2019 Ponzi Vineyards Chardonnay Avellana Laurelwood District Willamette Valley

This generous nose is packed with warm aromas of marmalade, yellow plum and honeycomb all balanced with the freshness of lemongrass, white lavender and green tea notes. The mouth has beautiful texture and length tinged with dried apricot, mango and vanilla bean, finishing with bright acidity and a thread of salted caramel.

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 Chardonnay grapes for this single vineyard cuvée were grown on Laurelwood soil at Ponzi’s LIVE Certified Sustainable Avellana Vineyard located in the Laurelwood District AVA. The vines were planted in 2006 and the clone is 76.

The grapes for this wine were sorted and whole cluster pressed with no addition of sulfur. The juice settled for 12 hours before going directly to barrel for fermentation. Fermented in 100% neutral French oak barrels, cool temperatures throughout the fermentation and was completed with wild yeast.. 100% Malolactic fermentation is completed with wild bacteria. Lees are stirred post ML weekly for 6 months before a fall racking to more neutral oak and bottling in the spring of 2019. This wine is in barrel for a total of 20 months and an additional year in bottle.

Alcohol 13.9% pH 3.6 TA 6.5 g/L.