The John Muir Hanna Vineyard, one of the vineyard sources for the famed 1973 vintage of Chateau Montelena, was the source of 55% of the fruit.  It is a mix of clonal selections from Swanson Vyds and clone 17 from Robert Young Vineyards.  Both are selections from Wente.  The balance of the fruit is from Orchard Vineyards which is a mix of the original JMH selection, Swanson, and clone 4.  Both vineyards are owned and farmed by the Hanna Family. They are at the base of the foothills northwest of Napa and receive significant maritime influence, which helps extend the growing season.  During this growing season we used no fertilizers, herbicides, or insecticides.  All fungicides were registered for use in organic food production.

The fruit was picked before sunrise and was pressed without destemming or crushing.  The juice was chilled to 50º and allowed to settle for three days.  It was then racked to a new tank and inoculated with yeast.  The temperature was adjusted to maintain a brix drop of approximately 1º per day.  Fermentation was complete by October 10.  It was racked to barrels on October 25. 

The wine was aged for eight months in French oak barrels from the Allier forest (10% were new).  It was topped every two weeks during the barrel aging, then racked to one tank on June 30, 2008.  It was heat and cold stabilized, filtered and then bottled on July 12.  The wine was bottle aged for 13 months before release.  625 cases were produced.

The 2008 Muir’s Legacy Chardonnay is a truly elegant wine.  It has an extraordinary balance between acid, fruit, and mouth feel, exhibiting notes of tropical fruit, melon, apple and pear, all tied together by a subtle touch of oak.  The wine can be paired very effectively with pork, chicken or game birds, salmon, Asian dishes, flavorful cheese and fresh fruit.