nucjd
Cove Springs Farm
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2012
- Messages
- 153
- Reaction score
- 35
Hey folks just wanted to share my final product for the 2013 vintage.
Here is a pic of my 2013 Chardonnay grown and made from my vineyard. To me the cool part of this is two fold. First my vineyard is in Alabama and I am successfully growing Chardonnay, merlot, syrah and mourvedre. Second is my second child was born in 2013. I am calling it Skylar's vintage in honor of my little girl
The growing season was really tough in 2013 with near continuous rain and constant fungus issues. I probably lost 30-40% of my crop to fungus due to the rain and temperatures. I had to harvest early and adjust the sugar on the front end to sneak the brix level up to an appropriate level however the good news was the ph was in range. The wine underwent standard primary and secondary fermentation with a montrachet yeast. Based on the very light and crisp fruit notes I decided to keep it out of the barrels and just add french oak chips during primary fermentation to add complexity. I also really wanted to let the vintage express itself.
Here is a pic of the Chardonnay on the vine. Notice the wet grass in the background.
The tasting notes of the wine are very interesting and surprising. The wine has a very light floral notes with subtle herbaceous quality (not surprised given the early harvest ). The fruit notes reveal citrus qualities and the wine just dances across the palate leaving a crisp dry finish. In actuality it reminds me a lot of a sauvignon blanc rather than a chardonnay.
As my harvests increase in size I plan on running one batch very basic with little intervention and the other batches using barrel fermentation/ aging as well as MLF.
Anyway thanks for letting me crow a little…. It was a good year
Here is a pic of a few bottle that I sealed with wax hoping that they might age a little longer and I could open later.
Here is a pic of my 2013 Chardonnay grown and made from my vineyard. To me the cool part of this is two fold. First my vineyard is in Alabama and I am successfully growing Chardonnay, merlot, syrah and mourvedre. Second is my second child was born in 2013. I am calling it Skylar's vintage in honor of my little girl
The growing season was really tough in 2013 with near continuous rain and constant fungus issues. I probably lost 30-40% of my crop to fungus due to the rain and temperatures. I had to harvest early and adjust the sugar on the front end to sneak the brix level up to an appropriate level however the good news was the ph was in range. The wine underwent standard primary and secondary fermentation with a montrachet yeast. Based on the very light and crisp fruit notes I decided to keep it out of the barrels and just add french oak chips during primary fermentation to add complexity. I also really wanted to let the vintage express itself.
Here is a pic of the Chardonnay on the vine. Notice the wet grass in the background.
The tasting notes of the wine are very interesting and surprising. The wine has a very light floral notes with subtle herbaceous quality (not surprised given the early harvest ). The fruit notes reveal citrus qualities and the wine just dances across the palate leaving a crisp dry finish. In actuality it reminds me a lot of a sauvignon blanc rather than a chardonnay.
As my harvests increase in size I plan on running one batch very basic with little intervention and the other batches using barrel fermentation/ aging as well as MLF.
Anyway thanks for letting me crow a little…. It was a good year
Here is a pic of a few bottle that I sealed with wax hoping that they might age a little longer and I could open later.
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