Last Bottles of this great vintage of Chardonnay from the legendary Rochiloi Estate, our neighbors on Westsode Road in Healdsburg. We love to age it a few years so it gets that Mersault "Sun-Dried_Linen" charcter developed.
Grab abottle before it's gone.
Grapes were hand-picked at night and whole-cluster pressed while cold.
The juice was drawn into French-oak barrels (30% new) for an uninoculated fermentation by our "resident" yeast and natural-occuring bacteria. We stirred the lees every month through winter and early spring (a practice called “Batonage”) and let the wine "rest" until early summer. The wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered just before the next harvest began. The 2022 Vintage was marked by early heat waves and an even period of ripening in the fall which allowed us to pick the grapes at optimal balance.
When young, this wine is full of floral and fruit aromas and flavors with a delicate oaky nuance arising from contact with 30% new French Oak barrels. As the wine ages it develops a fresh sun-drenched hay character and it takes on some honey and nutty notes.
Alcohol: 13.5%
TA: 6.9 g/L
pH: 3.51