Trippers & Askers Chardonnay Root of the Wind Donnachadh Vineyard Chardonnay Sta. Rita Hills 2021

The 2021 Chardonnay is a blend of two blocks at Donnachadh Vineyard. Block 1, picked September 8th (clone 4 planted on 1103P rootstock), is at the top of the hill where its windswept with very spare, rocky soils, which deliver a very lean and racy wine that is balanced by Block 9D, picked September 20th (Wente clone on 101-14). This block is down by the river in richer, more alluvial soils, resulting in a broader, bigger, and more fruit-driven wine that offsets the more mineral and acid spine of Block 1.

The grapes go directly to press with no sulfur added and from the press the juice is moved to tank to cold settle for 48 hours before going to barrel on its fine lees. The barrels are 5 year old french barriques, a combination of Francois Freres, Damy, and Rousseau, including one Rousseau Puncheon (500L), so they provide a neutral vessel that is not imparting flavor or tannin, but the micro-oxygenation that the wine needs to develop. The wine was gently stirred once a month during primary fermentation. Malolactic fermentation completed late winter and then was sulfured around 30ppm. The wine was racked out of barrel into tank to settle over night to be bottled the following day. 11.7% abv.