Winemaker Notes:
The 2018 Chardonnay ‘304’ is especially lovely, with its combination of crisp acidity, refreshingly bright flavors and an expressive, lingering finish. The fruit was sourced from two vineyard sites, one in Carneros the other in the Russian River Valley, both vineyards were selected for their cool climate.
The grapes were hand harvested in mid-October, whole cluster pressed, then using indigenous wild yeast allowed to ferment naturally in 3000-gallon stainless steel fermentation tanks. To increase contact with the yeast lees, we adopted a traditional Chablis technique of gently circulating the lees over the top of the fermenting wine, a process that adds texture, flavor and stability to the finished wine. This circulation or pump-over allows for lees stirring  in a tank otherwise too large for manual ‘battonage’. The wine then continues aging on the lees for about four months after fermentation is complete. The 2018 Chardonnay ‘304’ completed 50% of a natural malo-lactic fermentation. The finished wine was lightly filtered and is now ready to enjoy.
The name ‘304’ comes from the grade of stainless steel that is used to fabricate wine fermentation tanks.