2002 Wedell Cellars Edna Valley Chardonnay

The 2002 vintage marks the third vintage that all of our fruit comes from our own hillside vineyards. In our continuing efforts to produce a world class wine we have aggressively pruned our vineyards to keep our yields low and our quality at its peak, this resulted in keeping our yields to less than two tons per acre. Upon harvest we whole cluster press, use indigenous yeast for primary fermentation, then induce malolactic fermentation to soften the high acids that result from our north facing hillside vineyards. The wine was completely barrel fermented and completed primary fermentation on October 25TH 2002. We then induced mallolactic fermentation and that finished completely on December 30th 2002. The lees were stirred biweekly through January 2004. In keeping with our philosophy that less is more, we bottled this wine unfined and unfiltered on May 11, 2004.

The results are truly spectacular, we feel that we have produced a truly grand-cru style wine in California. The 2002 Wedell Cellars Chardonnay exhibits all the characteristics of a fine French burgundy. With enough acidity to give crispness, and without excessive oak to overpower the fruit we have a truly balanced wine that can be enjoyed on its own or can be paired with many different types of foods.