Tasting Notes

Release Date: Fall 2013

A small crop, one ton per acre, was harvested in late October. This has to be the last Chardonnay to be picked in California. Because of the ocean influence, final ripening comes at a glacial pace, deepening the flavors while retaining mouthwatering acidity.

For those wine drinkers who gravitate toward moderate alcohol, trim, focused, earth-driven flavors and brightness in the finish, this is your kind of wine and it has been awarded one of the “Year’s 100 Best Buys” for 2013 by Wine & Spirits Magazine.

This is our 27th vintage from this remarkable vineyard and it is the longest lineage for any vineyard designate in Edna Valley.

Production

5,656

Tech Notes

Yield: 1.2 tons per acre (92 tons purchased)

Harvest: October 17th-24th

Numbers @ Harvest: 22.3° Brix, 3.4 pH, 9.2 grams acidity

Barrel Regimen: 1/2 French & 1/2 American Oak- one-third new; 100% Barrel Fermented; 50% Malolactic; 100% sur-lie

Bottling: July 2012

Alcohol: 13.8%

Reviews

91 points YEAR’S BEST Wine & Spirits Magazine - October 2013

Jeffrey Patterson has sourced Chardonnay from this 1976 planting in Edna Valley since 1985. Reduced when first opened, the wine also courses with an appetizing saline electricity.  As it takes on air it gains a nutty, pear-fruited succulence that balances its crisp intensity.  Give it a year or two to come around, then pour it with something similarly rich and oceanic, like cod in brown butter sauce.

90 points Steve Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar - November/December 2013

Bright yellow. Lively citrus and orchard fruit scents are complicated by notes of sweet butter and honey. Fleshy and smooth in texture, offering spicy pear, orange and fig flavors and a touch of bitter quinine. Nicely concentrated but lively and dry as well, finishing long and tangy, with nervy cut and a hint of anise. As usual, this is a great introduction to Mount Eden’s powerful but energetic style of chardonnay at a price almost any wine lover can justify. I’d like to see this wine offered by the glass at a restaurant.

89 points Antonio Galloni presents Vinous - July 2013

The 2011 Chardonnay Wolff Vineyard is gorgeous. Tangerine, honey, smoke, mint and flowers all wrap around the palate in this delicious, budget-priced Edna Valley Chardonnay. Winemaker Jeffrey Patterson did a little bit of batonnage on the 2011 to give it a little more body. Best of all, the 2011 is a great value.

88 points Wine Spectator - December 2013

Pure and delicate, with white peach, honeysuckle, floral and honeydew notes, this is clean, refreshing and persistent. Drink now through 2018.