Vineyard: 99% chardonnay, 1% aligoté from X Omni Vineyard, hand-picked 9/20/24 and 10/3/24. Organically farmed, spur-pruned, densely planted on rootstock with irrigation. Two blocks each with 15 distinct clones of chardonnay, one block includes 1.5 rows of aligoté. Rocky Nekia and Gelderman silty clay loam soils over volcanic basalt. Planted between 2014 and 2016 on rootstock. Vines spaced 3.5x6 between 475’-515’, slopes between 2-10%.

Vintage: A wet winter was followed by a mid-January freeze and a cool, wet early March. Bud break occurred mid-April, followed by a varied May that included both a heat wave and cool periods. Early June was warm, and warmer sites bloomed weeks before cooler or higher elevation, sites – a bit of rain helped temper fruit set. Yields were average. After a hot early July, temperatures cooled, and a temperate August set vines up for an exceptionally long and glorious harvest, which began on September 10 in Dundee and concluded on October 10 in South Salem. All lots were crushed and the must allowed to brown in steel before sulfur was added. Primary fermentation completed quickly with ambient yeasts in a warm cellar with full solids in primarily new, once and twice used extra tight grain French oak. As the cellar cooled, ambient malolactic fermentation progressed, completing between late 2024 and mid 2025. Very little lees stirring was employed. The wines aged one year in oak before being moved to steel tanks in August 2025 for a second winter on the lees in a cold cellar. The 2024 wines feature high natural acidity, prominent site expression with intense aromatics, depth of flavor, with texture, density and structure to age for decades.

Vinification: Block 5 from X Omni was hand-picked on 9/20/24. Crushed and pressed hard for three hours, the must then browned in steel for 6-12 hours before a sulfur addition; the hard press was not sulfured. Ambient primary fermentation engaged with block and vineyard specific pied de cuve in steel before the lot was transferred with full solids to 84% new 228L/265L barrels & 350L puncheons, and 16% once used 228L barrels. Hand-picked 10/3/24, Block 4 from X Omni was crushed and pressed hard for three hours, then browned in steel for six hours before a sulfur addition. Ambient primary fermentation engaged in tank with vineyard and block specific pied de cuve before the lot was transferred with full solids to 100% new 228L and 265L barrels. Primary fermentation proceeded quite leisurely in two of the three barrels, and ambient malolactic was still progressing in a cold cellar after twelve months in extra tight grain French oak from La Fabrique Eric Millard. In late summer 2025, a blend was made in steel of 67% Block 5 and 33% Block 4, from 33% new and 67% once used 228L barrels. The tank was sulfured in the fall of 2025 following completion of malolactic in tank. The 2024 XO Chardonnay aged an additional six months in steel on lees. No fining or filtration. 49mm DIAM 10.  

Chemistry: 7.37 g/L TA | 3.18 pH | 13% | 0.8g/L RS | 0.42 g/L VA | 0.15 g/L malic | ~45ppm SO2 (free)