2019 Wildcat Mountain Magnum

Chardonnay
Sonoma Coast

1.5L BOTTLE

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About this Wine

The grapes for this Chardonnay came exclusively from Wildcat Mountain Vineyard, owned by Steve MacRostie and his partners, Nancy and Tony Lilly. The 2019 Wildcat Mountain Chardonnay is a lovely pale straw color in the glass and the nose shows sweet oak spice, honeydew melon, tropical and peach with a subtle clove note.

1.5L Magnum

91 Points

“Rich and well-structured, with honeyed accents to the apple and pear tart flavors. Toasty and light buttery accents linger on the spicy finish. Drink now through 2024.”

Kim Marcus

Wine Spectator, July 2021

Tasting Notes

Accolades

Winemaking

Vintage

Vineyard

Tech. Notes

additional notes

Tasting Notes

The 2019 Wildcat Mountain Chardonnay has a pale straw color in the glass. The nose shows sweet oak spice, honeydew melon, tropical and peach with a subtle clove note. On the palate the entry is crisp and balanced, with notes of green apple, citrus, white flowers and jasmine.

Accolades

91 Points: Kim Marcus Wine Spectator - July 2021

“Rich and well-structured, with honeyed accents to the apple and pear tart flavors. Toasty and light buttery accents linger on the spicy finish. Drink now through 2024.”

91 Points: Jeb Dunnuck jebdunnuck.com - July 2021

“The 2019 Chardonnay Wildcat Mountain showed nicely, with a reductive, mineral-laced, medium-bodied style as well as pretty citrus and stone fruits, lots of white flowers, and subtle spice and nuttiness, integrated acidity, and light background oak. It's well worth following over the coming 4-6 years.”

Winemaking

The grapes went directly to press as whole clusters. The resulting juice was cold settled, racked off of its press lees, and moved directly to barrel for a cool fermentation. It was then aged in these same French oak barrels for 10 months, with 18% of the oak being new and 24% being once used. The fermentation lees were stirred several times throughout the aging process. The wine went through a partial malo-lactic fermentation to preserve its natural acidity. The very best barrels from each lot were then selected for our Wildcat Mountain Vineyard Chardonnay. The wine was bottled on November 3, 2020.

Vintage

2019 was a remarkable growing season for most of Sonoma county with ample winter rainfall creating wet soil and cool temperatures that delayed budbreak in some areas. Spring and summer brought moderate to slightly above average temperatures, late May rains delayed flowering slightly but helped to produce smaller looser clusters that produce very flavorful and concentrated wines. Grapes were picked from three distinct blocks planted to three different clones: 95, 76, and 15 and were picked on October 1, 2019

Vineyard

The grapes for this Chardonnay came exclusively from Wildcat Mountain Vineyard, owned by Steve MacRostie and his partners, Nancy and Tony Lilly. At Wildcat, the vines dig into the sparse volcanic soil and stand firm against the strong winds that race in off of the Pacific Ocean most afternoons. This fog-shrouded mountaintop vineyard is a classic Sonoma Coast site. Cool and challenging, it yields wines of great distinction.

Technical Notes

composition:
100% Chardonnay
alcohol: 14.6%
bottling date: 11/03/2020
aging:
Aged 10 months in French oak, 18% new, 24% once used
fermentation:
Whole cluster pressed, cold settled, then racked to barrel for cool fermentation.

additional notes