Maybe if stainless steel could be considered a gem, but thank you! Youāre a ruby!
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First tasted Claireās wine at Third Coast Soif in Chicago. The Chardonnay barrel samples she brought still give me goosebumps. Stoked to share these with friends and family! Canāt wait to dive into the vertical as well! Cheers!
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Her wines are carried locally at BottlesUp! in Lakeview.
Claire, Iām sad to say I just cracked into the case from last year! The Zinfandel is rockinā and your description is spot on: a leaner old school California Zin.
I canāt speak for the Syrahs (yet) but if they meet @Adam_Frischās lofty standards for his (maybe?) favorite grape, youāre in good hands. As for the Zin, buy with confidence at a phenomenal price.
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Love her Zins too, theyāre awesome, budget just didnāt stretch this time around!
Good to know! Iāll have to pop over to Bottles Up! Sometime. Seems that they have quite the selection and great curation.
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Just ordered a handful from your site! Looking especially forward to those Syrahs!
Itās such a great shop with wonderful people!
Because @Ed_Kurtzman considered himself stainless steel, youāll be my last offer taken this fabulous Berserker year and it sounds like Iāll be happy. Took a 4 pack of your chards and canāt wait to try them.
Iām sorry to hear about no more Sierra Foothills Zinfandel. I loved last yearās BD zin, not sure what vintage it was. Punchy red fruited zin with good acidity is a fabulous style of zin. Perfect pizza wine and also matched with pasta with red sauce! Iām excited to try the Chardonnay this year, picked up 2 of each vintage and got a couple of the ā19 Zinfandel. Thanks Claire.
Claire, just curious to know how many cases of the Zin were made. I looked but did not see it on the spec sheet.
Thanks
I made 217 cases of the Zinfandel, so just under 9 barrels.
Thanks, I hope you had a great Berserker weekend!!!
Case has shipped I see, many thanks
Looking forward to these!
Herb
Just saw my case shipped also! Really looking forward to this. I am a Zin fan and yours sound amazing, and always love Syrah. My son visited a couple of your tastings at the facility and loved your wines! He has several bottles ready to share when I make it out there.
Everything went smooth Claire and picked up my case today.
Also a big thanks for the notes on the wines, I was going to age the Syrah for a couple of years though (unless I canāt wait LOL)
Claire, I just had the Chardonnay and it was really good, not an over the top wine by any means.
The question I have is do you think that these will age for a while or not? If I remember correctly, these were just bottled not that long ago.
Thanks for your input,
Herb
Popped my chard last night too, really wonderful stuff!
Hi Herb, Iām so glad you enjoyed the Lolonis Chardonnay. Apologies for the delay in my response, I wanted to take the time to look back through my notes to give you a better answer.
2022 was peak drought and we had a heat wave before picking, so the acidity is lower than what I would have liked. On the other hand, it has a glycerol viscosity to it that gives it really compelling texture paired with neutral oak fermentation and sur lie aging. The 2021 Lolonis Chardonnay had a much more even ripening season and so I was able to get ripeness with great acidity. In 2023, I chose to get the fruit off the vine before it rained 1"+ that would have at best diluted the wine, and at worst caused rot to set in. At 12% alc the 2023 isnāt as phenolically ripe as I would have ideally wanted, but much higher acidity.
Based on pH/TA, I do think that the 2021 Chardonnay has a bit more aging potential than the 2022, but I bottled both with DIAM 5ās. I bottled the 2022 with 10-15ppm free (I do manual Ripper titrations, thus the range). I would comfortably give it 3 more years of aging potential, after that I just donāt know. 2021 and 2022 have comparable alcohol levels, so no big difference in aging potential there.
Please donāt hesitate if thereās anything else you have questions about. I know itās not a precise answer Iām giving you, but every vintage is its own adventure and Iāve been working with the site for only 3 years now.
Cheers!
Thanks so much for the reply Claire. I felt that a year or two would be advantageous to already really fine bottle of Chard but I wanted your opinion as well.
All the best, and thanks for making such good wine
Herb