Artesa Vineyards & Winery - Carneros Chardonnay

Classic Tier

Cabernet Sauvignon
Napa County /
Sonoma County

Chardonnay
Carneros Elements Merlot
Sonoma/Napa County Pinot Noir
Carneros

Reserve Tier Limited Release Wines

0ur Chardonnay vineyards span the entire cool climate Carneros region. Temperatures are moderated by the adjoining San Pablo Bay, cool afternoon breezes and persistent morning fog. This climate yields grapes that have both enough cool hang time and sunshine to develop great depth of flavor with great natural acid. In response to our late wet spring, we made an extra vineyard pass, hand removing excess fruit zone leaves. This assured that our fruit would get full benefit of both our plentiful sun and wind, drying the grapes quickly and hastening full ripening.

Winemaking
Gently hand harvested, the grapes were whole cluster pressed. This wine was two-thirds barrel fermented with sur lees stirring and aging and partially stainless steel fermented to achieve a nuanced balance of fruit and barrel character. Half of this wine has undergone a secondary malolactic fermentation to enhance its buttery creaminess.

Tasting Notes
Lemon blossoms, green apple and honeydew melon are front and center in this Chardonnay. This crisp fruitiness is combined with nuances of creme brule, vanilla, toasted macadamia and humidor cedar making this wine both easy to enjoy and seductively complex. Supple and silky yet crisp enough for food, a great accompaniment for food and friends.

Alcohol content, 14.3% by volume
22,000 cases produced

Wine Spectator

"Serves up a tasty core of spice, floral and anise-laced pear and nectarine flavors. Offers depth and richness, but also firm acidity."

Minneapolis Star Tribune

"A compact and seriously oaky chardonnay with toast, vanilla, lime, peach and lemon zest flavors that are distinctly Burgundian." 3 ½ stars. Highly recommended.

Wine Enthusiast

"Classic Carneros Chard. Aromas of apples and peaches veering into tropical fruit lead to bright, well-etched fruity flavors in the mouth. Spices, too, and smoky vanilla from oak. Malolactic fermentation and lees aging create a round, creamy feel, and the finish is spicy and smooth."

Restaurant Wine

"These are extremely good Chardonnays... The Carneros version is also full bodied and moderately intense in flavor, with hints of toast, oak, roasted nut, and grapefruit. Very long finish." 4 ½ stars.

Robert M. Parker, Jr.'s The Wine Advocate

"There are three (Artesa) Chardonnays, all of them at least excellent. More smoky, leesy and complex, the Carneros (is) Burgundian-like, rich, full-bodied with notes of roasted nuts, good underlying acidity, and well-concealed spicy oak... (a) beautifully-knit effort." 90 score

California Grapevine

"...Attractive, toasty, nutty, ripe peach and green apple aroma with notes of butterscotch and chared oak; medium-full body; big, forward, rich, buttery, crisp green apple flavors with overtones of toasty oak." Highly recommended.

Wine & Spirits

"Large in scale, this fleshy and fat chardonnay comes forward in a completely different style from Artesa’s Napa Valley bottling. The flavors are big and creamy, largely influenced by oak, the wine itself heady and completely appealing."