2015 J. Lohr Vineyard Series October Night Chardonnay
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Rich Cook, Wine Review Online
- “This vintage of October Night delivers its typical bold, spicy style, but adds some crisp acidity to counter the richness and weight, making it a great solo glass that features apple, pear and citrus fruit that are nicely integrated from start to finish, where that acid pop hits you in the best possible way. A mildly spiced white fish dish will showcase this beautifully.”
The 2015 October Night Chardonnay is pale straw yellow in color with floral aromas of gardenia, orange blossom, wet stone and ripe apple. Traditional Burgundian winemaking techniques, such as weekly stirring of the lees in French oak barrels, were used to complement these exotic aromatics, providing rich, elegant texture. This Chardonnay finishes long on the palate with ripe tangerine, baking spices and a hint of toasted oak.
— Kristen Barnhisel, winemaker, white wines
Wine Details
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Composition Blend
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100%
Chardonnay
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Origin
Arroyo Seco AVA, Monterey County, CA
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Cellaring
Best enjoyed now through 2019.
5 Years -
Food Pairings
This wine is the perfect pairing to roasted chicken with sweet herbs, cedar plank salmon or almond crusted halibut.
Vintage
The 2015 vintage was a very low rainfall year, with a cool spring and warm and windy summer. This weather provided the warmth needed for ripening but also preserved the fresh acidity of this Arroyo Seco fruit. 2015 also marks the third vintage working with our French viticultural consultant, Xavier Choné, on Chardonnay irrigation in the Arroyo Seco. Moving to more “rainfall-like” - 24 to 36 hour - infrequent irrigation events in the spring with a six to eight week “dry-down” between berry set and veraison before resumption of these longer irrigation events has helped increase aroma intensity and concentration of flavors. Our 2015 harvest of Clone 809 Chardonnay (the backbone of October Night Chardonnay) occurred on October 9th at 24.8° Brix. As with many vineyards in 2015, this was 7 to 10 days earlier than expected.
Vineyards
The vineyards for the October Night Chardonnay lie in J. Lohr’s Block 9 plantings in the Arroyo Seco AVA of Monterey County, near the mouth of the Arroyo Seco River, which provides the vines a slightly more wind-protected environment in which to grow. Comprised largely of Dijon Clone 809 Chardonnay - known in some circles as the Musqué Clone - these vines produce a very distinctive and attractive, powerful floral character. The soil is laden throughout its loamy profile with “Greenfield potatoes,” stones that resemble potatoes in size and appearance and which absorb heat during the day and radiate their heat after sunset, enhancing floral character and richness.
