2021 Casa Seca Vineyard, Russian River Valley Chardonnay

We’ll never forget the day we got a hand-written postcard from Eva Dehlinger. She inquired if we’d be interested in a new project she and her family were managing. The Vineyard was sandwiched between Kistler and Dehlinger on Vine Hill Rd., and was planted in the 1980s on rare 8X8' spacing on AXR-1 rootstock. Yep, interested! We named our block Casa Seca, or "dry house" after the 1880's brick apple kiln still looming over the vines. We picked at 21.7º brix and bottled a wine with white stone fruit, brioche, tangerine oil, cracked wheat, & mineral. Serve with lobster pot pie.

VINIFICATION: 3.8 tons hand-harvested on Sep 5th. Fruit was crushed, pressed, and fermented on native yeasts in neutral oak barriques + puncheons. The wine completed a spontaneous malolactic fermentation, and aged in barrel for 10 mos Racked to steel for an additional 6 mos of anaerobic aging. Bottled unfined/unfiltered.

SITE: A former apple packing ranch situated in the heart of the Russian River Valley, about 13 mi from the coast at just under 200 ft elevation. Casa Seca refers to the turn-of-the-century apple kiln (or dry house) still standing on the property. Planted in 1988 with 3 unique Wente clones on AXR-1 rootstock; our block features the rare Curtis clone which ripens slowly, produces smaller clusters, and holds its acid. Soil is a sandy/clay/loam mixture known as Goldridge. Dry-farmed by the ever-thoughtful Eva Dehlinger.

NOTES: We’ll never forget the day we got a hand-written postcard from Eva Dehlinger. She inquired if we’d be interested in a new project she and her family were managing. The Vineyard was sandwiched between Kistler and Dehlinger on Vine Hill Rd, and was planted in the 1980s on rare 8X8' spacing on AXR-1 rootstock. It featured an old Wente clone called "Curtiss Clone" which was known for maintaining higher acidity. They were dry-farming it. Yep, interested! We named our block Casa Seca, or "dry house" after the 1880's brick apple kiln still looming over the vines. From the extreme 2022 vintage, with a heat dome bearing down on the state during harvest, we were encouraged to triage this fruit mercilessly and declassify most of it into our Estero Chardonnay. The fruit that made the Casa Seca designate was hand-selected on a sorting table. What little wine we bottled is opulent in a pleasing way. Still balanced with ripe acidity—there is an August orchard fruit quality to the wine that makes our mouths water. A sneaky cinnamon note too that reminds us of Meursault.