Bouchaine’s 100-acre estate vineyard lies on the southern border of Napa Valley’s Carneros district, overlooking the San Francisco bay with the financial district in the distance. Fog, wind, and the cold night time temperatures of this unique geographical area lend a distinctive regional identity to our Chardonnay.

Growing Season
The 2021 growing season will be remembered as a winemaker’s vintage. Not too cold, not too hot, not too wet, and no frost. However, we were in the grips of a multiyear drought. While we enjoy dry farming when we have average rainfall, in vintages where the rainfall is half of average (like 2021) we do irrigate to allow for ideal shoot growth and ripening. Bouchaine is lucky to have a huge reservoir so we were able to irrigate early in the season to get our vine canopies full. Drought conditions do have some positives when it comes to winemaking as they bring us smaller berries with beautifully concentrated flavors at harvest. We also lucked out with consistent weather throughout the summer giving us ideal ripening at an even pace. A little sun, a bit of water, and a lot of hard work in the vineyard allowed us to bring in a killer 2021 vintage!

Vinification
Our Estate Chardonnay is a blend of 35-year old vines and Dijon plantings from 1996. The age of the vines provides intensity and depth not found in young vineyards. Chardonnay is the ultimate medium for the winemaker’s skills and imagination. Bouchaine’s winemaking vision calls for the production of more than a dozen different Chardonnay wines from our estate blocks, which are in turn melded into the final Estate Chardonnay.

Tasting Notes
I was born to perform—estate Chardonnay vines planted in 1984 are my stage, and I’ve been fine-tuning my act for decades. Layers of nectarine, clementine, and orange blossom step into the spotlight, joined by a smooth vanilla bass line. Just when you think you know the melody, I build and build until—bam!—I hit you with a sumptuous crescendo. The encore? Knowing that every sip supports Festival Napa Valley and the Bouchaine Young Artist Series. Take a bow.