Winemaker Notes

This 2007 Chardonnay - our first white wine produced under the roof of our winery - opens with a gorgeous bouquet of pineapple, tropical fruit, lemon meringue that wrap themselves around a steely backbone unique to Garden Creek. The flavors are enriched with mineral tones of wet stone, a gentle entry with a playful lightness and lingering sensations of citrus and hints of vanilla. A lingering, multi-layered beauty we are very proud of. 

Climate and Harvest

The 2007 Chardonnay vintage began with an unusually dry spring in the foothills of Alexander Valley. The Gonzalez brothers finished pruning early and bud break was soon to follow. Shoots were slowly hand thinned for proper fruit spacing and vine balance. Once through bloom and fruit set the crop showed itself to have very small, light clusters. The canopy was tended with a light crop in mind and the vines were slowed down early on and brought into balance a few weeks before veraison. The fruit zone was leafed and opened for good ventilation allowing early morning sun exposure to slightly warm the fruit before the natural shade of the vine. 

Little to no fruit was hand thinned this year. The months before August brought mild weather with a minimal amount of heat. A perfect situation for the small Chardonnay crop. August came with two heat spells pushing the vines into gear as sugars started to rise. Anticipation of an earlier than normal harvest date was halted with the return of cool fog for 2 weeks slowing sugar production allowing the fruit maturity and flavors to come into balance. A perfect year.

Once we had walked the various blocks and clonal selections, we chose the areas to pick with the desired flavor profiles. We then began our night harvest. The fruit was whole cluster handpicked directly into 550 gallon wine tanks that were trailered out into the vineyard. The sealed tanks full of clusters chilled for 3 days called carbonic maceration on the skins. The fruit was then gently whole cluster pressed in the crémant (champagne) style pressing - slow and gentle. Then barrel fermented at 50 degrees. Less were stirred weekly and barrel aged for 10 months and 50% new French oak.