Lolonis Vineyard Chardonnay, Redwood Valley 2023

Every year, this vineyard block produces a textured and zippy wine with aromatics of jasmine and red currant fruit. The wine ages in barrel for 11 months, and then I hold it back until the new year for release.

Vineyard

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 1946-47, this is the second oldest Chardonnay planting in California (the oldest is a year older and located in Napa). 

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.

Vinification

2023 in California saw more rain than we had in the prior few draught years. Wetness at flowering meant that that the clusters were looser than normal (great for combating disease pressure!) and these old vines had a healthier crop load. For the following vintage, 2024, I yielded a single barrel from the entire vineyard block. If you like this wine, I would stock up now as there will only be 25 cases next year.

After whole cluster pressing, building slowly up to 1.2 bar of pressure, 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 (mostly) neutral French oak barrels (more on that below!).

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. In 2023, for the very first time, I was able to purchase a light toast Meursault Damy barrel. One-quarter of the Chardonnay was in new oak for 2 months before being transferred to stainless steel for the remainder of élévage. All told, the 2023 vintage remained on its fine lees for 11 months before bottling.

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.