Tasting Notes

Release Date: Fall 2011

Our Estate Chardonnay is made for the wine cellar. Everything we do from low yields, dry farming, barrel fermentations with aging on the lees is driven by those who age their wines carefully and appreciate the wonder of nuanced, mature and vigorous Chardonnay. This is what has built the reputation worldwide for the Chardonnay grape and why, along with Riesling, it is the dominant white wine in collectors' cellars.

2008 was another drought year for us. Impactful because we dry farm and never add supplement irrigation, even in a dry year. Overall, the growing season was moderate and the vines were blessed by gentle temperatures throughout.

Now at three years of age the 2008 is settling in and gaining complexity--spicy in the nose with notes of quince, cardamom and wintergreen. Full bodied, dense with penetrating flavors echoing the aromas, this Chardonnay has an alarmingly elegant aftertaste.

Production

1,717

Tech Notes

Yield: 2.2 tons per acre Harvest: August 30th-September 7th Numbers @ Harvest: 23.8 Brix; 3.35 pH; 7.9 grams acidity Barrel Regimen: French Burgundy 50% new; 50%-1 year; 100% Barrel Fermented; 100% Malolactic; aged 9 months on the lees Bottling: July 2009; Lightly Filtered Alcohol: 14%

Reviews

95 points Robert Parker Jr's The Wine Advocate - August 2011

Issue #196

The Mount Eden 2008 Chardonnay Estate is made from the estate’s best barrels, with the aim of producing a wine that can age 20 years. That shouldn’t be a problem for the 2008. It reveals gorgeous scents of citrus, crushed rocks and smoke, all of which come together nicely in the glass. The 2008 remains a tightly wound, subtle and finessed wine that needs another few years in the cellar, but it is striking even today. This is all finesse and elegance. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2028.

95 points Wine Spectator - June 2011

#13  Top 100 Wines 2011–December 2011

Yet another in a line of great Chardonnays from this producer. Very rich and intense, deeply concentrated and perfumed, delivering detailed flavors of white peach, honeysuckle, fig and citrus. Full-bodied, sleek and leesy, with a long lingering finish. Drink now through 2018. –JL

93 points Steve Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar - May/June 2011

Yellow-gold.  Sexy, expansive aromas of fresh pit fruits, mace, clove and flowers, with a honeyed undertone.  Rich, supple and dense, with exotic, almost liqueur-like suggestions of yellow plum and pineapple.  The finish clings with real authority, echoing the honey and spice notes.  A powerful but surprisingly energetic chardonnay that has the concentration to age but offers a lot of appeal already.