2014 Chardonnay
The 2014 Killian Chardonnay is here!!! It is lovely. Please think about serving our rare (but reasonably priced) 2014 Killian Russian River Valley Chardonnay for your festivities and hostess gifts! We only made 285 cases of this elegant chardonnay, and it was made by an award winning winemaker, Ed Killian. As always, you can email me if you would like to order, or just call us. No shipping charges if you purchase a case! You do not have to be a Klub Killian member to order. Our website also hosts those gracious shops and restaurants that carry Killian Wines. Check it out!
Tasting Notes:
Brilliant golden straw color. Open aromas reminiscent of spiced Gravenstein apples and floral Star Jasmine, are followed by hints of toasty French oak and Crème Fresh developed during malolactic and sur lie aging. This Chardonnay has a fully developed, thick and creamy mouth feel while retaining vibrant acidity and a typical Russian River minerality in the long, fruit-driven finish.
Vineyard Notes:
The 2014 grape harvest was met with a drought, restrictions on watering, including no watering in some of the grape crop areas. Our Russian River Adam and Eve vineyard was able to be given irrigation. The vines went through veraison (berry coloring and softening) in July 2015. The days were warm to 85 degrees and the nights down to 50 degrees.
Ed visited the vineyard named Adam and Eve numerous times to check on quality of the vines, bloom, color and sugar. At 4:00 a.m. in the dark morning hours of Sept 9th, Killian Russian River Chardonnay was picked while it was nice and cool and perfectly ripe. It was whole cluster pressed and then left to rest in French Oak barrels to ferment away the time. The grapes before picking looked perfect, clusters showed no stress, and were beautiful in color and taste.
Vintage Notes:
In the last few months that the fruit was ripening, Ed visited the vineyard every 1 to 2 weeks, and started taking samples of the fruit to check on the sugar or brix. Ed was looking for just the right sugar level to pick the Adam and Eve grapes. In the month of September 2015 there were a few weeks of high temperatures 90 to 100, which ripened the fruit a couple weeks earlier than most years. The grapes before picking looked perfect, clusters showed no stress, and were beautiful in color and taste. The juice fermented perfectly, and proceeded on through the malolactic fermentation, and rested on its primary lees (‘sur lie’ aging) to build more body and complexity through the quiet winter months.
Winemaker Notes:
We finished putting the juice into French Oak where it went through fermentation and malolactic fermentation. Then throughout the year the wine was aged in French barrels, just as our 2012 and 2013 Chardonnay did.
We bottled the 2014 Chardonnay on Oct. 29, 2015. Ed was pretty excited about its ripe apple and stone fruit flavors, reminiscent of Gravenstein apple pie as well as its full mouthfeel and light crème fresh and toasty flavors.
