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Our 2002 Wedell "Hillside Vineyard" Chardonnay is all about Terrior. The wine is unlike any other Chardonnay from our appellation. Although it has undergone 100% malolactic fermentation there is no hint of butter and while it has been aged for a considerable amount of time in new oak, the oak is complimentary but not overpowering. The 2002 Wedell "Hillside Vineyard" Chardonnay has an incredible mouth feel, immersing you in a spectacular balance of oak, fruit and acidity with a lingering complex finish. Because it is so balanced, we feel that we have created a wine that while enjoyable now will age and mature beautifully for many years to come.

In 1995 we planted a north facing hillside vineyard with three different dijon clones of pinot noir (clones 115, 667 &777) on low vigor root stock (rootstock 420a) with the idea to delay bud break, increase hang time and acidity while keeping the vineyard's yield exceptionally low. The 2000 Wedell Cellars Hillside Vineyard Pinot Noir, the first vintage produced from this vineyard has been widely praised in the wine press, with one wine writer stating that it could be easily mistaken for Domaine De La Romanee Conti while another remarked that it is one of the best Central Coast Pinot Noirs in memory. Our Hillside Vineyard was planted at a density of almost 2000 vines per acre, yet the yield from more than 2300 vines was only slightly more than one pound per vine. The already low vigor vines were crop thinned to one cluster per shoot and no more than four shoots per vine, the average cluster was less than five ounces! Our Hillside Pinot Noir harvests a week later, the sugars are more than 2 Brix lower and the acids are higher than the rest of Edna Valley. It is our belief that especially with Pinot Noir, most of the work is done in the Vineyard, our 2001 Hillside Vineyard Pinot Noir reflects this philosophy and the results are spectacular. The grapes after harvest were destemmed, the free run juice pumped off and discarded, the grapes then spent ten days on their skins fermenting, after which only the free run juice was placed in Demptos Alliers and Troncias New Oak barrels to age sur lies for twenty-one months. The wine was never racked, it was gravity bottled off its lees, unfined and unfiltered on June 12, 2002.

It has always been our philosophy that less is more and the 2002 Wedell Cellars Arroyo Grande Valley Pinot Noir is a fine example of this. After harvest the grapes were destemmed, the free run juice resulting from the destemming was pumped off and discarded (saignee), the grapes were then cold soaked for two days and then open top fermented with the cap being punched down on a regular basis, finally after ten days of fermentation the wine was gently pressed off. Because our Estate Hillside Vineyard Pinot Noir contains only free run and not any pressed wine, our Arroyo Grande Valley Pinot Noir was then combined with the remaining gentle pressing of our Hillside Vineyard Pinot Noir and placed in four new French oak and two three year old French oak barrels to age for sixteen months. The final blend of the 2002 Wedell Cellars Arroyo Grande Pinot Noir is 92% Arroyo Grande Valley and 8% Wedell Cellars Hillside Vineyard Pinot Noir. While aging the wine underwent complete malolactic fermentation and in February 2004 the wine was racked off for assemblage and bottled unfined and unfiltered. The deep color and intense bouquet of cherry, raspberry and cranberry are only a hint at what an extraordinary wine we have created. The richness and complexity is reminiscent of a truly exceptional pinot noir, we feel that this wine while enjoyable now will only improve for years to come.

The 2001 vintage marks the second time that all of our fruit comes from our own hillside vineyards. In our continuing efforts to produce a world class wine we have aggressively pruned our vineyards to keep our yields low and our quality at its peak, this resulted in keeping our yields to less than two tons per acre. Upon harvest we whole cluster press, use indigenous yeast for primary fermentation, then induce malolactic fermentation to soften the high acids that result from our north facing hillside vineyards. The wine was completely barrel fermented and completed primary fermentation on October 5th 2001. We then induced mallolactic fermentation and that finished completely on December 15th 2001. The lees were stirred biweekly through November 2002. In keeping with our philosophy that less is more, we bottled this wine unfined and unfiltered on December 18, 2002. The results are truly spectacular, we feel that we have produced a truly grand-cru style wine in california. The 2001 Wedell Cellars Chardonnay exhibits all the characteristics of a fine french burgundy. With enough acidity to give crispness, and without excessive oak to overpower the fruit we have a truly balanced wine that can be enjoyed on its own or can be paired with many different types of foods.