Wine Article

Winemaker's Notes
Cuvee Agustina, named for Paul's daughter, is a selection of the best barrels of our Richard Dinner Vineyard Chardonnay. With aromas of honeysuckle, pear, vanilla custard and toast, this full-bodied wine, rich in fig and lemon flavors, unfolds with a beautiful, long finish. Alcohol 14.7%

Vineyard
Owner/Manager Caroline and Patricia Dinner/Joe Votek
Vineyard Richard Dinner Vineyard
Clones Old Wente

Vineyard Age 19 years
Site Hillside, northern exposure, gray clay-loam with strata of volcanic tuft
Yield 2.4 tons /acre

Harvest
Harvest Date September 24-25, 2001
Harvest Brix 24.5°
Growing Season Limiting a large crop set helped optimize flavor intensity and richness in the grapes. Moderate weather in late September and October extended the harvest providing for enhanced flavor development.


Winemaking

Hand-harvested grapes
Fermented in small, open-top stainless steel fermentors
Fermentation with indigenous yeasts
Spontaneous malolactic fermentation in barrels, 10 months to completion
Aged 15 months in 85% new French oak barrels from Remond, Francois Freres, and Cadus
Bottled January 2003; unblended, unfined, unfiltered.


Cases Produced
226