Wine Specs
Vintage
2018
Varietal
Chardonnay
Appellation
Willamette Valley
Harvest Date
Late-September
Alcohol %
13
2018 Sisters Chardonnay
Wine Profile
Tasting Notes
Sisters Chardonnay is a wine with lifted floral aromas and great length and complexity on the palate. Sisters also has the ability to evolve beautifully in the bottle and to reward patience with ethereal, flinty, wet stone and white truffle highlights. Sisters is always considered the finest, most elegant expression of Chardonnay in our cellar named in honor of Larry’s mother and aunt. The two sisters grew up on a farm and vineyard and remained close throughout their 90 years of life.
Vineyard Notes
This Chardonnay combines the finest lots of the vintage, sourced from grapes grown in Nekia soils throughout the Eola-Amity Hills, from our own Estate vineyard and, uniquely for this vintage, from a certified biodynamic vineyard in the Van Duzer Corridor that is planted on calcareous marine sediments.
Production Notes
Harvest was timed to maximize freshness and tension in the finished wine. The grapes were whole cluster pressed, settled in tank for an average of 24 hours, then barrel fermented with wild yeast in a combination of 18% new (600-liter puncheons) and 82% neutral French oak barriques from diverse coopers. Full malolactic fermentation was completed in each vessel, and after the wine was blended it was put into a stainless steel tank with its lees for 6 months prior to bottling.
Food Pairing Notes
Sisters is always the most refined and lifted wine of our chardonnay production. This wine requires excellent, classic dishes or simple ones. Sisters pairs well with lobster or crab with drawn butter whether with garlic or herbs. It can be enjoyed with a cold crab salad or with cold-smoked fish. On the other hand, it is glorious with a little white truffle on turbot or halibut, or firm fish accompanied by a classic beurre blanc: an emulsion of butter and reduced white wine with shallots, flavored with Herbes de Provence or tarragon. It is also delicious with salmon or halibut with sautéed chanterelles.
