Sonoma-cutrer Chardonnay

Observation On A New Vintage Although 2016 saw seasonal rainfall closer to average California officially marked its fifth year of continued drought. As in year’s past we used deficit irrigation concepts and soil and plant moisture data to carefully manage our water resources. This year brought another classic California spring and summer without any weather extremes and throughout most of the growing season we paced about two weeks earlier than our average. Fog and cooler conditions returned in August slowing the pace of ripening closer to a normal harvest start. Our Chardonnay harvest began with fruit from Les Pierres on August 26th. Throughout September the weather was picture perfect. Like clockwork each weekend brought a small warm push followed by cooling during the week. The weather variations gave us a steady stream of perfectly ripe fruit over the course of the total six-week harvest. With the long hang time the fruit developed beautiful depth of flavors and held i