The best of the old and new world winemaking

Chardonnay

Chardonnay has been grown in the Kingston Vineyard since the beginning but we only decided to add it to our lineup late in the game. The block we use is planted just below the largest Pinot Noir block and was planted in 1999 on its own roots.

Because, for Kingston Family, Chardonnay started out as an experiment we make it a little differently than most. Half of the juice goes into a concrete vat to ferment (and later age) and the other half goes into oak barrels, some neutral, some new.

Once the fermentation is complete, we add a little sulfur, top up the barrels and the vat and let it age until just before (or sometimes just after) the subsequent harvest. We generally blend together the wines from the various vessels prior to bottling. So far, putting all the pieces together has resulted in the best wine, although in the future we may bottle some of the wines separately.

It’s pretty minimal winemaking, by new world standards. Handling the wine this way, with what you might call benign neglect, moves the wine out of the strictly fruit driven realm into something more savory, even earthy. But it retains freshness thanks to the naturally high acidity. A unique expression of the vineyard, and quite different than the Cariblanco.

Acres
41
Soil
Red clay loam with decomposed granite
Clones
Mendoza 76, 96, 130
Roots
Own rooted
Production
~250 cases per year
Varietal Composition
100% Chardonnay
Alcohol
13.5%-14.5%
Type of oak
French (50%), Concrete Egg Container (50%)
 
Sabino
93 pts Tim Atkin, 2018 Sabino
92 pts Descorchados, 2018 Sabino
93 pts James Suckling, 2017 Sabino
92 pts Tim Atkin, 2017 Sabin
91 pts Descorchados, 2017 Sabino