Melville Chardonnay Estate Sta. Rita Hills 2019 750 ML

The 2019 Chardonnay Estate opens with touches of flint and candle smoke, with youthful scents of lime peel and white flowers. The palate balances savory, nutty fruits with linear acidity and saline character, a dynamic that will help this wine gain complexity with time in bottle.\n \n Producer Information\n Melville Winery is a Californian wine estate producing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah wines in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA. The estate was founded in 1989 and remains family-owned and operated. The estate consists of 49 hectares (120 acres) of vineyards in three neighboring sites in Santa Barbara County. A range of different clones and blocks are planted on a variety of soil types here, to provide Melville with numerous production options for its range of Pinot Noirs. Vines are planted at over triple the density of the average premium Californian vineyard. This allows Melville to achieve roughly the same output while limiting the yield of each vine. The grapes are manually harvested on a block-by-block basis. The various Pinot Noirs and lone Syrah are usually vinified in small open top fermenters with around 30 percent of stems retained, and aged for around nine months in neutral oak barrels. The trio of Chardonnays are led, unusually, by a wine fermented and aged in stainless steel, the Clone 76 Inox. The other two are again made in old oak barrels.