I met Angelo Sangiacomo in 1987 when I made Chardonnay from one of his family's vineyard blocks south of the town of Sonoma in Carneros. He, his brothers, and now the next generation have been a pleasure to work with over the years since. The first call I made for my own label was to Mike Sangiacomo looking for some of the old Wente Chardonnay I knew he had planted in chosen spots. I was happy when he agreed to sell me a little of the fruit in 2006 and added some from another block in 2007. We ferment with native yeast in French oak barrels, half of them new from Burgundian coopers. We
do not inoculate the juice, but let the naturally occurring yeast
slowly grow in the juice until wine yeast take over and complete the
fermentation. The wine completes malolactic fermentation for
complex flavors and elimination of tart angularity. During the
malolactic fermentation the barrels are stirred weekly to suspend the
yeast lees. Stirring resuspends the yeast so it can scavenge oxygen from the wine and protect it, in the absence of sulfur dioxide, against oxidation. It also encourages
some yeast autolysis for fat, creamy texture and yeasty complexity.
The wine stays in barrels about fourteen months on the gross
lees until it is racked from barrels for bottling using the
pressure from compressed nitrogen to eliminate contact with air. We bottle unfiltered in the wine's second winter. Because it is carefully fined and racked we can bottle Chardonnay unfiltered, but not cloudy. Making cloudy wines is bad craftsmanship.
The 2007 and 2008 vintages are from blocks in the Sangiacomo
family's Vella Ranch and Green
Acres-Hill vineyards, both planted to old Wente selection budwood. The
Vella is from the same rows I used in 2006 and I was very happy to have
a chance to work with a little fruit from Green Acres-Hill, a block
with great history. Vella and Green Acres are separated by a small
creek and both have very
well-drained rocky soils.
$35 per bottle $420 per case
2008 vintage 276 cases bottled February 25, 2010
2007 vintage 277 cases
2006 vintage 133 cases
2007 vintage: 91 Two Puffs Connoisseur's Guide to California
Wine, November 2009 "Ripeness, extracted fruit, ample oak and
uncommonly fine structure are the hallmarks of this big but surprisingly
well-balanced wine ... it will only get
better with age."
90 Stephen Tanzer's INTERNATIONAL WINE CELLAR, May/June 2010
" ... mineral-laced aromas of pear, lemon rind, sweet
butter and baking spices, plus an intriguing iodine quality that reminds me of
Burgundy. Pliant orchard fruit and citrus flavors are complicated by smoke and
minerals ... a very suave chardonnay
with very good depth and delineation."
2006 vintage: 94 Wine & Spirits, October 2008 - Year's Best "..... an intricate and layered wine, lasting with powerful complexity..... "
