2007 Martinelli Woolsey Road Chardonnay

Notes from the Winemaker: The Woolsey Road Ranch was formerly the site of the old Baldocci Winery. It has since passed hands over the decades until Lee and Carolyn Martinelli purchased it in 1997. The ancient barn on the estate once housed seven mules which were used to cultivate the property in the early 1900's. The vineyard site is a series of beautiful rolling knolls which offer a brilliant view of distant erupting geysers to the north. The foggy mornings of the Russian River Valley lend wonderful fruit characteristics to this Burgundian varietal.

The grapes are picked between 25 & 26 degrees brix to ensure mature ripe fruit flavors. They are hand selected at harvest time by Lee Martinelli, who tastes the grapes and chooses when to pick according to the developed concentration of flavors in the berries. The wine is fermented with wild yeast and encouraged to complete malo-lactic fermentation. It is unfined and unfiltered and rests in 65% new French oak for ten months before bottling.