2009 Chardonnay Vine Hill Vineyard

"A great vintage, for both pinot and chardonnay," is how Steve Kistler described 2009 to me. "We got full ripeness and a good quantity of fruit, healthy and fully mature at low Brix levels." By low Brix Kistler means somewhere in the 22 to 23 range. "It's completely possible to make intense, deeply flavored wines at those ripeness levels," he said, adding that he prefers brightness over sheer mass. Kistler added that all of his wines fermented to "bone dry" in 2009, noting that he never adds sugar, acids or enzymes to his wines. He told me that he especially likes the structure imparted by the Calera selection of pinot noir and the minerality achieved by the old Wente clones of chardonnay. He reiterated his feeling that the Dijon clones of both chardonnay and pinot noir don't suit his style as they tend to overcrop and overemphasize fruitiness.

I was blown away by these wines from Steve Kistler, his partner Mark Bixler and winemaker Jason Kesner. Over the last few years Kistler has refined his approach, as he wasn't totally satisfied by the way some of his earlier wines had developed in bottle. Today Kistler is picking his Chardonnays at lower Brix levels, using less French oak (with no stirring of the lees) and keeping the wines in barrel for a shorter amount of time, all in an effort to preserve as much freshness as possible. The result is wines that are totally different in style from years past. The Pinots see a maximum 50% new oak barrels and that number will continue to trend downwards over the next few years. The 2009 harvest started around September 4th for both Chardonnay and Pinot. The 2009s were bottled in December 2010. Unfortunately, I was not able to taste the 2010s, as they had been bottled just prior to my visit. I will taste those wines in October, 2012. A frequent source of frustration among readers has been the lack of in-the-bottle reviews for Kistler wines. Beginning this year, all wines tasted from barrel will be subsequently reviewed from bottle as well. Readers who haven't tasted the Kistler wines in some time owe it to themselves to do so. These are some of the most thrilling wines being made in California today.