1999
Paul Hobbs Chardonnay, Richard Dinner Vineyard
Winemaker's Notes
Pale yellow-gold color with a slight opalescence. Toasty aromas of vanilla, peach, mandarin, and orange peel. Crisp flavors of red and green apples, apricot, and tree-ripened peach flood the palate. This delicious, balanced, enthralling wine has a silky texture and a distinctive mineral component. Alcohol 14.6%
Vineyard
Owner/Manager
Caroline and Patricia Dinner/Joe Votek
Vineyard
Richard Dinner Vineyard
Clones
Old Wente
Vineyard Age
17 years
Site
Hillside, northern exposure, clay-loam and gravel with sub- soil lens of volcanic tuft
Yield
2.6 tons/acre
Harvest
Harvest Date
October 4 and 22, 1999
Harvest Brix
24.9°and 24.5°
Growing Season
The long, cool La Niña summer of 1999 promoted excellent flavor retention in the grapes, with high acidity and low pH. The warm Indian summer weather in October fully ripened the fruit to produce some of the best wines of the decade.
Winemaking
Hand-harvested grapes
Whole cluster, direct to press
Barrel fermented with indigenous yeast, 8 months to completion
Concurrent spontaneous malolactic fermentation
Barrel aged 10 months in French oak barrels, 55% new, sur lies and stirred
