Paraiso Vineyards Chardonnay 1999

Rich and Claudia Smith arrived in Monterey County in 1973, their children and belongings in the car. Fresh out of college, the young couple was searching for the perfect locale to try out their newly minted U.C. Davis training. Thirty years later, the Smith Family is one of the most influential and respected growers on California’s Central Coast – the Smith Family has been instrumental in Monterey’s rise to prominence as a world-class winegrowing region. Today Rich and his son Jason oversee 3,000 acres of grapes throughout Monterey County, providing fruit to Beringer, Hess, Mondavi, Kendall-Jackson, and many others. In 1988, the Smiths began producing very limited, much sought-after wines under their own P.S.V. banner...

The rugged Santa Lucia Mountains frame Monterey County’s fertile Salinas Valley on the west, separating it from the Pacific Ocean. The famed Santa Lucia Highlands appellation encompasses a series of small alluvial terraces on the lower slopes of the range – perfect for boutique growers of world-class Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Syrah. The vines of this unique hillside district enjoy cooling ocean breezes and fog from nearby Monterey Bay. The resulting slow, gentle ripening contributes to California’s longest “hang time” – creating exceptional intensity, complexity, and balance in the grapes. Planted in 1973, the sixteen small vineyard plots of Paraiso Springs occupy unique microclimatic niches on the 400-acre estate. With varying elevations and soils, each plot boasts its own terroir, its own special sense of place…

The Smith Family has earned its reputation through constant experimentation and innovation, both in the vineyard and in the cellar. Combining time-honored techniques with these latest advances, Rich and Claudia’s son-in-law, winemaker David Fleming, practices his art – hands-on, barrel-by-barrel. The limited release wines of P.S.V. are among the most awarded in the state, eagerly sought after by collectors across the country…