Killian Wine Shop

2015 Chardonnay

Tasting Notes:

Attractive, light gold color with an open star jasmine, citrus blossom nose above red apple, stone fruit and hints of smoky oak. Flavors are reminiscent of fresh apple and pear, and are framed in a richly bodied mouthfeel that finishes with balanced acidity and just a hint of fruit sweetness. This will be one of the best aging of the Killian Chardonnays and should be optimally balanced about a year after release.

Vineyard Notes:

The small "Adam and Eve" vineyard, which is used exclusively for this Chardonnay, typically produces delicate floral and apple notes along with some minerality and structured acidity. 2015 was no exception, but we have noted that the floral component is unusually dominate this year.

Vintage Notes:

Our 2015 Russian River Chardonnay was harvested on Sept 10th, under perfect weather conditions. The cool, night-harvested fruit (4 a.m.) was whole cluster pressed early in the morning to yield a low solids, delicate juice for barrel fermenting. After several weeks of long fermentation and simultaneous malolactic ferment, the French oak barrels were topped and allowed to age "sur lie" for 10 months.

Winemaker Notes:

We are now in our 5th year of production, bottling our 2015 several months ago, to give it time to mature and rest in the bottle. 

After another dry winter, the Chardonnay at Adam and Eve vineyard ripened quite early for the cool Russian River area, and only 3 days earlier thatn the previous vintage. The earlier ripening allows us a lot of latitude to determine the best harvesting point, so we picked exactly on flavor and under perfect fruit conditions.

Harvest Date: Sept 10, 2015
Alcohol:14.6%
TA: 5.7g/l
pH:3.48
RS: .39%  

Production: 279 cases.

Appellation:

Russian River

Vineyard Sources:

Adam and Eve Vineyard

Harvest Date:

September 10, 2015

Production:

279 cases

Fermentation:

Inoculated with slow fermenting yeast

Barrel Aging:

yes

Alcohol:

14.6%

pH:

3.48

Residual Sugar:

.39%

Total Acidity:

5.7 g/l

Bottling Date:

August 2016

Release Date:

February 28, 2017

Aging Potential:

2+ years