2018 Samsara Chardonnay Sta. Rita Hills

About 2018 Samsara Chardonnay Sta. Rita Hills:

The 2018 Samsara Chardonnay Sta. Rita Hills is made with fruit from 4 stellar sites (Kessler-Haak, Zotovich, John Sebastiano and Donnachadh Vineyards) and only 13 barrels were produced.

Tasting Notes:

Scorched grapefruit, lemon pith and oak-smoke aromas show on the nose of this bottling by winemaker Matt Brady, in only his second stab at this grape. It’s tightly textured on the palate, where warm tones of butter and peach meet with savory sea salt.

Barrel Selection:

barrel fermented in neutral oak

Growing Notes:

The Sta. Rita Hills are situated in the country’s only purely transverse east-west mountain range adjacent to the Pacific Ocean. The AVA was created in 2001. The wind is an incredible asset to this area, circulating air, which keeps the vigor of the vines and deters rot. The wind and fog create some of the coolest summer-time temperatures in California.

The growing season extends 35 to 40 days longer than most other California growing regions, allowing opportunity to pick when stems, seeds, and fruit are all in perfect ripeness.

Winegrowing at SAMsARA starts with selecting special sections within each vineyard where soils, altitudes, slopes, and elevations will bring the best out of the vine. We believe that all of the important work should be done in the vineyard, with little handling or manipulation of the fruit once it reaches the winery.

Winemaking Notes:

100% Chardonnay. Hand-harvested early for acidity and freshness from the Kessler-Haak, John Sebastiano, Donnachadh and Zotovich Vineyards. Native Yeast and barrel fermented in neutral oak, complete malolactic fermentation adds richness, texture and weight.  Year -round maturation at 57 degrees. No fining , no filtering

About The Winery:

SAMsARA Wine Company was founded in 2002 by Joan and Dave Szkutak. The winery name is a Sanskrit word meaning “the eternal cycle of life” representing the eternal cycle that every vine and wine goes through in its lifetime. SAMsARA’s philosophy of picking pristine and healthy fruit allows for a non-manipulated winemaking process. SAMsARA’s fruit is grown in ¾-acre plots of personally selected rows in various Sta. Rita Hills vineyards.

Along with the climate and soil, these diverse, handcrafted wines are a rare combination of minerality, high acidity, and moderate alcohol levels.

SAMsARA produces limited releases of Pinot Noir, Syrah, Grenache and Chardonnay from carefully selected micro-sites within Sta. Rita Hill’s most distinctive vineyards. The resulting wines are an interpretation of the tenuous balance between the power of natural elements beyond our control and the human desire to reach perfection.

Winemaker Matt Brady works hard in the vineyard to ensure that grapes reach the winery with perfect ripeness, flavor, acidity, and tannins. Once the grapes are there, there is as little intervention as possible in the winemaking process, resulting in the utmost expression of the fruit, soil, site, and region, otherwise known as terroir.