Hartford Court ‘Stone Cote Vineyard’ Chardonnay is just one of these fantastic estates many single vineyard offerings. It is a complex wine having spent 14 months in French oak (30% new) that is packed with a multitude of flavours from white peach, spiced pears, orange blossom, hazelnuts, and crushed rocks. Stone fruit, nectarine, and tangelo flavours are counterbalanced with a flinty, textural finish. The wine retains amazing freshness on the finish and is quite an experience to drink.
The Stone Côte Vineyard is a small vineyard block within the renowned Durell Vineyard, which sits upon an ancient riverbed at the southern end of the Sonoma Coast AVA. The vineyard’s topography was shaped eons ago by a river flowing through volcanic and sedimentary rock on its way to the San Pablo Bay. Tumbled and water-worn river rocks now litter the landscape, and very little topsoil remains. The nutritionally challenged soils force the vines to search deeply for nutrients and water, and as a result, the stressed vines yield very small clusters with intense varietal flavours.
Climatically, this vineyard site is characterized by relatively cool daytime temperatures and maritime breezes, which marry with the low-fertility soils to create an ideal site for growing Chardonnay. The wine’s flinty aromas and mineral-laden finish reflects this vineyard’s intrinsic terroir.
