Winemaker's Notes:

Chardonnay 2013 | Arroyo Seco
We have been making Chardonnay from these same vines in Arroyo Seco since our amateur days in the late 1970’s. Those young vines were once slender, straight, and obedient, but now they’ve gained girth and some gnarly “character” just like we have. The Arroyo Seco grapes have always offered superb fruit concentration with melon, citrus, and some elusive tropical aromas resting upon a firm acid background and mineral notes. We honestly never have to tinker with these. And, yes, the oak is perfect. Oak stimulates some curious discussion nowadays, with a few people (secretly winking to themselves) suggesting that unoaked Chardonnay is the new cool wine. Poppycock. That’s like potato chips without salt. Allier oak, like anything in the spice rack in the kitchen, rewards caution, but it makes mere goods into true goodies when you get it right. We get it right

We like our Chardonnays to spend a year in bottle to acquire the delicacy and balance our customers have learned to expect for 30 years. The 2013 is a worthy successor to the remarkable string from 2009 onwards. It’s possibly a tad leaner than the 2012, which is not a discouraging word for people who know white Burgundies. Fear not! It carries the full complement of citrus, melon, and some tropical fruit, balanced by a tasteful background of Allier oak. It’s coming into its happy zone now, and will hold that for several years.

Coyote Cuvée 2011 | Wiley Ranch, Arroyo Seco
Each version of the Coyote Cuvee takes a slightly different vector towards the Bordeaux inspiration of these blends. In 2011, one could say we were “formulaic,” with a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Cabernet Franc, and 25% Merlot. Of course, that’s a pretty fantastic formula. The Wiley Ranch, basking in the warmth of the Santa Lucia Mountains above the Arroyo Seco Valley floor, was planted to nail the perfect clonal match of the Bordeaux varieties for this unique alluvial soil and climate. Constant exploration is the nature of Arroyo Seco Vineyards’ Roger Moitoso and foreman Serafin Guzman. These men know their stuff! The 2011 vintage was not a huge bombastic one…just pleasantly correct. The 2011 is now ready to serve if you are…especially for people who cherish clean fruit character more than cellar aged silk. It has all the features you expect—black fruit, cassis, cigar box, plum—with tannins that don’t need a decade to soften. We think this will cheerfully hold its own until 2017, at which time I do expect to see more “silk” and less forward fruit. We have priced it lower than the glorious 2007, largely because of its earlier maturity. “Maturity” has become an unfortunate euphemism for “old,” but I’m not sensitive to that. Pass the Young Coyote!