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Wine Details
Price:
Description:
The Martinelli Road Chardonnay Vineyard is one of the coolest vineyard sites in the Russian River Valley. The vineyard is located directly below the steep Jackass Zinfandel Vineyard on the original Martinelli family homestead ranch. The Martinelli family has lived in this same area in Forestville since 1895, hence the name of the road. Generations ago, families and friends would gather on this very ground for weekend long picnics and festivities, with Bing Martinelli playing his violin as people danced and drank vino. Third generation farmer, Lee Martinelli Sr., planted the Martinelli Road Chardonnay, which is a selection of Dejon clones, in 1995, continuing the proud family legacy of agriculture. The Chardonnay grapes are picked between 24 and 26 degrees brix to ensure mature ripe fruit flavors. The fruit is hand selected at harvest time by Lee Martinelli Sr., who tastes them and chooses when to pick according to the developed concentration of flavors in the berries. The wine is 100% barrel fermented with wild yeast, resting in 85% new French oak for 10 months before bottling. This vino is unfined, unfiltered, neither cold nor heat stabilized and contains naturally occurring sediment. We recommend decanting or allowing the bottle to sit upright in a cool place prior to serving.
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Varietal Definition
Chardonnay:
Chardonnay is by far the most widely planted grape crop in California and dominates California’s cooler, coastal, quality wine regions. The natural varietal ‘taste and smell’ of Chardonnay is surprisingly unfamiliar to many wine drinkers, as its true character is often guised with dominating winemaking signatures. Chardonnay’s rather subdued primary fruit characteristics lean toward the crisp fruitiness of apples, pears and lemon, but the variety’s full body is capable of supporting a host of complementary characteristics, such as oak, butter and vanilla. Regardless of what is the appropriate style for Chardonnay, the varietal continues to dominate vineyard plantings in every corner of the world. Close attention to clonal selection has made this broad geographic and climactic range of Chardonnay viable in thoughtful viticultural hands.
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