2021 Chardonnay

2021 Chardonnay - Barrel Fermented

Tasting Notes:

Barrel fermentation brings vanilla, cream and spice to this will-rounded wine loaded with aromas of lemongrass, apple blossom and melon while balancing the lively citrus notes in the bright finish.  We ferment our Chardonnay in mostly neutral oak barrels, which highlight aromas of vanilla and cream making this a food friendly gem. A vibrant array of apple notes along with touches of spice will have you pairing this wine with seafood, salmon or chicken dishes, grilled or topped with cream sauce.

Winemaking Notes:

The fruit was gently de-stemmed directly into the press to minimize skin contact. Pressing decisions were done by taste and the press was stopped at just one bar of pressure to minimize the potential development of phenolics. After three days of settling, the juice was racked off its lees and sent to barrel.  We inoculated with four yeasts to increase complexity and after primary fermentation, the barrels were then inoculated for malo-lactic (ML). During ML, the barrels were stirred twice a week to increase mouthfeel and roundness. After ML, the wine was sulfured and allowed to sit on its lees, again adding to mouthfeel and to develop further complexity. The wine was racked to tank in the end of August, cold stabilized, filtered and bottled in September 2022.

Harvest Notes:

The warm dry winter of 2021 led to an early bud break in some varietals while others were delayed by the cooler spring that followed.  When summer finally got underway the warm and dry weather produced beautiful, clean fruit.  The heat dome that hit us at the end of June had us on tenterhooks briefly but soon the weather reverted into a more traditional Oregon summer and those fears were allayed.  Late September and early October were perfect, cool and dry, allowing us to choose picking dates based on the state of the fruit, not the weather.  We are excited about the balanced fruit that came in as a result and look forward to sharing our wines with you.

Our estate vineyard, Dunn Forest, is LIVE certified sustainable and Salmon Safe. The vineyard is hand cultivated allowing us to respond to individual vine needs.

A printout of this and the technical data is available under the 'Wine Information' tab above, 'Download Wine Notes'.