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Varietal
Chardonnay
Vintage
2017
Wildcat Mountain
Vintage
2017
Appellation
Sonoma Coast
Appellation
Sonoma Coast
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Tasting NotesWildcat Mountain Vineyard Chardonnay always delivers something special and unique, and this vintage is no exception. Both intricate and exotic, this wine begins with alluring fruit aromas of Meyer lemon and fresh pineapple. On the palate, a round, rich mouthfeel accentuates Wildcat’s signature high-tone notes of honey and spice. At the same time, thanks to Wildcat’s windy growing conditions, which thicken the grape skins, it has engaging structure and body.
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Accolades92+ Points: An outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. In short, these are terrific wines – “The 2017 Wildcat Mountain Vineyard Chardonnay is scented of delicate citrus blossom and stone to begin, opening to baking bread, spring honey and soft white pit fruit. Light to medium-bodied, it has savory/nutty layers in the mouth balanced by ripe fruit along with refreshing acidity to carry the lively finish.” – Erin Brooks, April 2019, Wine Advocate 90 Points: Outstanding; a wine of superior character and style “A minerally style, with notes ofstone and savory spice to the green apple and white berry flavors. Floral hints show on the taut finish.” – Kim Marcus, June 2019, Wine Spectator
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Wine OriginThe grapes for this Chardonnay came exclusively from Wildcat Mountain Vineyard, owned by Steve MacRostie and his partners, Nancy and Tony Lilly. At Wildcat, the vines dig into the sparse volcanic soil and stand firm against the strong winds that race in off of the Pacific Ocean most afternoons. This fog-shrouded mountaintop vineyard is a classic Sonoma Coast site. Cool and challenging, it yields wines of great distinction.
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Production NotesThe 2017 growing season started off as a wet one. Record rainfall through April invigorated the vines and bolstered canopies. Moderate-to-warm temperatures followed, allowing the vines to bloom and mature fruit in a balanced and tempered way. We did apply more leafing in our canopy management to counter the invigorating effects of the rain. All of our Chardonnay blocks were picked prior to the devastating wine country fires in early October, leaving all wine lots free of possible smoke influence. Grapes were picked from three distinct blocks planted to three different clones: 95, 76, and 15. Each block had a unique harvest date between September 14th and 16th, 2017.
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Winemaker NotesThe grapes went directly to press as whole clusters. The resulting juice was cold settled, racked off of its press lees, and moved directly to barrel for a cool fermentation. It was then aged in these same French oak barrels for 10 months, with 20% of the oak being new. The fermentation lees were stirred several times throughout the aging process. Once malolactic conversion was complete, the wine was left to age. The very best barrels from each lot were then selected for our Wildcat Mountain Vineyard Chardonnay. The wine was bottled on August 16th, 2018.