Spring Release Highland Divide Chardonnay
2018

Winemaker’s Notes

Our 2018 Highland Divide Chardonnay showcases the craft of blending to achieve a wine with seamless complexity and balance. This coastal Russian River Chardonnay offers tremendous flavor density and lingering weight.

Morelli Lane Vineyard gives the wine concentration, weight and depth. Its mature low-yielding vines are planted close to the Pacific at high elevation on clay/loam soils, and they have an inherent power that is hard to replicate elsewhere, a truly unique vineyard. This richness is underpinned by the savory, structural feel of Jentoft, a vineyard planted on a steep south-facing hillside in much leaner, highly eroded upland soils. Here, the expression is pulsating, focused and linear. These vineyards were meant for each other!

Inviting aromatics draw you in: crisp apple and pear, fresh mint and lemon balm, rich brioche and oatmeal. The palate is immediately textured and broad with obvious fruit richness offset by deep savory notes of lanolin, sweet sage and minerals. There’s a drive and focus to the wine with a fine interplay between texture and structure. Flavors of lemon oil and lime zest linger on the finish with honeyed undertones and a savory cut.

Drink on release or age up to five years.

Andy Smith