2019 Talbott Chardonnay

2019 Talbott Chardonnay

 

Sleepy Hollow Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands, Monterey County, California (USA)

Winemaker:  Kamme Knutson

Retail:  $45

 

A great Santa Lucia Highlands Chardonnay that we found to be crisp with persistent lemon zest aromas and toasted oak on the nose. The palate had us going with pears and sweet apples with a healthy good finish.

 

There are three distinct parcels in the Sleepy Hollow Vineyard and Winemaker Knutson uses a mix of clones to make wonderful Chardonnay.  She uses trellises for the vines to achieve a vertical shoot positioning.  

 

The South Parcel – Heartwood is the south parcel that was the first vines of Robb Talbott in the 1970's  At 400 foot elevation there are California Oaks on the property.  The vines from Heartwood are typically harvested first.  There is a lower cooler part of this parcel that has Dijon clones such as 95 and 76.  Knutson likes to make unoaked styles fermented in concrete and stainless steel tanks to get a more floral, crisp Chardonnay.

 

The North Parcel is called the North Crest Sanctuary that circles the winery. The elevation is lwoer with a Southern exposure so it is coolest of the three parcels.  Happens to have the oldest vines too. For Chardonnay they utilize Dijon clones 76 and 95 along with clone 4. 

 

The third parcel is the West Parcel known as Hounds Hollow.  This parcel is nearest the Santa Lucia Range that naturally gets as well as filters hillside runoff from the hills to the west. The winery planted Wente clones on the West Parcel.