2019 Ponzi Vineyards Chardonnay Laurelwood District Willamette Valley

Floral notes of honeysuckle, white lavender and citrus blooms lead to a complex nose of mandarin, white peach, mango, lemongrass and ginger. The mouth is full and reminiscent of a light meringue with notes of honeycomb, dried pineapple and shortbread all framed by a lively acidity and a beautiful salty fresh finish.

This is the`Throwback Vintage‘, a reminder of more classic Oregon vintages and the reason our parents, Dick and Nancy, came here over 50 years ago. A mild summer, with just a hint of humidity, brought us into Fall with dry weather into September. We began picking sparkling and Rosé fruit then the dance began between clear sunny skies and rainy days. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir slowly ripened and was harvested in waves between the rainy and sunny days, retaining beautiful acidity and freshness. The pace was reasonable with plenty of time to enjoy our crew from around the globe and appreciate the Fall. We completed vintage late October and were astounded by the lovely wines in our cellar. These are elegant, low alcohol wines fully expressing what the Willamette Valley can achieve in a cooler vintage. It was a year where winemakers were required to draw on past harvests and put into practice lessons learned. Experience definitely mattered in this vintage.

The 2019 Laurelwood Chardonnay is a blend of Ponzi’s LIVE Certified Sustainable Avellana and Aurora Vineyards blended with Paloma Vineyard all on Laurelwood soil in the Laurelwood District AVA of the Chehalem Mountains.

The fruit was whole cluster pressed and the juice moved to French oak barrels (14% new) and fermented in barrel using native yeast. Malolactic fermentation was spontaneous and 100%. Lees were stirred once a week for 6 months and racked after 12 months to very neutral oak. After 20 months of total barrel age, the wine was moved by compressed gas to tank for blending, then bottled by gravity.
Alcohol is 13.2%; pH is 3.3, TA is 5.7 g/L