05/19/2025
To be honest, I’ve never been a Chardonnay fan! When I first started drinking white wine, I always reached for a Sauvignon Blanc, which is why our first white wine varietal was Sauv Blanc. It was easy to drink, light, and usually bursting with citrus notes. So when it came time to decide what varietal to plant in place of a small section of our Pinot Noir, Chardonnay wasn’t at the top of my list. It felt a little… outdated. A wine of the past.
But as we poured at local events, especially the Fremont Art Festival, we kept hearing the same request over and over: “I’ll take a glass of Chardonnay,” said with the confidence of someone assuming, of course we made one. And when I started talking to local restaurant owners, the message was the same: if you’re pouring white wine, Chardonnay is a must.
After plenty of thought (and more than a few long walks through the vineyard), I decided to take the leap. In 2023, we planted our first section of Chardonnay, about 500 vines. If the season is kind to us, we’re hoping for enough fruit to produce around
