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About Our Wines
Kistler Chardonnay is made using traditional French techniques, with the winemaker himself performing the cellar work on the wines. Kistler Chardonnay has a distinct character. It is completely barrel-fermented using indigenous and cultured yeasts, is aged in 50% new French oak barrels unracked and in contact with all its fermentation lees, has undergone a malolactic fermentation, receives minimal handling and processing, and is bottled unfiltered and, generally, unfined after 11-18 months of barrel age.
Our low-yielding (pruned and thinned to yield about two tons per acre) Pinot Noir vineyards in the Russian River Valley and the Sonoma Coast contain a mixture of clones from French and American sources. The Pinot Noir is made with an initial extended cold maceration of the grapes with their juice (for the extraction of concentrated flavors without tannin), followed by a traditional Burgundian fermentation in small, open-top fermenters. Total cuvaison time is up to four weeks and the wine is aged in 100% new French oak barrels for 14 months before being bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Past Vintage Comments
Recently I tasted through some of our older chardonnays made in the 1990’s, and I was pleasantly surprised by the number of wines still providing enjoyable drinking–particularly selected wines from the 92, 93, 94, 95, 97, and 99 vintages. There is unquestionably a trade-off between early drinkability and longevity, with the longest distance runner often being the most austere and least expressive wine in its youth. We are always striving to strike the right balance between these attributes, combining the early appeal one expects from a California chardonnay with the staying power of a white Burgundy... Read more
Releases
Tasting Notes, Retail Prices, Vintage Information
Our wines are released semiannually: once in the spring and once in the fall. Most of our wines are available exclusively through our Mailing List. We sell all of our wine each release and we do not have any previously released wine available for sale.
Here are our four recent newsletters. They include general descriptions of the vintage as well as tasting notes and release prices for the included wines.
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