We named this one after my mom (Marie Barber) because she kept asking us to make a chardonnay (her favorite). We finally agreed, but only on the condition that we could make it our way: bright, elegant, mineral driven Burgundian chardonnay from California.
We are not fans of oak influence on our white wines, so we fermented and aged this wine in stainless steel to keep it cold and controlled. We periodically stirred the lees during aging, and put the wine through full malolactic fermentation.
Malolactic fermentation is a wine process that converts Malic acid to Lactic acid in wine. Most red wines go through the process in barrel. Many California chardonnays go through this process, which gives them that ‘buttery’ texture. The super buttery chardonnays (not our preference) are California chardonnays that didn’t start with much acidity to begin with and have been forced through malolactic fermentation and then aged in new oak barrels (for all the vanilla/oak flavors.) The chardonnay grapes from our cooler-weather Petaluma Gap and Carneros vineyards, however, have acidity in abundance. The wine is bright even after malolactic fermentation, although it has a little more body from the process.
This is the style of chardonnay we wanted to make: California Chablis – mineral driven, bright and elegant, but with body and a rich texture from the ML fermentation process and lees stirring. This layered beauty has lovely white flower aromas with fresh cut green apple and almond flavors.
