2016 Chardonnay

$96.00 / 1.5L

130 Magnums Produced

This wine is a beauty— showing golden apple and pineapple with creamy, slightly nutty notes.

2016 was a very special vintage. After taking a year off from chardonnay production, we found a beautiful historic lake shore block of 30 plus year old chardonnay vines on extremely shallow shale rich soils largely comprised of decomposed shale with little to no top soil.

Probably the ripest, most opulent vintage of chardonnay we have produced to date, but elevage in both stainless steel and 500 liter neutral puncheons, spontaneous full malolactic fermentation, and 12 months resting on its lees gave us a wine with far more than just ripe fruit.

Christopher’s Journal: A cold snap caused significant damage to the sensitive varietals, which helped to naturally reduce yields. As a result, the site was perfectly reduced, evenly across the entire vineyard, yielding just about 1 ton to the acre of beautifully ripe, but balanced, elegant fruit. With such low yields, it was only natural that the fruit put on weight and ripened quite quickly.

Chardonnay

With so much attention on riesling, it is easy to overlook chardonnay, but that would be a mistake. There is a reason chardonnay was the first vinifera to be planted in the Finger Lakes. While it is sensitive to the bitter cold of Finger Lakes winters and requires planting in warmer protected microclimates, during the growing season, the climate is perfect for chardonnay. Whether it is grown to be vinified as a sparkling wine (one of the Finger Lakes’ hidden treasures) or as crisp, still chardonnay, we believe this is one of the most exciting and unsung grapes in the Finger Lakes.