2008 Chardonnay

Although he describes the 2009 and 2008 vintages as "not that different," John Kongsgaard told me that the 2008 growing season was "full of trouble, with some late heat spikes hurting the tender red varieties," while 2009 never got too hot. Easier extractions in 2009 yielded subtle, long wines with a sophisticated texture. Incidentally, beginning with the 2009 vintage, Kongsgaard's cabernet will come from a very cool, low-vigor site on Atlas Peak, planted in the 1970s at an altitude of 2,200 feet. Previously it was mostly from a vineyard owned by David Abreu, 200 feet above sea level. "I hope the new wine tastes like I made it," said Kongsgaard. "Certainly it has that 'striving for elegance' aspect to it."

John Kongsgaard noted that the harvest of 2008 took place during the second half of September, as usual, but that the year was hardly typical up to that point. A late flowering featuring a burst of heat in early June severely affected the merlot crop, and then the summer was mostly mild, except for a period of heat before the harvest. The result is wines with low pH, higher acidity and lower alcohol, said Kongsgaard. "In other words, we hit the sweet spot at lower Brix levels. We always have a citrus zest quality in our whites, but in 2008 it stays around straight through to the end of the finish. The wines seem less profound but more interesting. They're more of a Burgundy lookalike, more sappy and snappy-more athletic." I had a hard time choosing between the 2008 and 2007 reds, quality-wise, as they are very different in style, and both are better than the 2006s made here.