Winemaker Notes
Our winemaking practices haven't changed. The handpicked fruit is whole cluster pressed and fermented in 80 percent new and one-year-old French oak barrels. The remaining 20 percent is tank fermented in a temperature controlled, cool environment. With the large percentage of new wood, some of the barrel fermented lots are racked from barrel to tank after yeast and malolactic fermentation is completed. The tank lot too, is racked off its fermentation lees and allowed to age a few additional months in the barrels.
This is a big, rich Chardonnay that can handle a diversity of food. It isn't afraid of cool, dark cellars to gain some bottle bouquet. I recommend a simple pork roast and applesauce. This Chardonnay would pair very well with the Rhode Island clam bake prepared by my good friend and Chalone Wine Group's amazing Northeastern Regional Sales Manager, Cathy Harrison. Try pairing this Chardonnay with some of my favorite seafood dishes; oysters, singing scallops, spicy tuna roll, troll caught King salmon, mussels in green curry, grilled halibut or blackened catfish with hush puppies.
You will have to try this wine while listening to Aerosmith's song "Sweet Emotion." -John Abbott, Winemaker
ALCOHOL 13.4%
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
A large and geographically diverse AVA capable of producing a wide variety of wine styles, the Columbia Valley AVA is home to 99% of Washington state’s total vineyard area. A small section of the AVA even extends into northern Oregon!
Because of its size, it is necessarily divided into several distinctive sub-AVAs, including Walla Walla Valley and Yakima Valley—which are both further split into smaller, noteworthy appellations. A region this size will of course have varied microclimates, but on the whole it experiences extreme winters and long, hot, dry summers. Frost is a common risk during winter and spring. The towering Cascade mountain range creates a rain shadow, keeping the valley relatively rain-free throughout the entire year, necessitating irrigation from the Columbia River. The lack of humidity combined with sandy soils allows for vines to be grown on their own rootstock, as phylloxera is not a serious concern.
Red wines make up the majority of production in the Columbia Valley. Cabernet Sauvignon is the dominant variety here, where it produces wines with a pleasant balance of dark fruit and herbs. Wines made from Merlot are typically supple, with sweet red fruit and sometimes a hint of chocolate or mint. Syrah tends to be savory and Old-World-leaning, with a wide range of possible fruit flavors and plenty of spice. The most planted white varieties are Chardonnay and Riesling. These range in style from citrus and green apple dominant in cooler sites, to riper, fleshier wines with stone fruit flavors coming from the warmer vineyards.