Milla Handley/Handley Cellars/White Wines

Handley Cellars is known for world class Pinot Noir.We will features the Pinots shortly,but let's start with 2 great white wines from this amazing Anderson Valley winery.Ten miles from the Pacific coast, cool foggy nights and bright sunny days characterize the Handley Estate Vineyard in Anderson Valley’s “Deep End.” One of California’s coolest grape growing regions, the climate of Anderson Valley is ideal for the 13.4 acres of Pinot Noir, 12.2 acres of Chardonnay, and 3.2 acres of Gewürztraminer planted here. All of our Estate Chardonnay and sparkling wines are produced entirely from Estate fruit, as are most of our reserve bottlings of Pinot Noir. We farm responsibly, using organic methods and avoiding chemicals whenever possible. We work to encourage healthy, living soils, which in turn support the grapevines and yield flavorful fruit that shows varietal character and regional attributes. Handley Cellars completed the CCOF Organic certification process for grape growing in 2005, because we believe that this helps minimize our impact on the environment and creates a healthy workplace for our employees. We’ve taken additional steps to support environmental conservation at Handley, which include running the winery on 75 percent solar powered electricity, installing an EV charging station onsite for our guests, and using non-toxic products in all possible aspects of running the winery.Now let's check out the tasting notes on our first two wines from Handley Cellars.2013 Chardonnay Estate Anderson Valley The Handley Estate Vineyard is organically farmed and CCOF certified. In 2013, the dry warm spring initiated early flowering and fruit set. Moderate to warm weather continued throughout the rest of the growing season resulting in one of our earliest and ripest harvests. This, combined with the first harvest of our new vineyard blocks of Chardonnay (planted in 2010), gave us lots of wonderfully ripe fruit to work with. The new blocks of Clone 76, a Burgundy selection, and Clone 4 ripened easily and contributed great tropical flavors and body to this vintage of our Estate Chardonnay. The older blocks of Clone 4 and Ordway field selection ripened later. They provided traditional apple and stone fruit flavors, and added acidity and structure to the blend. We press all our Estate Chardonnay whole cluster to stainless steel tanks and allow it to settle for three days. The clear juice is then inoculated with a mix of yeasts including Symphony, Cross Evolution, and D47. About one third of the way through fermentation, we racked the wine to a mix of French oak barrels (24% new). After completing fermentation, about 30% of the barrels were inoculated with a malolactic culture to soften the acidity. The wine was aged for six months in barrel and sterile filtered before bottling. No eggs, dairy, or animal derived products were used in the production of this wine. 2013 Pinot Blanc Mendocino County The majority (90%) of the fruit for this wine came from Schrader Ranch, located at the southern end of the Ukiah Valley. This area is known to produce full-flavored Chardonnay and is a great site for Pinot Blanc. Its location along the Russian River is slightly cooler than much of the Ukiah Valley, and the deep alluvial soils are fertile and well drained, providing ample moisture to the deep rooted vines. These growing conditions are conducive to producing ripe fruit flavors at lower sugar concentrations. A small amount of Riesling from The Green Ranch on Mendocino Ridge was added to increase acidity and add structure to the wine. The Pinot Blanc fruit was picked by hand and gently pressed full-cluster to stainless steel tanks for settling. After three days, the juice was racked off solids to another stainless steel tank and inoculated with VL1 yeast. The wine was fermented at 58� F and was stopped with a hint of sugar remaining. The Riesling was handled similarly, and the wines were blended post-fermentation. These wines were fermented in 100% stainless steel with no malolactic fermentation. No meat, dairy, eggs or other common allergens were used in the production of this wine. Click here and join us We saved you a seat. Click here and we will pour a glass of this special wine from Handley Cellars.