Patz & Hall Hyde Vineyard Chardonnay 1999

1999 was an excellent, long growing season that allowed for slow and steady development of ripe fruit flavors within the grapes. The modest harvest size produced grapes with great intensity of flavor and distinctive vineyard character from Hyde Vineyard. The two clones grown at Hyde Vineyard were picked separately and vinified separately before being blended into an initial cuvée in early 2000. Hyde Vineyard generally is an early to mid season ripening site coming in before most of the Russian River Valley fruit but after some of the Napa Valley sites. Despite the small crop we proceeded to do a vigorous selection and thinning of clusters right at the beginning of the ripening process to insure the highest quality for the remaining grapes. Another key for us was a careful hand harvesting and three separate sortings of the grapes. First, before the grapes were harvested we passed through removing any imperfect clusters, second during the harvest we hand sorted the fruit as it was placed in the harvest bins and finally we ran all the clusters over our sorting table just before the grapes went to the press. Tasting Notes: Delicate, yellow/greenish color; delicate, pure aromas of wildflowers and pear; perfumed flavors of nutmeg/clove lead into ripe & refreshing pear, kumquat and mineral notes with undertones of passion fruit and lime; long and refreshingly creamy finish.