Lolonis Vineyard Chardonnay, Redwood Valley 2022

Lolonis is one of California’s finest heritage vineyards, and the old vine Chardonnay parcel planted in the winter of 1946-47 perhaps the state’s oldest extant plantings. The land has been in the Lolonis family since 1901, when they first immigrated from Greece, with the first vines planted during WWII. The family’s sense of pride in this vineyard and their generational connection to the land are the only reason these oldest vines still exist.

The Lolonis family immigrated from Greece in 1901 and settled here in Redwood Valley as dairy farmers. It wasn’t until WWII when their son was in the war and sending home his paychecks that the family was able to invest in planting vines. This bottling of Chardonnay comes from the oldest vineyard portion of the property planted in the winter of 1946-1947.

1946 was a landmark year for first plantings of Chardonnay in California. In addition to the Lolonis family planting this block of Chardonnay, the first (intentional) plantings of Chardonnay occurred in Napa at Stony Hill and Mayacamas using Wente selections. 1946 also saw the first Chardonnay planted at Mount Eden, using Masson selections collected from Meursault earlier that century. As far as I know, Lolonis is the only surviving Chardonnay vineyard from that period. Hanzell’s first Chardonnay plantings began in 1953, though their Ambassador’s Block is mistakenly called the oldest New World Chardonnay. Elaine Chukan Brown has an excellent series on the history of California Chardonnay that I highly recommend.

This vineyard has been farmed organically since the beginning and is certified by CCOF. This old vine Chardonnay block is dry farmed and produces exceptionally small yields of beautiful quality.

Vintage Notes

In 2022, California was at the peak of its extreme drought and my 3 acre block of old vine Chardonnay yielded only 4 barrels. “Normal” yields for a vineyard farmed to make ultra premium wines might see yields of 2-3 tons per acre, translating to 12-18 barrels for a 3 acre block. This vineyard’s continued survival is a testament to the Lolonis family’s sense of pride in these vines, and I feel incredibly honored that they have entrusted me with them. The yields on these old vines are so far below being commercially viable, even in a normal rainfall year, which is why so many other old vines in the state have been ripped out and replanted.

The 2022 vintage gave the same incredibly small clusters seen in 2021, but with fewer clusters per vine. While 2021 has intense concentration and salinity, 2022 has intense concentration and texture. Given the thick skins and small amount of juice per berry, I pressed the clusters hard to extract all of the flavor and complex phenolics concentrated in the skins. I tasted press cuts continuously to prevent extracting any bitterness. I always press my whites whole cluster.

After pressing, the must is left to settle overnight to allow the largest solids in suspension to drop out (the bourbes). These solids are usually comprised of things like dust, small bits of stem, pectins, and other dense particles. The following day, I move the cleaner juice suspended above the bourbes into used French oak barrel.

After several days, native fermentation begins. Once primary fermentation has peaked and begins to slow down, I consolidate the wine into fewer barrels to minimize the amount of barrel headspace and oxygen exposure. One of the barrels goes to stainless steel, and this barrel is then used to keep the others topped throughout aging. The wine goes through full ML and is then lightly sulfured. I bottled this wine after 11 months of aging, and then held it back an additional 6 months prior to release.

The Lolonis Chardonnay label is of rosa californica, the California Wild Rose. This native Californian rose can be found throughout the state, from the coast to the foothills. Like the vines at Lolonis, rosa californica can weather the state’s periodic draughts and manages to nevertheless put out beautiful blooms. To learn more about the label artwork, please visit Artwork.