Chardonnay 2024

Stolpman’s First Estate Chardonnay
Stolpman has long possessed 3.5 acres of Chardonnay used for blending in both L’Avion and Uni bottlings. For the first time in 2023, Stolpman bottled a varietal Chardonnay, a blend of the Estate and source vineyards.  
We fell in love.   
For our sophomore effort, we focused on the intensity of the dry-farmed Limestone Estate and the results speak for themselves.  
Fermentation and aging in concrete gives the full bodied, robust Chardonnay a smooth supple softness.
Not wanting to compete in the crowded Chardonnay market, we keep the production tiny at 250 cases, only enough for our wine club members to enjoy!
Healthy late winter and early spring rains pushed back bud break by a few weeks. Then, the growing season remained moderate without any vintage-defining heatwaves. We harvested the most intense, own-rooted Chardonnay block right in the middle of the evenly warm September of 2024.
A fine dining lemon sorbet intermezzo or perhaps a gourmet lemon ice from the frozen dessert section of a high-end grocer.  The fresh pizazz then segues into lemon meringue or lemon bar.  An appealing ripe rush of passion fruit and guava adds to the yumminess and washes into the buttressing acid framework.  Fresh and coating then finishing with brisk, crunching acidity.   Returning to the lemon meringue motif- big, rich, sweet and tangy stuffing with a perfectly ferm and crumbling crust to finish.