Vine cliff winery's twelve-acre estate chardonnay vineyard sits in the heart of the renowned los Carneros appellation. This appellation is ideal for growing premium chardonnay fruit. Cool foggy mornings blend into afternoon breezes off san Pablo bay. This natural "air conditioning" allows a longer-than-average hang time for flavor development, while retaining balanced natural acidity.

Our vineyard has seven individual blocks, planted with five different chardonnay clones. This diversity provides an impressive breadth of aroma and flavor profiles from which to create our final blend. Early bud break in spring coupled with moderate weather during the growing season resulted in chardonnay grapes with good acidity and flavor development. Harvest was early and began September 17th and cool ripening conditions allowed us to pick off each block as they reached their peak ripeness.

The 2007 growing season began with low rainfall, about 60% of normal precipitation. The season continued dry and temperatures were warmer than normal, resulting in earlier bud break, bloom and set. Drier soils in the spring helped slow grape canopy growth and resulted in lower cluster weight and smaller berry size which bodes well for wine quality. The growing season continued with cool mild summer conditions until a heat spike around Labor Day hastened sugar development. Harvest of our chardonnay began September 17th and continued with moderate weather conditions until October producing grapes with good acidity and flavor development.

We use traditional Burgundian wine making techniques to create our Los Carneros Chardonnay. Individual vineyard blocks are hand- picked in the early morning and kept separate through a careful hand sorting and whole cluster pressing at the winery. After cold settling, the juice is gravity racked into French oak barrels for fermentation and aging.

The character of our 2007 Los Carneros Chardonnay reflects the grapes from which it was made, a blend of 45% Dijon clones, 31% Wente, and 24% UC Davis Clone 4. It was aged on the lees for ten months in French Oak barrels before being gently racked out of barrel to make the final blend in preparation for bottling. The wine was bottled unfiltered to preserve its natural fruit aroma, palate concentration, and texture.

Harvest Dates: September 17 ~ October 1, 2007
Growing region: Los Carneros, Napa Valley
Cases Released: 1800 cases
Bottling Date: August 18th, 2008

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