Kunde Chardonnay 2015

The Sonoma Valley offers an ideal climate for growing first class Chardonnay with its warm days and cool, breezy evenings. May was the one exception to an otherwise flawless growing season due to two weeks of cooler 60° temperatures which were a bit scary as we were finishing flower. Luckily, we set our precious berries just fine and then moved into a warm summer. Whole-cluster pressing and cold-settling of the juice was followed by barrel fermentation (90% of the blend) and cool-temperature fermentation in stainless steel tanks for the remainder. The barrel-fermented wines were aged on the yeast lies with stirring once a week, followed by malolactic fermentation. The tank fermented wines did not go through malolactic fermentation. 80% of the wine was aged for nine months in French oak barrels (27% new oak), with 20% aged in stainless steel, and then bottled in August 2016.