Vineyard: Nakai

AVA: Russian River Valley, CA

Farming: Organic

Harvest Date: 5 September 2025

Bottling Date: 8 April 2026

Alc: 11.5%

Cases: 100

Like many growers in California, Aki Nakai and his daughter Keiko had difficulty selling their grapes in 2025.  The winery that normally takes the Chardonnay (which amounts to 20-30 tons total off their vineyard) dropped their contract just before harvest, and the Nakais were unable to find another winery to pick up that contract.  While I’m too small to take 30 tons of Chardonnay, I took a couple of tons from the vineyard to help them turn some of their fruit into wine.  And I love their Muscat Vert and Merlot, so I knew their Chardonnay would make beautiful wine as well.

For the Chardonnay, we were aiming for about the same alcohol content as the Muscat, and a similarly lively acidity.  But Chardonnay is a slower ripener than Muscat Vert, so this meant that we picked it about 10 days later than the Muscat. 

The Chardonnay was pressed directly at the winery and left to settle in a tank overnight for racking off gross lees.  For my other white wines, I prefer fermentation in stainless steel tank for a clean, tight texture.  I wanted more warmth and weight on the Chardonnay, so I instead opted for fermentation in partially filled neutral oak barriques.  Once primary fermentation was finished, I topped the barriques and left the wine to go through malolactic fermentation and age on its heavy lees for 6 months.

Indigenous yeast fermentation. SO2: 20 ppm total.  No other additions, unfined and unfiltered.