2017 August Briggs Chardonnay Leveroni Vineyard Carneros

This wine comes from the great Leveroni vineyard located on the Sonoma County side of Carneros, just south of the town of Sonoma. This marks the 22nd year from which we have made wine from this acclaimed vineyard. The 2017 was characterized by being early; early bud break, early flowering, early veraison and early harvest. Thankfully we harvested the grapes before the damaging fires of 2017.

This wine has a light golden color and effuses aromas of poached pear, lemon zest, vanilla bean and pineapple. Medium-bodied, it completely coats the palate with satiny textured tropical and fresh citrus fruits, featuring hints of mineral accents and a long, uplifting finish. Perfect for pairing with any dish that plays off fruit flavors, like mahi mahi with pineapple-jalapeno salsa. Yum!

The grapes for this wine were picked at 24.8 brix then whole-cluster pressed, cold settled, inoculated with yeast, and racked to barrels for fermentation. Barrels used were 100% French, with 25% being new and 75% being a mix of 2 year old barrels from the previous vintage. After completion of fermentation the wine was inoculated with a malo-lactic culture, stirred weekly, and sur-lees aged 8 months. 206 cases produced.