2002 VENTANA CHANTELLE CHARDONNAY

Doug Meador named this wine "CHANTELLE", French for "little song". The wine is decidedly made emulating the French Chablis Style of Chardonnay. White Burgundy and Chablis are both made from Chardonnay grapes. While the Burgundians favor new barrels for oak taste, in Chablis neutral barrels were prized to minimize or eliminate the taste of oak. These types of wines are fantastic with a wide array of delicate foods. We make small amounts of our Chantelle in the ancient tradition of Chablis, following their winemaking procedures. We select the grapes from a location on the vineyard which is nearly all rock and gravel and gives very small yields. We take the grapes from the vineyard immediately for pressing to retain optimum flavor.

Doug Meador prefers this Chablis Grand Cru Style Chardonnay as the perfect chardonnay style with food.

Our Chantelle is particularly charming with a variety of seafood with which Monterey is blessed. Doug started making small amounts of this style for his family but has now increased the cases to allow us to show it to our Wine Club members and for some Tasting Room sales. The style is dry with flinty, minerally tones and a green apple crispness.