2009 Chardonnay Russian River Valley

Winemaker Bibiana Gonzalez Rave told me that she thinks the 2009 chardonnays will be great for aging. "They have great concentration and healthy acidity, which is the formula you need." The chardonnays here are neither fined nor filtered, by the way. As for the '09 red wines, Bibiana said that "in most cases the grapes were tiny, which means structure from the skin-to-juice ratio. It's also a year of low pH for the pinots, especially, which is why the wines have such freshness. They're wines that you want to dance with, not compete with, and they'll age well on their balance." There's an extensive study of the estate's Quail Hill vineyard going on and single-parcel bottlings are now being made "when we determine that something really unique can come off of that parcel. It's going to take a long time, for sure, but we think it's necessary if we want to take full advantage of the terroir here," she added.