Blue Heron Vineyard nestles along the Russian River in Mendocino’s Sanel Valley, a pastoral area that benefits from steady sunshine and gravelly riverbed soils. Named for Blue Herons that have built their nests in the oak trees overlooking the site for many generations, the vineyard produces certified organic and biodynamic fruit with rich fruit flavors and fresh acidity.

Overall, an excellent harvest for Chardonnay. Winter was relatively dry, only bringing about half the amount of rain of an average season. Bud break and flowering occurred about a week earlier than 2019. The yields of a lot of varietals were affected but Chardonnay saw a higher than average yield. August and September were warm, bringing a few heat spikes into the region which sped up harvest by a couple of weeks from the average harvest season. Acidity levels were lower than previous vintages, but the smaller than normal berry size resulted in very concentrated flavors.

Harvested by hand between mid August and early September, whole Chardonnay clusters were gently pressed to extract only the most precious, free-run juice. From there, the wine fermented slow and cool in neutral French Oak barrels for 10 to 14 days. Following fermentation, the wine matured in 100% French oak barrels, 25% of which were new, for another 14 months, undergoing 100% malolactic fermentation during that time to enhance its creamy, round mouthfeel and lend a touch of vanilla spice from the expertly selected barrels.

Density: 600-1200 Vines/Acre
Age Of Vines: 15-40 Years
Appellation: Mendocino County
Vineyard: Blue Heron Vineyard

Varietal Content:
Chardonnay 100%

Cases Produced: 2,000
Alcohol: 13.5%
Ta g/100mL: 0.54
pH: 3.50