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Napa Valley Chardonnay
It is not one detail, but a thousand details, that converge to create the recognized Far Niente "house style." Founded with a passion to make exceptional wines, and built on ownership of the finest vineyards, Far Niente makes Napa Valley Chardonnays that are rich in aroma, flavor, and texture, yet balanced with a graceful finesse. Each vintage brings fresh challenges. Through our experience, skill, and conscientious attention to detail, the wine expresses the magic of each vintage.
Far Niente blends wines from its various estate Chardonnay vineyards to create its distinctive style. When young, these wines offer fresh fruit and a marvelous finish; with time, they slowly reveal the wine's complex nature through added texture, richness, weight, and depth. Far Niente Chardonnay has earned its reputation as one of the great white wines worthy of aging.
While modern analysis is invaluable in winemaking, there is no substitute for tasting. Our winemaker walks and tastes each vineyard block to determine when to harvest. The feel for the year is critical. The grapes are hand picked and then hand sorted at the winery. Shortly after starting fermentation in stainless tanks, the must is racked into a high percentage of new French oak barrels. To assure proper development, the barrels are topped biweekly, allowing our wine to age gracefully on its yeast lees for eight months. The winemaker evaluates each barrel for quality and style before it may be included in the blend.
The resulting Far Niente Chardonnays are classically structured wines that are lush and round on the palate, while displaying the typical intensity of fruit and spicy oak aromas that have become synonymous with our "house style." While the finish is long and clean, the flavors become increasingly full and complex with time. Our experience is that these wines improve in the bottle for at least five years, although they can grow in complexity and depth for possibly ten years or more.