2021 Reserve Chardonnay

Tasting Notes

Description

Bouchaine’s 100-acre estate vineyard lies on the southern border of Napa Valley’s Carneros district, overlooking the San Francisco bay with the financial district in the distance. Fog, wind, and the cold night time temperatures of this unique geographical area lend a distinctive regional identity to our Chardonnay.

Growing Season
The 2021 growing season will be remembered as a winemaker’s vintage. Not too cold, not too hot, not too wet, and no frost. However, we were in the grips of a multiyear drought. While we enjoy dry farming when we have average rainfall, in vintages where the rainfall is half of average (like 2021) we do irrigate to allow for ideal shoot growth and ripening. Bouchaine is lucky to have a huge reservoir so we were able to irrigate early in the season to get our vine canopies full. Drought conditions do have some positives when it comes to winemaking as they bring us smaller berries with beautifully concentrated flavors at harvest. We also lucked out with consistent weather throughout the summer giving us ideal ripening at an even pace. A little sun, a bit of water, and a lot of hard work in the vineyard allowed us to bring in a killer 2021 vintage!

Vinification
Our intention is to create a concentrated, lush style of Chardonnay. That effort is checked somewhat by the leaner essence of Carneros. The crisp citrusy nature of the grapes denies the unctuousness associated with these stereotypical buttery-styled California wines. None the less, full malolactic, new oak barrel fermentation, and sur lie aging provides a rich contrast to our Estate Chardonnay and a fascinating exercise in wine styling.

Tech Sheet