Winemaking

I want my wines to emphasize the fruit and reflect the unique character of the vineyard. I perfer to use French oak with the Chardonnay grape because I like the subtle toast & vanilla it adds.  I use a strain of malo-lactic bacteria which doesn’t produce a lot of diacetyl (a bi-product of malo-lactic fermentation). Therefore, I get the benefits of softer, more luscious mouth feel without that sometimes 'flabby butterball" style. I made this Chardonnay in two slightly different ways. Half the juice I put to barrels right out of the press with very high solids. The other half I settled in tank for 2 days at 45 °F, then racked the clean settled juice into the other half of the barrels. The cleaner juice made for a very fruity, fresh, aromatic, pineappley nose. The barrels with higher solids produced a more straight forward varietal character with more body & richness.   I stir and top the barrels myself once a week, no one touches the wine but me. The wine is aged in 100% French oak for 10 months. The two separate lots were blended and then bottled. – Ron Lilly