Trail Marker - Quink Vineyard Chardonnay Santa Cruz Mountains Mount Eden Clone 2021 750ml (13.4% abv)

only got 6

• Trail Marker was born in 2012 when Emily Virgil and Drew Huffine bought 1 ton of Chardonnay from the remote Manchester Ridge vineyard located at high elevation up in the Mendocino Ridge AVA
• The goal of Trail Marker is to work with cooler, coastal sites where flavor development occurs at lower sugars, and the resulting wines are more about finesse and delineation than about brawn. The cellar techniques carry this philosophy forward with “hands-off” winemaking, including fermentations with indigenous yeasts, minimal handling in the cellar, and little or no new oak
• Their dream of producing small lots of high elevation Chardonnay and Pinot Noir has expanded to include the Santa Cruz Mountains with Chapel, Quink and Saveria vineyards
• Drew and Emily are ferreting out some of the most exciting and unique vineyards in the spirit of the name “Trail Marker”, which reflects the search for these special places where man and nature meet in a time and place that creates the essence of the vintage and vineyard in each bottle produced

Historically called Biagini Vineyard, this is one of the original Chardonnay vineyards in the southern area of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The site is approximately 800ft above sea level and in certain corners of the vineyard you can glimpse the waves of the Pacific. The uplift, Nisene soils are comprised of eroded sandstone and shale resembling coarse, white sand. The site was purposely planted to original Mt. Eden clippings, resulting in teeny, tiny clusters and the latest harvest of any site we work with, despite low brix. The diseased vines, dry farming and steep grade of this vineyard yield the smallest amount of fruit per vine of any site we use. This means harvest always takes longer than at any other site we grow wine grapes. Luckily, the early Autumn Corralitos fog rarely burns off before noon, meaning even at a snails pace, we have the fruit safely hand harvested and on its way to the cellar before the sun ever peaks out.

Farmed using organic methods

The juice was intentionally oxidized and then barreled down to a mix of barrique and puncheon 2 days after Harvest. Spontaneous fermentation began a few days later and lasted for 3 months. The wine was aged sur lees for 10 month in Oak and then racked to stainless steel for an additional 6 months of aging prior to botting.

APPEARANCE: translucent yellow gold

AROMA: white tea, chrysanthemum

PALATE: Persian lime citrus, saline, crushed granite

FINISH: persistent and structured

ACID: high

BODY: light

ALCOHOL: 12.7%

AGE-ABILITY: 6-8 years

PRODUCTION: 72 cases

 another fabulous wine from Trail Marker. Mount Eden Clone Chardonnay in this Santa Cruz Mountains site yields a wine that is rich, creamy and vibrant. Lemon confit, tangerine oil, mint, chamomile and light tropical inflections all build in the glass. Low yields and small berries amplify both fruit richness and salinity.

region: Santa Cruz Mountains, CA

varietal: Chardonnay

style: full bodied white, rich & vibrant 

farming/cellar:  Organic, the wine was aged sur lees for 10 month in Oak and then racked to stainless steel for an additional 6 months of aging prior to botting.

pairing: Bi- Bim Somyum from Cote ( cold angel hair with apples and iceberg lettuce, gochujang vinaigrette)