MacRostie Wildcat Mountain Chardonnay
TASTING NOTES: Vibrant fruit drives this wine with the underlying minerality and lemon ginger known for this vineyard. This wine has weight, substance and complexity. It finishes long with a note of honey which is this wine’s signature. Don’t be shy about laying this down to age.
WINEMAKING NOTES:
The grapes went directly to press as whole clusters. The resulting juice was cold settled, racked off of its press lees, and moved directly to barrel for a cool fermentation. It was aged in these same French oak barrels for 10 months. The fermentation lees were stirred several times throughout the aging process. Once malolactic conversion was complete, the wine was left to age. The best barrels from each lot were then selected for the Wildcat Mountain blend. The wine was bottled on August 15, 2015.
MacRostie WineryHARVEST NOTES: The 2014 vintage was bountiful and picks were done before the rain. Fruit from three different blocks with three different clones went into this vintage of Wildcat Mountain Chardonnay. Clone 76 and 95 contribute the aromas that are typical of wildcat while the clone 17 brought richness to the mouth feel. The blocks were pick three separate days:- September 22nd and September 24th and October 2nd of 2013.
ORIGIN: The grapes for this Chardonnay came exclusively from our Wildcat Mountain Vineyard, owned by Steve MacRostie and his partners Nancy and Tony Lilly. Here the vines dig into the sparse volcanic soil and stand firm against the strong winds that race in off of the Pacific Ocean most afternoons. This fog-shrouded mountaintop vineyard is a classic Sonoma Coast site, cool and challenging, and produces wines of great distinction.
91 Points
Wine Advocate
The 2014 Wildcat Mountain Vineyard Chardonnay gives notes of ripe apples and pears over hints of baking bread, crushed stones and allspice. The medium-bodied palate gives a good amount of elegant, understated savory and mineral flavors with a silken texture and refreshing finish.
- Lisa PerrottiBrown (2014 vintage)
92 Points
Wine Review Online
The Wildcat Mountain bottlings always please me - great acid, complex interplay of fruit and winemaking choices, rich texture and crisp finish are there every vintage. The 2014 emphasizes apple, citrus, honey and a spicy note. This is my kind of cocktail white, but it’s also a player at the table alongside creamy fish preps. Another winner!
- Rich Cook (2014 vintage)
91 Points
Wine Enthusiast
Light, clear and varietal, this wine is pungent in earth, chocolate, black tea and leather, medium - to full-bodied with remarkable offerings of sage, rosemary and savory mushroom. Cherry and cinnamon add to the intrigue and flavor.
- Virginie Boone (2013 vintage)
92 Points
Wine Advocate
The 2013 Chardonnay Wildcat Mountain Vineyard, which I believe MacRostie has been making a long time, is from a site that sits high in volcanic soils on the Sonoma Coast. With a color of light greenish straw, the wine has notes of orange oil, citrus and apple skin followed by a fleshy, full-bodied, seductive and lush mouthfeel. This is the sexiest of the three Chardonnays and the most easy to drink out of the bottle.
- Robert M. Parker, Jr. (2013 vintage)
90 Points
Wine Enthusiast
Fresh and vibrant, offering aromas of ripe tropical fruit, with touches of cream and a graceful texture. The flavors glide along on the finish, ending with a dash of smoke. Drink now through 2018. 523 cases made.
- James Laube (2010 vintage)
90 Points “Cellar Selection”
Wine Enthusiast
There’ s an intensity to this Chardonnay that concentrates the lemon, lime and tropical-fruit flavors and gives them laser-like power. You’ll also find plenty of new oak and a minerality that grounds the richness. This is one of those rare Chardonnays that will benefit from some age; drink from 2015 to 2018.
- Steve Heimoff (2010 vintage)