winemaker's notes:
"This Private Reserve Chardonnay has rich, ripe layers of bright citrus, lemon peel, pineapple and smoky, toasty oak with sweet vanilla and butter notes. There's only one word for it: Delicious"
-Ed Sbragia, Winemaster
As in past vintages, Ed Sbragia chose to barrel ferment and age the individual vineyard lots for the 1999 Private Reserve separately, matching each vineyard lot to new French Nevers oak barrels. Ed stirred the lees weekly during ten months of aging to encourage a smoky, nutty, toasty character and he put the wine through 100 percent malolactic fermentation to add a creamy, rich mouthfeel. As with his Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Ed believes that blending from a variety of vineyards layers aroma, flavor and textural characteristics into the wine, resulting in the best Chardonnay he can make from each vintage. This held true with the 1999 Private Reserve Chardonnay, as the blend combines the citrus and butter aromas and flavors from the Yountville-area blocks with pineapple, apple and pear from the vineyards further south and into Carneros.
The gold standard for California Chardonnay.We tend to agree with Ed -- this really is delicious Chardonnay. A dark golden color in the glass it explodes with ripe, almost opulent spiced pear, pineapple, butterscotch, smoke and apricot fruit. Finishes beautifully with a lush, creamy texture. What a concentrated, hedonistic, and delicious white wine!