2002 Wedell Cellars "Hillside Vineyard" Chardonnay

Our 2002 Wedell “Hillside Vineyard” Chardonnay represents the finest of our estate grown Chardonnay. Our goals in originally planting our vineyard have been exceeded with the production of this wine. We are now able to control all aspects of grape growing and wine making processes allowing us to achieve the style we have so long sought, a true Burgundian style Chardonnay.

Wedell Cellars’ philosophy has always been that “less is more”, the 2002 Wedell “Hillside Vineyard” Chardonnay exemplifies this. We intentionally kept the yield on our vineyard exceptionally low, less than one and one-half tons per acre, and as a result the wine is truly Burgundian in style. As we have done in the past, we use wild indigenous yeast for fermentation. Because of the location of our vineyard (steep hillside) and its orientation (north facing), our grapes have naturally high acids. After being selectively hand harvested, the grapes were pressed whole cluster and barrel fermented for three weeks using naturally occurring wild yeasts. After the wine had fermented dry we induced malolactic fermentation that took three months to complete to soften the acidity. We then chose three barrels from our total estate production that exemplified the best aspects of our Hillside Vineyard to age and bottle separately. These three barrels were then aged sur lies for nineteen months, ten months longer than our Edna Valley Chardonnay. Finally, in May 2004, to retain all the richness and complexity of the wine, it was bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Our 2002 Wedell ”Hillside Vineyard” Chardonnay is all about Terrior. The wine is unlike any other Chardonnay from our appellation. Although it has undergone 100% malolactic fermentation there is no hint of butter and while it has been aged for a considerable amount of time in new oak, the oak is complimentary but not overpowering. The 2002 Wedell “Hillside Vineyard” Chardonnay has an incredible mouth feel, immersing you in a spectacular balance of oak, fruit and acidity with a lingering complex finish. Because it is so balanced, we feel that we have created a wine that while enjoyable now will age and mature beautifully for many years to come.