Longboard Vineyards
2012 Russian River Valley Chardonnay
Chardonnay •Rochioli Vineyard
Russian River Valley
Mission Briefing
Hanging Ten
We may not know much about surfing, but we certainly know an AMAZING white wine when we see one. And that’s just what we discovered in today’s Longboard Vineyards 2012 Russian River Valley Chardonnay.
A bit more robust and weighty that your typical Chardonnay, today’s wine most definitely belongs in the big leagues. Crafted with fruit harvested solely from the sought-after Rochioli Vineyard, today’s wine is luxury from beginning to end, with robust fruit flavors transitioning into an incredibly lush and elegant finish.
Go ahead, treat yourself with today’s delectable Chardonnay.
Tasting Profile
| Look: | Not quite straw yellow in color, but a very pale golden hue throughout the glass. |
|---|---|
| Smell: | Bright and floral on the nose, with delicate aromas of fresh white peach, honeydew melon, lime leaf, river rock minerality, honeycomb, dried white flower petal, lightly steeped herbal tea, and a kiss of buttery brioche. |
| Taste: | Delicious flavors that are very reminiscent of the nose, with added touches of quince, sweet lemongrass, subtle toasted oak, and a touch of homemade caramel. |
| Finish: | Smooth, supple, and incredibly flavorful, this is a very serious Chardonnay. Luxurious white fruit, mixed with touches of caramel, lingers with you through the lengthy finish. |
| Pairing: | Fresh fettuccine alfredo, served with clams. |
What the Winery Says
Our first Rochioli Vineyard Chardonnay. This wine has ample sweet French Oak notes over a honeyed apple core of fruit character. A racy acidity ensures the wine will age very gracefully.
90 Point Review - Robert Parker The 2012 Chardonnay Rochioli Vineyard offers plenty of wet gravel-like minerality along with notes of white peaches and honey, an excellent texture and a subtle hint of oak. Medium to full-bodied and impressively made, this beauty can be drunk over the next 4-5 years.
Wine Enthusiast Review Ripe, jammy pineapple, Meyer lemon and nectarine flavors characterize this Chardonnay. It also shows plenty of new oak and lees notes. Rich and flashy, it’s fully ready to drink now.
- Winemaker
- Oded Shakked
- Accolades
- 92 Points - Wine Spectator, 90 Points - Robert Parker
- Appellation
- Russian River Valley, Sonoma County
- Vineyard
- Rochioli Vineyard
- Fruit Variety
- 100% Chardonnay
- Cooperage
- 11 months in 50% new French oak
- Fermentation
- 100 % barrel fermentation, Lees stirred every two weeks
- ABV
- 14.2%
About the Winery
Wine, Waves and Soul - passion, total commitment, patience and relentless pursuit of balance. In winemaking, as in surfing, one learns to happily surrender to Nature. Control is an illusion, just remain humble and aware and react to what is given to you by the season.
Change is constant. We aim to be flexible and always improve our wines.
Winemaker Oded Shakked
Longboard was born from the passion of Oded Shakked, surfer first, winemaker later, who brings a unique perspective to winemaking, or rather wine growing as he prefers to call it.
A walking melting pot, Oded was born in Israel and has lived and worked (and surfed) on four continents. He fell in love with northern Sonoma County in the late 1980’s and in his words: “I felt roots growing from the bottom of my feet.”
With more than thirty years spent making wine - Oded is as stoked as ever every time a harvest approaches. To him, winemaking is a perfect combination of Art, Science and Agriculture; a craft that keeps you on your toes and never ceases to teach you something new - just like surfing does.
A key Oded insight: Surfing and winemaking are essentially solo activities that can reach across gender, social, economic and age boundaries, creating communities of passionate apostles who know a good wave — and a good wine — when they experience one.
Warm, confident, independent, refined but down-to-earth; Oded’s personality is reflected in every wine he makes.
Vineyard Notes
Dakine Vineyard - pronounced “Da-Kein”- a Hawaiian expression of multiple meanings, here meant as “The Best”. Our own estate vineyard and site of our annual Wine Club gathering.
About four acres of Merlot and just under an acre of Malbec make the bulk of the vines, the grapes were planted in the mid-eighties and were sold to Arrowood winery until 2005.
These “field blended” grapes all go to make our DaKine Vineyard Merlot. In 2000, Oded planted one acre of Syrah and our special little ‘spice rack’ block of mixed varieties (Petit Sirah, Carignane, Grenache, Zinfandel and Malbec) that make up the field-blend for our DaKine Vineyard Syrah flagship wine.
Oded likes the concept and practice of field blends; not only does it begin the winemaking process by supplying grape lots with the “layered complexity” he loves so much but it also provides a link to the old farming practices of the Italian grape farmers that settled in this area more than a century ago.