2016 Walter Scott Chardonnay X-Novo Vineyard- USA, Oregon, Willamette Valley, Eola - Amity Hills (8/10/2018)
Light hay in color, has some SO2 that needs time to air out; starts slowly and just builds in richness to a crescendo, then fades slowly in a long finish, great acidity and balance, with some nice umami/saline notes. Tremendous wine, and maybe the closest thing to a Burg-killer I’ve found from any domestic Chardonnay. (93 pts.)
Larger vintage, ken says it’s close in quality and the wines are killer…
FYI, I sell these wines and have for 5+ years, ken is a friend and making stellar wines…
FYI part 2… of you give Fu credit for turning you into these wines it was a sample I sent him a damn year before he actually tried it that got him into these wines…
I think at this point they need to hire Fu as their national sales manager!
Yum, still have some of those and some '15’s left. I honestly think that Marcus Goodfellow’s Richard’s Cuvee and surprisingly the Arterberry Maresh (Maresh vineyard) are in the same league. I think Walter Scott’s Freedom hill is super interesting as well and the Budget Cuvee is impressive. Looking forward to the release. Will be going deeper than last year.
X Novo and single vineyards are Spring release, Combe Verte chard/Pinot fall release… last year they released the Ruth with the Combe Verte’s, I don’t think that is happening this year.
I dug up my old email to see when this was made available: Feb 13, 2018. This is what they had to say:
2016 Chardonnay, X Novo Vineyard, Eola-Amity Hills
275 cases produced
$65.00
In 2010 Craig & Robin Williams, of California Cabernet fame, came to Oregon where they purchased a few pieces of land in the Eola-Amity Hills and began planting vineyards. What they did would turn heads. For example, the Chardonnay block that we are honored to work with is planted to at least fifteen different clones of Chardonnay! It is one of the most unique sites in Oregon, if not the west coast, so much so that Wine & Spirits magazine just wrote an article on Willamette Valley Chardonnay and focused on this site. The site is farmed impeccably by Stirling Fox with Craig constantly pushing to produce the best Chardonnay in the Valley.
The wine has an incredible, almost exotic intensity leaning towards, lemongrass, yellow peach, tangerine and mango skin. On the palate it has great balance with a dense concentration of fruit leading to a long minerally finish.
This wine was fermented with ambient yeast and minimal bâtonnage. Then aged in a mix of new and neutral 500 & 350 liter barrels for 12 months. The wine is finally racked and blended to stainless steel for an additional 3 months prior to bottling.
The X-Novo is a great Chardonnay and, to me at least, a fascinating counterpoint to the finesse and elegance of Ken’s Freedom Hill Chardonnay.
As Jason noted, the single vineyard Chardonnay’s and Pinot Noir’s will be released in the Spring. For 2017 there will be 4 SVD Chardonnay’s: Freedom Hill, Justice, Seven Springs and X-Novo.
Ken’s first ever Gamay from Arlyn Vineyard (Chehalem Mountains AVA) and Cuvee Ruth (Eola-Amity) will both be part of the Fall Release along with both the Willamette Valley Chardonnay and Pinot Noir bottlings.