This Chardonnay comes from 39-year-old vines on the classic Santa Maria bench plantings of Bien Nacido. My goal is to make Chardonnay in a style that is bent towards more mineral and racy wines. The old vines that I work with at Bien Nacido only enhance this outcome and are a crucial element in this wine. We make Chardonnay in the most minimalist way possible. The fruit is picked early in the morning (so that it is naturally cold) and pressed directly into a tank. As soon as the pressing is finished, the juice is put into barrel (1/3 new French oak) with all of its solids. The wine fermented completely dry through both primary and then later malolactic fermentation. It was then left to age (with only topping and small sulfur additions) until it was racked one year later. This wine was aged for 14 months on the lees and 16 months before being bottled unfiltered.

2011 will go down as a very challenging year for California. However, sites that escaped exposure to wind during flowering, and later frosts, produced beautiful fruit. Also, growers who invested time and labor into their vineyards were able mitigate the challenging year at a great cost of wine quantity but maintained great quality. The two barrels of Bien Nacido produced reflect this dedication. Our block produced only 20% of its average yield.