Description
Mr Whirly says
” Dug these out of the cellar recently. Wow wines, a wonder vineyard that make some of the best Chardonnay in the USA. A rare chance to buy an aged bottle of cool climate west coast USA Chardonnay from Cool Climate Willamette Valley and from a small vineyard that makes serious quality wine. Grab some dried ceps and mushrooms and make a Mushroom risotto to go with this. Fabulous combination.”
£47.50
Winemakers notes:
THE 2011 VINTAGE: In a nutshell, this was the latest vintage on
record in the Willamette Valley. All of the principal phenological
benchmarks were much later than normal: bud break delayed until early
May, bloom at only 50% on the 9th of July, veraison just beginning in
early September. Except for one hot spell in early September,
temperatures rarely found their way into the ‘90s in 2011.
Harvest began on the 24th of October, the latest ever experienced at
Bethel Heights. In the end, the long, relatively dry fall and very
extended hang time led to wines of great concentration and intensity
with moderate alcohol. It was hard to live through, but it’s easy to
love the results.
VINIFICATION: The fruit was whole-cluster pressed, barrel
fermented in neutral 500L oak puncheons, traditional 228 L
barrels, and one new 3000L foudre (a big oval shaped oak tank).
The new wine was aged on the lees with complete malolactic
fermentation, and bottled after eleven months in barrel.
TASTING NOTES: The wine opens with spice driven aromas of
nutmeg and toasted pine nuts with a strong undercurrent of
custard derived from extended lees contact. As the wine breaths,
aromas of lemon zest, cider apples, and oak spice begin to emerge.
The palate is focused, and framed by a taut vein of acidity that
carries the wine to a mineral laden finish. This wine has the
structure to evolve beautifully over many years to come.
