Whitehall Lane Winery Chardonnay 2019

Viticulture

The 2019 vintage began with bud break in late March, leading to a Spring that had few showers and was relatively dry. Summer was also quite warm and long, leading into a steady Autumn harvest season. The consistent summer weather encouraged our Chardonnay grapes to ripen in mid-September. The fruit was handpicked on September 20th, 2019 at optimal flavors and ripeness.

Vinification

The Chardonnay clone used for this wine is 100% Wente clone, a long sought after clone for Chardonnay. After handpicking, the fruit was hand sorted and whole cluster pressed in a gentle Champagne press cycle. The juice was then cold settled and racked to barrels dirty on its heavy lees solids. The Chardonnay then underwent a native yeast barrel fermentation in 100% French oak barrels (35% new and 65% neutral). This wine went through approximately 75% of its malolactic fermentation to enhance body and mouthfeel. Lees stirring was performed every 3 weeks during its life to also build upon body, texture, and structure. Overall, the wine was aged on the lees for 14 months before
filtration and bottling.

Tasting notes

This Chardonnay has attractive aromas of Fuji apples, pears, walnuts, lemon curd, fresh croissant, baking spices, and a touch of pecorino cheese. It is rich and softly textured with a very long, creamy finish. Its palate provides a full-bodied wine with fresh white pineapples, Golden Delicious apples, fruit cocktail, pears, grapefruit pith, and allspice.

Winery Description

Whitehall Lane is a small, family-owned winery in Napa Valley's historic Rutherford appellation. Estate vineyards are comprised of approximately 140 acres of prime Valley-floor vineyards including the Leonardini Vineyard in St. Helena.

Whitehall Lane has received accolades and awards for producing some of the greatest wines in the world. In Wine Spectator Magazine's year-end ranking of wines, Whitehall Lane has been honored an unprecedented three times in five years for producing wines rated among the top five in the world. The winery has also been voted Winery of the Year from the Quarterly Review of Wines and Wine and Spirits Magazine.

Whitehall Lane was founded in 1979 but the history of soil cultivation dates back two centuries. In the mid-1800s, Napa Valley settlers were drawn to the deep, loamy soils and ideal climate, planting high-quality grape vines at the Whitehall Lane Winery site. A barn constructed in the early 1900s for equipment storage is still used today. In 1979, two brothers started the winery and directed their winemaking efforts successfully to Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. They named the winery after the road that runs along the southern border of the property, Whitehall Lane.

In 1993, the Leonardini Family of San Francisco took control of the Whitehall Lane estate. They updated the winemaking, instituted a new barrel-aging program and continued sourcing the finest vineyards. What started with only one vineyard is now seven prime vineyards that are the cornerstone on which the wines are made and include the Whitehall Lane Estate Vineyard, Millenium MM Vineyard and Bommarito Vineyard in the Rutherford Appellation, the Leonardini Vineyard and Fawn Park Vineyard in St. Helena, Oak Glen Vineyard in the Oak Knoll District and Rassi VIneyard in Sonoma. The Estate Vineyard is 25 acres of "Rutherford Dust" offering beautiful Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc grapes. The Millenium MM Vineyard offers outstanding Cabernet Sauvignon fruit while the Bommarito Vineyard is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. The Leonardini Vineyard is 14 acres of gravely soil yielding powerful Cabernet Sauvignon fruit and elegant yet intense Merlot grapes that go into the "Leonardini Vineyard" vineyard-designated wine. The Fawn Park Vineyard is on a gentle slope of the eastern hillside and produces intense Cabernet Sauvignon. The 25-acre Oak Glen Vineyard produces flavorful Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.

In its short history, Whitehall Lane has developed into a world-class winery. The efforts of the Leonardini Family are evident in the recent run of accolades from wine publications but are even more apparent in the beautifully made, elegant wines they continue to make.