Vintage

2018

Olivet Lane

ORIGIN: Planted by the Pellegrini family in 1975, today, Olivet Lane is managed by the fourth generation of the family to be involved in winegrowing. The vineyard, which is named for the mature olive trees at the property entrance, is located in the Santa Rosa Plain neighborhood of Russian River Valley, on an undulating benchland of well-drained, gravelly, clay loam soil. The foundation of this wine is the coveted Old Wente selection, a heritage clone that has played a key role in some of California’s greatest Chardonnays.

VINEYARD NOTES: The 2018 growing season began with warm winter weather, before things turned cool and rainy in February, which prevented an early budbreak. While the rains continued, things warmed up again in March, providing ideal nutrients and growing conditions for the vines. From June onwards, the weather was lovely and temperate, with sunny days and cool nights ensuring excellent flavor development and acid retention in the grapes. As harvest drew near, the weather turned warm providing a final push to ripeness. We harvested these grapes in the cool evening hours of September 27th, 2018.

WINEMAKING NOTES: The 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 33% 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 wine was bottled on August 5th, 2019.

TASTING NOTES: This exotic and enticing Chardonnay shows spice and floral oak aromas on the nose that meld with notes of Meyer lemon and fresh pear. A crisp entry unfurls into a creamy mid-palate, enhanced by flavors of Braeburn apple and lime zest that linger during the long, complex finish.