Chardonnay 2011

This Chardonnay is complex with the right amount of minerality and stone fruit flavors.  It spent 3 months in new French oak to give it a warm tasty vanilla finish and beautiful orange blossom nose.

The white wine grapes are harvested early in the morning into picking trays.  They stay in the picking trays until processed through the crusher destemer to keep the fruit cold and the clusters intact.  All white grapes are picked, destemed and processed within an hour.  The pressed juice goes into 132-gallon stainless steel tanks for fermentation.  The tanks are kept in our cold room consistently at 45 degrees for the duration of fermentation usually 8-12 days.  During fermentation the wines are stirred 3 times per day in a process called sur-lie fermentation.  The stirring helps the lees and the yeast stay in contact to create body and mouth feel.  When fermentation is complete the wine is racked from the top to within 5 inches of sediment.  The wine is placed into brand new French oak barrels from the L'Allier forest.  The barrels are tight grain allowing the flavors to impart slowly and lightly.  The wine will stay in the barrels for 6-18 weeks depending on variety.  Our winemaker tastes the barrels weekly.  Once he feels that they have extracted the right amount of flavors, the wine goes into the Still Waters bottling line, which can bottle 200 cases per day.

Pairing suggestions: Thai food, chicken, salads

Technical Notes:
100% Chardonnay 2011
100% Still Waters Vineyards
100% Paso Robles AVA

13.9% Alcohol by Volume
100 Cases Produced