Martinelli Road Chardonnay 2019

The Martinelli Road Chardonnay Vineyard is one of our coolest vineyard sites in the Russian River Valley and is consistently one of the last vineyards to be picked. A large portion of the vineyard remains shaded for most of the day by a ridge of old redwood trees. Lee Martinelli Sr. planted this vineyard in 1989 using clone 95, and the vineyard borders the Jackass Zinfandel vineyard on the original Martinelli family homestead ranch.

Heavy floods dominated late winter and early Spring 2019. This rain pushed bud break into late March and early April. Both April and May were cool which slowed down the growth in the vines and stretched out ripening. The summer was very temperate, with a bit of heat just before harvest to help push the flavors. Overall, we were around 1o days later in stages from bud break to harvest than the 2018 vintage. This long season allowed for full and rich flavor development.

SPECIFICATIONS

APPELLATION

Russian River Valley

VARIETALS PLANTED

Chardonnay

SOIL INFORMATION

Franciscan and Goldridge

SOIL CHARACTERISTICS

Clay, loam fractured rock

ROOTSTOCK

110R

CLONAL SELECTION

95 Wente

YEAR ACQUIRED

1880

Aromas of fresh pineapple, pear and fresh hazelnuts are present in the lifted nose. Silky upon entry, the palate contains long layers of flavors including tropical fruits and jasmine