Chardonnay Parmelee-Hill Vineyard

We source Chardonnay from seven vineyards in California. Santa Barbara, Carneros, Sonoma and Mendocino are all appellations Jed considers superior for Chardonnay. In any given vintage, Jed will determine that anywhere from two to four of the vineyards have produced fruit that is truly remarkable. The best of these lots is separated and bottled as single vineyard designated Chardonnay. The wines display an expression of Chardonnay that is a unique combination of varietal and geographic character. Each single vineyard Chardonnay is produced in small lots of under 500 6-packs.

Vineyard

We have been obtaining Chardonnay from Parmelee-Hill in 1996. The vineyard manager of the Durell vineyard, Steve Hill, bought this small four-acre vineyard, which is contiguous with the Durell vineyard, but is far enough north to have a Sonoma Valley Appellation. One of the first to try something new, Steve planted Dijon clones of Chardonnay which ripen earlier and have lower acids at harvest. This gives us a lush wine with aromas of honey and spice.

Winemaking

All of our single vineyard designated Chardonnays are 100% barrel fermented in French Oak barrels. We use 30-40% new barrels each vintage and the wines are in barrel for 8-10 months. All wines finish malolactic fermentation and have the lees stirred monthly. We use a limited filtration program to further enhance the wines. The wines are clean racked in September and allowed to settle naturally in stainless steel tanks for three months. The wines are then bottled without tight filtration. These may show a slight haze but this is merely a mark of gentle handling. These Chardonnays should easily age for ten years or more.