With abundant winter rainfall, and a warm February, the 2016 growing season had an early budbreak. The early start to the season was followed by a warm summer without any significant heat events, and an ideally timed cooldown in August. The result was a robust crop of exceptional quality. We began harvesting our Chardonnay in mid-August and were done by September 12th, with average Brix of 21.0 to 22.5˚. For complexity and texture, we did a traditional pigeage for two to three hours, and allowed one-third skin contact. To accentuate the signature fruit and natural nuttiness of our estate grapes, we also fermented this wine with 100% indigenous yeast. Aging occurred in both barrels (85%) and larger casks (15%), all of which were French oak (5% new). The wine was fermented sur lie for 8 months and underwent 90% indigenous malolactic fermentation.