2019 Favia ‘Carbone’ Chardonnay Coombsville Napa Valley

Favia Erickson Winegrowers is a collaboration between Annie Favia and Andy Erickson. Their philosophy is simple: create soulful wines that express the true nature of the vineyards from which they come. Annie and Andy focus on finding unique vineyard sites with soils, climate and aspects ideal for growing exquisite wine grapes, and develop strong relationships with their winegrowers to perfect viticultural practices. In the winery, they carefully coax the grapes into wine. Gentle handling, minimal intervention, and strict monitoring of the wine allow our grapes to speak for themselves.

Many know of Andy Erickson’s efforts as the winemaker at Dalla Valle and Marciano Estate and previously of Screaming Eagle, OVID and Staglin but his wife Annie Favia is also a major Napa Valley talent as a viticulturist. Gaining her tenured experience working with David Abreu, they produce outstanding wines. This newly released 2018 Carbone Cabernet Sauvignon is named after the Carbone family, the original owners of what is now Favia Winery.

JD94 Coming from the Coombsville region (the vines are right beside the winery) in the southern part of Napa Valley, the 2019 Chardonnay Carbone sports a vivid gold hue as well as a beautiful perfume of white flowers, honeysuckle, tart peach, and Meyer lemons. It’s racy, medium-bodied, has bright acidity, and a salty finish that makes you salivate. Give bottles a year or two and it should keep through 2029.
Estate Notes: It is such a pleasure to release the newest vintage of our CARBONE Chardonnay, named after the brothers who originally planted the vineyards and built the winery that now is our home. This young wine showcases all that we love about this variety: focused energy, palate intensity, and a rush of flavors of green apple, pear skin, citrus, and almond cake. Time in the glass helps to unfurl added layers of flavors and aromas—lemongrass, vanilla bean, wet slate, and coriander. The green and golden fruit comes from thirty-two-year-old vines, organically farmed and carefully harvested by hand. Whole-cluster pressed, the juice is fermented in barrel, with only a small percentage of new French oak. We discourage the malolactic fermentation to preserve the vibrant natural acidity, pulling the wine together with a narrow focus. Aging on the lees for ten months, with bâttonage, broadens the mouthfeel and adds length. n the end, this combination makes for a wine that is compelling and hard to resist. 100% Chardonnay