Tasting Notes

Release Date: Spring 2016

Mount Eden’s goal is to create wines every year that reflect the specific vintage. It starts with our high altitude vineyards which are farmed to a extraordinary level of vine stress (no irrigation, no fertilizer and totally hand-worked) emphasizing small yields from each individual block. The winemaking is designed to be in the background so as to let the terroir speak and the growing season express.

All of our Chardonnays are fermented in small barrels and aged for nine months on their lees. The complexity and ageability that results is our goal.

2013 was the third year of the current drought cycle and this Chardonnay shows it in its density of character. A solid core of youthful citrus, orange blossom and honeysuckle aromas, combine with flavors that are broad, savory and multilayered with a seamless, long finish. Still a baby, this 2013 should drink well for another decade. This wine is composed of 72% Mount Eden estate fruit and 28% Domaine Eden fruit.

 

Production

3,058

Tech Notes

Yield: 3.0 tons per acre

Harvest: August 26th - September 11th

Numbers @ Harvest: 23.7° Brix, 3.35 pH, 7.5 grams acidity

Barrel Regimen: French Burgundy-35% new; aged 10 months in barrel, sur-lie; 100% malolactic fermentation

Bottling: July 2014

Alcohol: 14.5%

Reviews

93 points Antonio Galloni presents Vinous - July 2016

Domaine Eden’s 2013 Chardonnay is subtle, poised and gracious to the core. Dried pear, dried flowers, sage, mint and chamomile grace the palate in this understated, exquisite Chardonnay. Hints of smoke, slate and dried pear reappear on the super-classic, expressive finish. What a gorgeous wine this is. Quite simply, the 2013 Domaine Eden Chardonnay is a tremendous wine for the money. In 2013, the blend is approximately 72% declassified Mount Eden juice and 28% wine from the Domaine Eden estate proper.

93 points Wine Enthusiast Magazine  - November 2016

Extremely refreshing and lovely on the nose, this slightly lower-priced bottling from the Mount Eden team shows nectarine, crisp pluot, cherimoya flesh and the lightest hint of Key-lime zest on the nose. The structure on the sip is intense, with stony crushed-concrete elements and flavors of lime rind, cold Gala apple and gunmetal. —M.K.

91 points Robert Parker Jr's The Wine Advocate - October 2016

Issue #227

A beautiful white that offers textbook notes of ripe orchard fruits, toasted nuts, white flower and a hints of minerality and honeysuckle, the 2013 Chardonnay (100% barrel fermented and aged ten months in 35% new French oak) is medium-bodied, supple and polished on the palate, with terrific fruit intensity, notable purity and freshness, and a rock solid finish. This is an impressive, delicious Chardonnay to enjoy over the coming 5-6 years.

90 points Decanter - May 2016

Heady stone-fruits nose; has power and vividness. Rich and glossy on the palate with peach and cream flavours. Will please many as it pulls off the full-bodied act very well while retaining freshness and clarity.

88 points Wine Spectator - Web Only 2016

An assertive style, with fresh, vibrant peach and nectarine flavors that have a pithy edge and a twinge of green bitterness that leaves a tannic impression. Drink now.–JL