Cuvée E Chardonnay
“The 2022 Chardonnay E entices with a spicy blend of nectarines, Werther's candies and lemon oil, offset by a savory tinge of crushed oyster shells. Juicy and built on purity, it offers soft textures and mineral-laced orchard fruits that ride a wave of cooling acidity. This 2022 lingers, lightly structured, with a resonant hint of ginger and sour citrus.” ~Eric Guido, Vinous, July 2025, 92 points
Drinking Window: 2025 - 2031
750ml Bottle
“The 2022 Chardonnay E entices with a spicy blend of nectarines, Werther's candies and lemon oil, offset by a savory tinge of crushed oyster shells. Juicy and built on purity, it offers soft textures and mineral-laced orchard fruits that ride a wave of cooling acidity. This 2022 lingers, lightly structured, with a resonant hint of ginger and sour citrus.” ~Eric Guido, Vinous, July 2025, 92 points
Drinking Window: 2025 - 2031
750ml Bottle
“The 2022 Chardonnay E entices with a spicy blend of nectarines, Werther's candies and lemon oil, offset by a savory tinge of crushed oyster shells. Juicy and built on purity, it offers soft textures and mineral-laced orchard fruits that ride a wave of cooling acidity. This 2022 lingers, lightly structured, with a resonant hint of ginger and sour citrus.” ~Eric Guido, Vinous, July 2025, 92 points
Drinking Window: 2025 - 2031
750ml Bottle
“The 2021 Chardonnay E opens in the glass with a rich (nearly confectionary but not quite) bouquet that blends almond paste with white flowers, baked apples and hints of spice. It’s silky-smooth yet juicy and spry, with crisp orchard fruits and a pretty inner sweetness balanced by cooling acidity. A mineral flourish adds depth as the 2021 keeps the mouth watering for more through the medium-length finale. Notes of Asian pear fade slowly. This is harmonious and characterful, and it represents a tremendous value.” ~Eric Guido, Vinous, May 2024 Drinking Window: 2024 - 2028
2021 Notes: Comprised from all the barrels. Aromatics are purely orchard fruit trees in the spring. Big Abete Fetel pear aromatics, texture and flavor, with that spicy and salty thing going, like a really good blue cheese with a fragrant hint of wild flowers. The "everyday" wine you should have cases of in your cellar.
2019 Notes: This Chardonnay is a harmonious blend of three Vineyard sites in Yamhill-Carlton AVA. Yates Conwill, Saffron Fields, and Maverick Vineyard. Primarily consisting of Chardonnay Clone 76, 95 and 548. The nose entry has fresh-pressed linen and notes of new hay bales. Opening with a lovely tart, minerality, accents of lemon, nectarines, and tropical fruits. The finish is more about salivating, with a light oak influence, tropical nuances, mango, and brine.
WINEMAKER’S NOTES: Since the 2010 vintage I have been using the pre-oxidative process for my Chardonnays where after a hard press resulting in many solids, the juice rests in an open-top stainless-steel fermentation vessel with a bug screen for six to ten days.
Over this time period the juice turns from clear, to yellow, to dark brown. When the juice is completely oxidized, I drain the tank into 100 percent new French oak barrels where fermentation spontaneously starts over a six to eight-week period. At this point, my Pinot noir fermentations are complete and I need those new French oak barrels for Pinot noir. I then rack out most of the vigorously fermenting Chardonnay into Neutral French Oak puncheons.
Some of these New French Oak barrels are topped with the Chardonnay, ergo remaining in the New French oak. All barrels are then topped up and left undisturbed for between 18 and 22 months. Once malolactic has finished, usually within six to nine months, SO2 is added. No additions, other than SO2, are made in the press nor along the way.