat spikes making the sugars climb at an accelerated pace. This was the fi rst time in many years picking a few tons of fruit from our Chalk Hill Arata Chardonnay specifi cally for our Reserve Chardonnay, and we werent disappointed. The clone 15 Chardonnay from Chalk Hill Arata, picked on August 17, provided the fresh acidity and green apple fl avors to counterbalance the richness from the clone 76 Chardonnay off our Garfi eld block in the Santa Rosa Plain. Our 2015 Reserve Chardonnay was aged in less new French oak barrels than past vintages, but also for a few months longer, in order to showcase the terroir to a higher degree, but still keep the richness that barrel fermenting and aging imparts.
