2022 Chardonay, Peake Ranch Vineyard, Santa Rita Hills
This is our second harvest working the Peake Ranch Vineyard and our first with Lafond Vineyard. The vineyard is located on the far eastern end Santa Rosa Rd in the Sta Rita Hills of Santa Barbara County. On the lower basin of the vineyard, we have sourced rows from both block 2A (Clone 76) and block 2B (Clone 96). Peake Ranch is all about sun exposure, clonal selection, and elevation we are fortunate to capture it all. Lafond is across the street and down the road about a mile. We were fortunate enough to get its original plantings of old vine Wente Clone planted 40 years ago which we aged in new French oak.
The 2022 vintage started off long and cool. Towards the end of summer, there was a series of major heat spikes upwards of 100 which is very rare in the Santa Rita Hills. August had all of us on our toes. Our fruit hung tight and made it through and then 2 inches of rain came in the middle of September. Many conversations with our vineyard manager, we finally picked 3 days after the rains.
This wine has the same bright lemon, tarragon and thyme aromas as the 2021. It has an added complexity of honeysuckle, pear, kiwi, and apricot. The soft minerality and bright acidity make this lively chardonnay wonderful to drink now and should be great another 5-10 years.
This is our second harvest working the Peake Ranch Vineyard and our first with Lafond Vineyard. The vineyard is located on the far eastern end Santa Rosa Rd in the Sta Rita Hills of Santa Barbara County. On the lower basin of the vineyard, we have sourced rows from both block 2A (Clone 76) and block 2B (Clone 96). Peake Ranch is all about sun exposure, clonal selection, and elevation we are fortunate to capture it all. Lafond is across the street and down the road about a mile. We were fortunate enough to get its original plantings of old vine Wente Clone planted 40 years ago which we aged in new French oak.
The 2022 vintage started off long and cool. Towards the end of summer, there was a series of major heat spikes upwards of 100 which is very rare in the Santa Rita Hills. August had all of us on our toes. Our fruit hung tight and made it through and then 2 inches of rain came in the middle of September. Many conversations with our vineyard manager, we finally picked 3 days after the rains.
This wine has the same bright lemon, tarragon and thyme aromas as the 2021. It has an added complexity of honeysuckle, pear, kiwi, and apricot. The soft minerality and bright acidity make this lively chardonnay wonderful to drink now and should be great another 5-10 years.
This is our second harvest working the Peake Ranch Vineyard and our first with Lafond Vineyard. The vineyard is located on the far eastern end Santa Rosa Rd in the Sta Rita Hills of Santa Barbara County. On the lower basin of the vineyard, we have sourced rows from both block 2A (Clone 76) and block 2B (Clone 96). Peake Ranch is all about sun exposure, clonal selection, and elevation we are fortunate to capture it all. Lafond is across the street and down the road about a mile. We were fortunate enough to get its original plantings of old vine Wente Clone planted 40 years ago which we aged in new French oak.
The 2022 vintage started off long and cool. Towards the end of summer, there was a series of major heat spikes upwards of 100 which is very rare in the Santa Rita Hills. August had all of us on our toes. Our fruit hung tight and made it through and then 2 inches of rain came in the middle of September. Many conversations with our vineyard manager, we finally picked 3 days after the rains.
This wine has the same bright lemon, tarragon and thyme aromas as the 2021. It has an added complexity of honeysuckle, pear, kiwi, and apricot. The soft minerality and bright acidity make this lively chardonnay wonderful to drink now and should be great another 5-10 years.