Cline Los Carneros Marsanne 1998

"Patience is a virtue", 1998 will be remembered as the vintage of patience. Compared to the large and early harvest of the previous year, 1998 would be considered a light and late harvest. Infact, the 1998 harvest was two to three weeks later then normal and four to four-and-half weeks later then 1998! Fortunately a warm October pushed all of our cool climate and later maturing varietals over the top and thus enabling us to harvest fully ripe grapes, especially for our Los Carneros designated wines. The long cool growing season was perfect for our Los Carneros ranch. We produced balanced wines; acid, fruit and sugar were all in harmony.

Marsanne is an intriguing Rhône varietal and is exciting to work with; responding particularly well to gentle, modern winemaking techniques. Its flavors tend towards delicacy with its crisp acidity enhanced by cold-fermentation. We were able to blend in an additional Roussanne as is the tradition of the northern Rhône's greatest whites. Lightly chilled, our 1998 Marsanne will beautifully accompany shellfish - especially raw oysters with lemon--and richer dishes such as rabbit in a white wine and butter sauce.