Lingua Franca Estate Chardonnay has been recognized as among the finest in the world since its first release. The excitement of its flavors comes from the meticulous guardianship of its terroir in the vineyard and in the winery. Lingua Franca Estate Chardonnay’s aroma is a combination of creamy lemon custard, struck flint, grapefruit zest, with the floral note of jasmine. On the palate it is creamy with peaches and citrus fruit notes and a bright, mineral crystalline core. While it has the richest aroma and texture of all our Chardonnays, it is still lively and bright, lifted by its underlying energy. It is an excellent expression of our vineyard and has already demonstrated the ability to age beautifully.

Lingua Franca Estate Chardonnay is sourced exclusively from the home vineyard that gives expression to a distinctively mineral quality in our white wines. Our Chardonnay blocks are located on the stoniest soils we have, with topsoil averaging 3 feet deep over bedrock of 150 feet of red basalt. Half of our original vineyard Chardonnay is planted from CH548 cuttings taken from the fabled Montrachet vineyard of Burgundy and the rest is our trusted CH 76. The vineyard was recovering from drought in the previous year, so that the harvest again brought in low yields but of excellent quality and intensity. Harvest proceeded with fruit in perfect balance.

The release of Estate Chardonnay required a rigorous selection of the best barrels and extensive trials by our team. When the wines were tasted blind, the consensus was that these parcels within the Chardonnay blocks were the finest representation of our Estate for this vintage. The wines were barrel fermented with wild yeast and no acid additions and left unmoved sur lie, or on the lees until they were assembled and readied for bottling. The wines selected were aged in a combination of 21% new 600-liter French oak barrels and 79% neutral French puncheons and barriques for 11 months. Then the wines were put back in tank with their lees for five months prior to bottling.

This is tight and balanced, though not as deep or rich as in past vintages. Sleek flavors of lemon rind and green apple come with ample acidity, even with full malolactic fermentation. The wine has the structure and length to age, so tuck it away for a couple of years and it should develop nicely.