2010 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay

SOLD OUT!

Those of us in the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay game in California are always hoping for cool summer weather. I, for one, dread the inevitable heat waves of July and August; I’m always happy when I wake up to foggy skies and a cool breeze. But 2010 was almost too much of a good thing…through June, July and the first part of August, we asked ourselves “when is it going to be summer?”

Then, late in August, we got a short but extremely intense heat wave. Just a couple of days, but it really kick started the vines (damaged some too, but that’s a story for a different time). While the heat seemed like a bad thing at the time, it was a blessing in disguise because it gave the plants just enough stress to get them to start thinking that they needed to get to work on ripening their crop before they shut down for the winter.

I’ve been tinkering with how I treat my Chardonnay over the last couple of years. Using less new oak, focusing on freshness and clarity of flavor. The 2010 Chardonnay, compared to the 2009, is perhaps a little more straightforwardly fruity. It’s got great clarity of flavor—you taste it and it says Chardonnay loud and clear. Not oak, not butter, but Chardonnay. It is the white counterpart to The Shop—from the standpoint that it’s serious, but also fun. Fun is a word not always associated with fine wine, and that’s a shame. Why shouldn’t it be? We could all use a little more fun. 225 cases.

Tasting Notes pdf

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