2018 Chardonnay - SBX Reserve Sonoma Coast
Some wines present themselves in the cellar in a way that is both surprising and undeniable. This is one of those wines.
Flavor Profile: Concentrated and elegant. Baked apple and pear with honeyed mango and melon Dried tropical with sweet vanilla oak notes. This very long and rich wines has a wonderful minerality usually only found in Burgundy
As a winemaker focused on site specific, single vineyard wines - especially when it comes to Chardonnay - and I never expected to produce a Reserve blend. So how did it happen? Every vintage, the barrels that comprise our Saxon Brown single vineyard bottlings are kept separate throughout winemaking and aging to maximize the individual character of each in the final vineyard composition. Throughout their time in the cellar, I periodically taste these barrels to track their development and ensure their quality. Over the years, I've developed the habit of marking my favorite, standout barrels with SBX, just to see how my impressions change over time. Ultimately, I decided it would be some mixture of dereliction of duty and missed opportunity if I didn't blend them to see if they were as special together as they were individually. Spoiler alert, they were. And, so, SBX Reserve wine was born. Each year since, we track and set aside those 'wow' barrels of Chardonnay, which together will produce a final blend that lives up to the SXB designation.
Vineyard: 66% Durell Vineyard, Sonoma Coast, 33% Green Acres Hill Vineyard, Sonoma Coast.
Tech Info:
Suggested Price: $100/bottle
Case Production: 81 cs
Harvest Date: September 11th and 21st of 2018
Alc: 14.2 TA: 6.3 pH: 3.4