Les Pierres Chardonnay 2022

This single-vineyard cuvée, classified in the Sonoma Coast appellation, comes from the Les Pierres vineyard, located in the Sonoma Valley in California. The vines sit on an ancient riverbed of clay and gravel loams, scattered with cobblestones that give the grapes a mineral imprint. The stones capture the heat of the sun and release it to the vines, while cool fog tempers the heat of the valley and extends the ripening season.

The grapes are harvested by hand, kept cool, sorted and then whole-cluster pressed. After 24 hours of natural settling, the juice ferments in one-year-old French oak barrels, with full malolactic fermentation. The wine stays on the lees for five months, then it is blended and aged in three-year-old barrels, for around 14 months of ageing in total, before bottle ageing.

This wine reveals notes of lemon curd, Meyer lemon, lime, peach, melon, cedar, toasted hazelnut, sweet spices and chalk. Citrus dominates a luminous bouquet, underlined by delicate oak and a mineral signature of chalk and slate. The juicy, balanced palate rests on lemony acidity and stretches into a long, spicy finish.

In the United States, 90% of the wine produced comes from California. It was the influx of gold prospectors to California that boosted the California wine industry in the mid-19th century, particularly in the Sonoma and Napa region. At the start of the 20th century, there were 800 wineries. From 1919 to 1933 Prohibition destroyed the vast majority of the California wine industry so that by 1933, only 140 wineries remained producing wine. It was only from 1960 that the wine industry began to recover from Prohibition and California was primarily known for the production of fortified wines (in the style of Port). It was also in the 1960s that some of the most famous estates were created (Mondavi, Heitz Wine Cellars, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, etc...). In 1976, a significant event took place: the legendary tasting competition better known as the "Judgment of Paris". He sees the greatest French wines opposing the new American wines. This May 24, an unexpected result shakes the world of wine, since to everyone's surprise, it is the United States which wins. However, this competition remains relatively unknown to the general public. Today, there is no doubt that the United States produces great wines. Even though California largely monopolizes the reputation of American wines with its excellent Zinfandels, the state of Oregon produces some of the best Pinot Noir in the world and the state of Washington offers excellent Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet-Sauvignon.