This wine comes from old Wente and new Wente clones of Chardonnay on the Karl Wente and Herman Wente vineyard blocks. Wente estate vineyards from Livermore Valley and Arroyo Seco, Monterey are selected for The N^th Degree program because of their consistent production of exceptional fruit. These elite vineyards receive the utmost care and attention. They are “ultra-farmed”; every vine receives at least fifteen passes by hand, whereby leaves, shoots and clusters are removed to ensure the grape clusters remaining at the time of harvest are of the highest quality. The water is managed so that the vines are perfectly balanced with the correct amount of growth to fully ripen the berries for the optimal level of flavor. The grapes are then hand harvested in the early morning into half ton bins and hand sorted and crushed into small stainless steel fermenters.

Fermentaion:

The wine was barrel fermented for 11 months in a combination of French, Eastern European and neutral oak barrels. 100% malolactic fermentation also took place in the barrel.

Aging:

The wine was aged sur lie in the same barrels they were fermented in. Battonage was performed weekly to increase mouthfeel and complexity.