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Dutton-Goldfield Dutton Ranch Walker Hill Vineyard Chardonnay
Russian River Valley, California
Tasting Notes
This is a Chardonnay that is sure to win over committed non-Chardonnay fans. It’s beautifully intricate and balanced, with everything you want without too much of anything. The nose is a complex array of Meyer lemon, ripe pineapple, and apricot, with a touch of pear blossoms, toasted coconut, and cashew. In the mouth, blissful waves of lemon and key lime caress your palate, on a texture that’s the combination of lusciousness and freshness we love in the best Chardonnays. The finish is lively, long, and focused.
Food Pairings
The finish is lively, long, and focused. Seafood makes a natural choice for pairing, from smoked trout salad to crab bread pudding, as well as roasted poultry like Chicken Dijon. It’s equally versatile with cheeses, from Humboldt Fog to Bellwether’s San Andreas.
Winemaking Notes
This wine is such a pleasure to produce, other than the 6 months it seems to always take to complete its fermentations – ah, the beauty of old vine chard. We fermented half of the Walker with indigenous yeast, and hedged our bets on the other half with M2, a favorite inoculum. We combined the indigenous and M2 lots right after fermentation to create the blend in April 2019, then went back to barrel on primary lees again until bottling in April of 2020. We vary the barrels a bit for complexity in this wine, but focus on Seguin Moreau for its ginger notes, and Taransaud for the great structure and subtle toffee flavor. Walker is all about the lively, bright fruit, so care to stay out of its way is crucial.
Technical Info
Alcohol: 14.1% Ta: 6.7 g/L pH: 3.32 100% barrel fermentation, 100% malolactic fermentation, stirred lees Barrel Aging: 18 months in French oak (50% new barrels) Winemaker: Dan Goldfield Cases Produced: 291
Vineyard Notes
We’ve been producing wine from the old Wente vines up at Walker since 2006 for our Dutton Ranch Chardonnay, and the preponderance of the barrels still support that program; but the 2011 Walker was the jewel of the year for Dan and a designated bottling just had to be done. This wine is everything we want of Green Valley Chardonnay: powerful citrus fruit and tense acidity wrapped in the candied setting of classic chardonnay winemaking. The block, planted in the early 1980s, is situated 500 vertical feet above Purrington Creek on fluffy Goldridge soil. The vines produce the tiny berries with thick skins we love from old Wente in Green Valley.
Food Pairings
A bold Chardonnay like this mates with bold dishes like tangy buffalo mozzarella caprese salad, grilled swordfish, sautéed sweetbreads in a cream sauce, chicken tortellini in a garlic butter sauce.
Winemaking Notes
This wine is such a pleasure to produce, other than the 6 months it seems to always take to complete its fermentations – ah, the beauty of old vine chard. We fermented half of the Walker with indigenous yeast, and hedged our bets on the other half with M2, a favorite inoculum. We combined the indigenous and M2 lots right after fermentation to create the blend in April 2018, then went back to barrel on primary lees again until bottling in May of 2019. We vary the barrels a bit for complexity in this wine, but focus on Seguin Moreau for its ginger notes, and Taransaud for the great structure and subtle toffee flavor. Walker is all about the lively, bright fruit, so care to stay out of its way is crucial.
Technical Info
Alcohol: 13.8% Ta: 5.3 g/L pH: 3.40 100% barrel fermentation, 100% malolactic fermentation, stirred lees Barrel Aging: 18 months in French oak (50% new barrels) Winemaker: Dan Goldfield Cases Produced: 698
Vineyard Notes
We’ve been producing wine from the old Wente vines up at Walker since 2006 for our Dutton Ranch Chardonnay, and the preponderance of the barrels still support that program; but the 2011 Walker was the jewel of the year for Dan and a designated bottling just had to be done. This wine is everything we want of Green Valley Chardonnay: powerful citrus fruit and tense acidity wrapped in the candied setting of classic chardonnay winemaking. The block, planted in the early 1980s, is situated 500 vertical feet above Purrington Creek on fluffy Goldridge soil. The vines produce the tiny berries with thick skins we love from old Wente in Green Valley.
Tasting Notes
Sweet cream and candied Meyer lemon lead the aromas, followed by Mandarin orange, toasty brioche, creamy cashew, and dried mango. The mouth is soft, rich, and broad, with bold notes of lemon curd, caramel, and honeysuckle, lifted by a lemon/lime freshness.
Food Pairings
Bold and rich dishes like meaty halibut or swordfish with an olive sauce make a great match for the wine, as well as a crisp-skinned roasted chicken, butternut squash ravioli, or a creamy and tangy sheep cheese like Bellwether’s San Andreas.
Vintage Notes
You can tell from first sniff that the 2016 Walker Hill Chardonnay is going to be a luxurious wine. The long growing season this year gave the grapes extra time to gain maximum flavor in the vineyard.
Winemaking Notes
This wine is such a pleasure to produce, other than the 6 months it seems to always take to complete its fermentations – ah, the beauty of old vine chard. We fermented half of the Walker with indigenous yeast, and hedged our bets on the other half with M2, a favorite inoculum. We combined the indigenous and M2 lots right after fermentation to create the blend in April 2017, then went back to barrel on primary lees again until bottling in April of 2018. We vary the barrels a bit for complexity in this wine, but focus on Seguin Moreau for its ginger notes, and Taransaud for the great structure and subtle toffee flavor. Walker is all about the lively, bright fruit, so care to stay out of its way is crucial.
Technical Info
Alcohol: 14.1% Ta: 6.3 g/L pH: 3.44 Barrel Aging: 17 months in French oak (50% new barrels) Winemaker: Dan Goldfield Cases Produced: 698
Vineyard Notes
The rudder in crafting Dutton-Goldfield wines is our endeavor to produce wines that our winemakers love to drink. We see no more reliable assessment, and besides, it covers our downside risk. Walker Chardonnay is a wine we hugely love to drink, and owes its existence to that fact. We’ve been producing wine from the old Wente vines up at Walker since 2006 for our Dutton Ranch Chardonnay, and the preponderance of the barrels still support that program; but the 2011 Walker was the jewel of the year for Dan and a designated bottling just had to be done. This wine is everything we want of Green Valley Chardonnay: powerful citrus fruit and tense acidity wrapped in the candied setting of classic chardonnay winemaking. The block, planted in the early 1980s, is situated 500 vertical feet above Purrington Creek on fluffy Goldridge soil. The vines produce the tiny berries with thick skins we love from old Wente in Green Valley.
Tasting Notes
The wine leads with lively aromas of lemon oil and grapefruit, with accents of ginger and jasmine. With time in the glass, guava, Mandarin orange, and mango come up, with bright lime zest in the background. The mouth has that fantastic combination of bright freshness and unctuous decadence that we love in chardonnay, with tangerine, young pineapple, and lemongrass flavors followed by a generously lengthy finish of toasty crème brulee, topped off by a fresh kiss of lemon peel.
Food Pairings
This rich/fresh combination makes it equally excellent with velvety pumpkin ravioli in a cream sauce, a simple crab salad, hazelnut crusted sea bass, or Valley Ford’s Estero Gold Reserve asiago-style cheese.
Vintage Notes
The wet weather during flowering in 2015 reduced our crop at Walker by about a third, giving extra concentration to this vintage.
Winemaking Notes
This wine is such a pleasure to produce, other than the 6 months it seems to always take to complete its fermentations – ah, the beauty of old vine chard. We ferment the majority of Walker with indigenous yeast, and hedge our bets with a bit of M2, a favorite inoculum. Both primary fermentations went quickly in 2015, but as always, the malolactic lagged and didn’t complete until July. We blended 14 barrels of the indigenous lot and 4 of the M2 to create the blend in August of 2016; then went back to barrel on primary lees again until bottling in February of 2017. We vary the barrels a bit for complexity in this wine, but focus on Seguin Moreau for its ginger notes, and Taransaud for the great structure and subtle toffee flavor. Walker is all about the lively, bright fruit, so care to stay out of its way is crucial.
Technical Info
Alcohol: 14% Ta: 6.4 g/L pH: 3.38 Barrel Aging: 15 months in French oak (50% new barrels)
Vineyard Notes
The rudder in crafting Dutton-Goldfield wines is our endeavor to produce wines that our winemakers love to drink. We see no more reliable assessment, and besides, it covers our downside risk. Walker Chardonnay is a wine we hugely love to drink, and owes its existence to that fact. We’ve been producing wine from the old Wente vines up at Walker since 2006 for our Dutton Ranch Chardonnay, and the preponderance of the barrels still support that program; but the 2011 Walker was the jewel of the year for Dan and a designated bottling just had to be done. This wine is everything we want of Green Valley Chardonnay: powerful citrus fruit and tense acidity wrapped in the candied setting of classic chardonnay winemaking. The block, planted in the early 1980s, is situated 500 vertical feet above Purrington Creek on fluffy Goldridge soil. The vines produce the tiny berries with thick skins we love from old Wente in Green Valley.
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