Down a county lane from the historic Winery Lake District, where Chardonnay was first planted over three decades ago, Vine cliff winery’s twelve-acre estate Chardonnay vineyard sits in the heart of the renowned Los Carneros appellation. Cool foggy mornings blending into afternoon breezes off san Pablo bay make this appellation is ideal for growing premium chardonnay fruit. The 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. In 2007, earlier than normal spring bud break, coupled with moderate weather during the growing season, resulted in chardonnay grapes with excellent acidity and flavor development.

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 was early and began September 17th and cool ripening conditions allowed us to pick off each block as they reached their peak ripeness.

Grapes from individual vineyard blocks were picked by hand in the cool early morning. Once delivered to the winery, they were carefully hand sorted before the whole clusters were gently pressed. After cold settling, the juice was gravity racked into French oak barrels for fermentation and aging. Specific barrel types and toast levels were used to enhance and compliment the flavors of the various clones. Compared to our other Chardonnays, the Proprietress Reserve receives a higher percentage of new oak to match the intense concentration of the blocks selected for this limited-production wine. The wine is aged in contact with the lees, which are stirred regularly to encourage the secondary malolactic fermentation, and to integrate the flavors of the fruit and oak.

Weeks of blending trials result in a final blend that has vibrant fruit aromas and flavors as well as vanilla, brown sugar and toasty oak nuances. The fruit character of our 2007 Proprietress Reserve Chardonnay comes from a blend of three clones -- 79% Dijon 96, 17% Dijon 95, and 4% Wente. The wine was aged for ten months in 58% new 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 20th ~ 29th, 2007
Growing region: Los Carneros, Napa Valley
Cases Released: 546 cases
Bottling Date: August 18th, 2008

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