2016 Arnot-Roberts ‘Watson Ranch’ Chardonnay

The 2016 Chardonnay Watson Ranch is powerful and ample, as it often is, but also has quite a bit of aromatic freshness to play off the richness of the yellow orchard fruit. This is an especially savory, mineral-driven style of Chardonnay, with the natural breadth of Carneros, and phenomenal balance.
WSI95 The Watson Ranch vineyard is perched on a steep hillside overlooking the San Pablo Bay in the southernmost end of the Napa Valley. The vineyard can be seen on the top of the hill just east of the Green Island Vineyard which we sourced fruit from 2007-09. Exposed and austere, the Watson Ranch is a wind whipped site planted in 1993 on marine deposits over limestone. This soil type is extremely rare on the North Coast and is coupled with organic farming techniques, giving this parcel great potential to produce Chardonnay of singular character, structure and nuance. Vinification: Whole cluster pressed to stainless steel for native primary fermentation at ambient temperature. No heating or cooling applied. Full malolactic. Aging: 7 months in neutral French oak