2014 Pahlmeyer Chardonnay

Bright gold in color. Intense aromas of honeysuckle, bee pollen and apricot nectar are lightly tinged with sea salt and interwoven with notes of baked graham cracker. The ultra plush mouthfeel has light tones of honeycomb and juicy summer fruits reminiscent of Crane melon and grilled peach, yet retains an austerity driven by the bright acidity characteristic of this vintage. The long finish lingers with flavors of freshly baked bread, cold winter smoke and clean wet stone.

Composition

100% Chardonnay

Vineyards

Critics

94 Points

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, December 2015

The 2014 Chardonnay is light gold-colored with a greenish hue and beautiful, fresh tropical fruit flavors of pineapple, pear, honeysuckle and a touch of citrus. It is not as dense and concentrated as the 2013, but I love its vibrancy and beautiful subtleties and nuances. It is another top-notch effort from Pahlmeyer to drink over the next 7-8 years.

91 Points

James Laube, Wine Spectator, 2016

A bit edgy, with wood and pear notes joined by citrus and melon details. The buttery flavors slowly come together on the finish.

Winemaking

Winemaker:
Kale Anderson
Alcohol:
14.9%
Harvested:
August 30 to September 24, 2014
Bottled:
November 12, 2015
Released:
March 15, 2016

Our Chardonnay was picked during the cool of the night, then each cluster was hand sorted and gravity fed into the bladder
press. The juice was streamed into stainless steel tanks and left to settle for 24 hours at 50 degrees. We racked it to French oak barrels to begin native yeast fermentation, where it was monitored daily and stirred only as needed to stimulate the process. After malolactic fermentation, we again racked the wines, commingling lots for the first time before the blend was barreled down into 90% new François Frères French oak, primarily Vosges very tight grain, for another 11 months. It was neither fined nor filtered before bottling.

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