1999 Chardonnay - Porter-Bass Vineyard
Tasting Notes
The '99 vintage from our friends Sue and Dirck has once again yielded a beautifully balanced wine of distinction and character. As usual, the nose is exotic and very forward with the floral, lychee, and peach aromatics from the Rued clone woven together with the sauvage and textural elements of the Old Wente clone. The acidity, as always, is bracing and nicely balanced by the viscosity from sur lies aging with regular battonage. While this wine is enjoyable now it is rapiuly gaining a track record of ageworthiness so don't be afraid to lay some down for a few more years (up to 3-4) if you have the patience.
Facts
- Clones: 1/3 Old Wente; 2/3 Rued selection. Clones picked & aged as one.
- Yeast: 85% native (a small number of barrels were inoculated for yeast trials)
- ML: 100% native malolactic, sur lies in barrel primarily for 9 months with periodic battonage
- Cooperage: 50% new oak: Seguin Moreau Le Montrachet; D&J, François Freres Allier medium+ toast
- Harvest: Mid October, picked at an average of 23° Brix with high acid and low pH which is indicative of the cool maritime climate
- Yield: 3/4 ton per acre (ouch for Sue & Dirck!!)
- Vineyard location: Mays Canyon sadule, 16 miles from the Pacific Ocean & halfway between Forestville and Guerneville off the Russian River file.
- Vineyard terroir: Steep, shaley, clayloam soils of ancient marine sediment. Exposure is EW ridge environs which are bathed in sunlight all day while the Pacific Coast and Russian River Valley fogs lie below. Mays Canyon sadule is the meeting place and dividing line between these two fog influences. Result is an extremely long, very cool but sunlight-filled growing season.
- Plantings: 10 acres (Chardonnay) planted 1984-6 to AxR rootstock with x-arm trellising. Steep hillsides dictate a moderate vine spacing of 6 x 10.
- Winemaking: Both clones were picked and crushed together, and skin contacted for approximately 18 hours before pressing. The juice was cold-settled for 8 hours instead of direct to barrel so that the Rued clone could speak its floral tones more clearly. The resulting barrel fermentations were left undisturbed except for monthly stirring through June, and then left to settle naturally before bottling.
Final bottling technical information
- pH: 3.47
- TA: 6.3 g/L
- 13.8% alcohol
- Residual sugar: 1.1 g/L (dry)
Bottled unfined and unfiltered in September 2000; 267 cases produced.