2017 Bien Nacido Vineyards Chardonnay Santa Maria Valley

Bien Nacido Chardonnay

Running along the easternmost bench of our estate, W Block is our oldest block of Chardonnay. Planted on the original Wente clone, on their own roots back in 1973, this block is one of the windiest in all of the region. Very distinct Pleasanton Shale can be seen throughout W Block, with some limestone outcroppings visible throughout. Much like in Burgundy, we harvest the oldest vines here exclusively for our Estate Chardonnay. Bien Nacido Estate Chardonnay always carries a more tropical tone of fresh pineapple, bright acidity and a notable spice from our limited use of oak. The Estate Chardonnay is always whole-cluster pressed, native fermented and aged in 20% new Damy barrels produced in Meursault. Because the wines have great acidity, our Chardonnay always goes 100% through malolactic conversion, and are aged for a total of 16 months in both wood and steel.