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Bresa 2020 Chardonnay

At the heart of the Bald Mountain vineyard sit the oldest plantings, on a swale of sheer rock. It was impossible not to make a wine from this plot that represents so much of California history, and potential.

Far Mountain Bresa

Grown on several rows in the oldest section of a historic vineyard just below the peak of Bald Mountain, Bresa exudes the intensity and minerality of its extreme mountain vineyard site.

Starting with a single barrel, we wanted to see how a wine from this plot would develop in isolation. The resulting wine has less fruit character and in place a magnified minerality and wild intensity of texture. You can wonder if you are really in California, so pure and salty is the impression. Bresa's name is a reference to Breccia, a sedimentary rock that forms near the source of volcanic events.  The mountainous ridge between Sonoma and Napa on which Bald Mountain sits, adjoining the Moon Mountain District where we grow our Cabernet, is a volcanic formation.

We were attracted to Bald Mountain vineyard for the old vine Wente clone that in some parts of the vineyard dates back to the early 1970s. While this vineyard as a whole makes up the majority or all of Myrna, there is one specific are where old vines sit on a rise of almost only fractured basalt with little topsoil, a dramatic site.  The resulting wine has less fruit character and in place a magnified minerality and wild intensity of texture.

The structure and almost body of this wine are accentuated by the winemaking approach.  As with all our wines, the approach is minimalist, and the work is to accentuate the site's natural characteristics. Minerality and exotic savory characteristics are found on the nose, followed by a palate marked by piercing minerality and sappy viscosity to the texture. The chiseled structure continues on impressively.

Region

Sonoma County

Appellation

Sonoma Valley

Farming Method

Bald Mountain is dry-framed

Oak

12 months in 100% new oak

Alcohol

13.5%

Production

50 cases

Vintages

The Vineyard Sources

Bald Mountain Vineyard

Bald Mountain Vineyard

Sonoma Valley AVA

A remarkable combination of old vines, heritage clones, dry farming, altitude, and sheer beauty.

Reviews

This is a phenolic and layered white with dried apple and pie crust aromas and flavors. Lemon curd and rind. Grape skin. Full and fresh with tannic tension that frames the wine and gives length and seriousness with bitter lemon and flint at the end. This will age nicely.

- 95 Points, James Suckling

Dramatic Sites. Dramatic Wines.

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