Cakebread Cellars Chardonnay

Over 40 years ago, Cakebread released its’ very first wine: a 1973 Napa Valley Chardonnay, and have been fine-tuning it ever since. Cakebread vineyards received ample rainfall this year, and saw the grapes mature uniformly with extraordinary flavor, concentration and balanced acidity. The Haire Loam soil series in these vineyards naturally regulate vigor as well as yield. The cool weather at the site, along with customized and meticulously-maintained trellising, provides an ideal setting for growing the Chardonnay varietal. Cakebread harvested the grapes by night in small batches as they reached perfect maturity. The fruit, cool from the evening temperatures, was pressed directly into tank using whole cluster pressing. The juice is then transferred into French oak barrels to ferment. In order to achieve maximum fruit expression, the wine is aged on primary yeast lees for eight months with intermittent stirring of the lees to enhance texture and boost complexity.