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2018 Chardonnay

The Storm Cellar 2018 Chardonnay is a 50-50 blend of fruit from estate-grown Old Wente clone vines planted in 1987 here at the Redstone Vineyard and from select vineyard blocks at Talbott Farms on East Orchard Mesa in Palisade, Colorado. This Chardonnay has tropical fruit aromas, a honeyed texture, balanced acidity, and soft nuances of French oak.

This Chardonnay is a true taste of Colorado. This 50-50 blend of fruit from the state’s two official AVAs, Grand Valley and the West Elks. The riper, tropical fruit from Palisade is a beautiful counterpoint to the leaner, sharper fruit harvested from our estate vineyard. We opted to showcase the fruit and terroir is a less buttery, less oaky, more food-friendly style of Chardonnay.

The wine is elegant, refined, and lighter in style than most domestic Chardonnays. it is balanced on the palate, with notes of apples, pears, and pineapple, supported with subtle aromas and flavors of caramel and butterscotch. This wine pairs wonderfully with a wide range of foods, from crab and lobster, to grilled chicken and vegetables.

The 2018 Chardonnay was awarded a silver medal at the 2019 Colorado Governor’s Cup.

$24 750mL
PURCHASE


Wine Specs

  • Variety - 100% Chardonnay
  • Clone - Old Wente
  • AVAs - West Elks and Grand Valley
  • Vineyards - Redstone Vineyard (Lower Al, LBC, and Wente Blocks) and Talbott Farms on East Orchard Mesa
  • Harvest Dates - September 23 and 24, 2018
  • Fermentation - temperature-controlled stainless steel, 30% malolactic fermentation
  • Aging - 30% new, light-toast French oak; 70% stainless steel
  • Brix - 24.2º
  • pH - 3.60
  • TA - 5.7 g/L
  • Alcohol - 13.8%
  • Production - 300 cases
  • Awards - Silver Medal 2019 Colorado Governor's Cup Competition


Paired Playlist

Record icon.

DJ Koko Love (Kori Stanton of KVNF) has curated a playlist to match the personality of our 2018 Dry Riesling. It's two hours of electronically charged, upbeat, super-fresh tracks that pairs perfectly with the sharp, racy, punchy notes of our Dry Riesling.

"Chardonnay Sunshine" | Listen on iTunes or Spotify.



Behind the Bottle

The Chardonnay here at the Redstone Vineyard is what drew us out here, when we first visited the property in May of 2016. The vineyard still has thriving plantings of Old Wente clone vines, planted in the mid-1980s. This has long been one of our favorite clones of Chardonnay, noted for its tropical tones and small, concentrated clusters. For The Storm Cellar 2018 Chardonnay, we wanted to give a shout-out, not only to our home base here in the West Elks AVA, but also to Colorado wine, as a whole. We decided to craft this wine with fruit sourced in equal parts from Colorado's two AVAs, the West Elks and Grand Valley. It's truly a taste of the unique climates these two regions offer for winemaking.

The months leading up to harvest were sunny, free of rain, and unseasonably hot, and the weather during harvest was exactly the same. The daily temperature hovered in the upper 90ºs, while the evening temperatures dipped into the lower 60ºs. These higher temperatures pushed the ripeness and phenolics of the Chardonnay, lending to more intense and riper fruit aromas.

We picked the grapes here at the Redstone Vineyard over the course of two days and fermented each day separately. We received the fruit from Palisade shortly thereafter and pressed it into its own tank. We selected one of the two tanks from our vineyard to go through malolatic fermentation, giving it a softer, richer texture and flavor, and we chose this same tank to undergo aging in new, French oak.

This Chardonnay has a special place in our hearts not only because it is one of our favorite styles of wine, but also because we decided to tie the knot among the old, dormant Chardonnay vines on a snowy day this past February! We surprised both of our families with the news and took off on a road trip to the Grand Canyon. We'll be celebrating our anniversary with one of our 2018 Chardonnays come next year!

A big thanks goes out to all of our Denver friends, restaurant industry family, and teammates who helped us with the Chardonnay harvest! We couldn't have done it without you. Eugene, Nathan, Jeri, Serena, and Keelan, you all rock!

We’ve got a special holiday food and wine pack f We’ve got a special holiday food and wine pack for you!! 💥💥💥 We teamed up with three small Colorado companies to create a “Colorado Culinary Gift Pack” that’s filled with local wine and foodie treats!
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What’s in the pack?
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🥂 2019 Dry Riesling
🥂 2019 RRV White Blend
🥂 2018 Chardonnay
🥂 NV Fire + Ice Riesling
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🌶 @misohotofficial chili paste
🌿 @thespiceguyco spice blends
🍅 @foragesisters smoked tomato jam
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It’s priced at $130 and gets $15 flat-rate shipping to 41 states. We are shipping them out from our winery in Hotchkiss, and they are packed with LOVE!
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Get the details via the link in our profile and #SHOPSMALL this season!
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We’ll be sharing recipes, pairings, and tasting notes here on Instagram, so you’ll have plenty of inspiration to add a punch of flavor to your home cooking.
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CHEERS!!
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#stormcellarwine #coloradowine #westelksava #whitewinechristmas #whitewinelover #holidaygiftideas #christmaswine #winetime #5280drinks #303drinks #highelevationwine #highelevationvineyards #rieslinglover #diningoutmagazine #coloRADical #shopsmallbusiness #coloradosmallbusiness
We just capped our very first pèt-nat, made with We just capped our very first pèt-nat, made with Chambourcin grapes from the Grand Valley, along with a little estate Riesling. 🍾🍾🍾 We are excited to see how this pink bubbly develops over the next few weeks.
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Hopefully, we’ll be able to pop a couple bottles for NYE! We only made 12 bottles of this sparkling wine, so you’ll have to wait until next fall, when we make a larger drop.
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Catch more BTS on our most recent reel and in our stories. 🎥
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#stormcellarwine #highelevationwine #highelevationvineyards #coloradosparklingwine #pétnat #petnat #methodeancestrale #chambourcinrosé #coloradorosé #drinkpink #cowine #coloradowine #westelksava #westelkswineries #foodwinewomen #femalewinemaker #visitcolorado #agritourism
R I E S L I N G U P D A T E —> Since our last p R I E S L I N G  U P D A T E —> Since our last post, we’ve gotten a lot of questions about the status of our existing Riesling vines and how they weathered through the super-cold freeze that hit a few weeks ago.
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We’ve heard from several neighboring vineyards that the bud damage was severe, and that 2021 yields are going to be low or non-existent for certain varieties. Buds that house next year’s grapes were formed over this past summer and hadn’t hardened off for dormancy, when temps dipped into single digits.
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We are collecting bud samples from the vines this afternoon and getting an accurate prediction on bud damage in the next couple days. We are expecting a lot of damage to our primary buds, but we also know that Riesling is a pretty cold-hardy variety.
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Even the clusters from this year’s harvest that you see in this photo are smaller than normal because we lost a lot of primary buds last fall.
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On a positive note, our four tanks of Riesling are slowly fermenting around 55°F and showing great promise in flavor, acid balance, and complexity.
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#stormcellarwine #highelevationvineyards #highelevationwine #highaltitudewines #whitewinelover #rieslinglover #rieslingislife #ibleedriesling #redstonevineyard #coloradowine #cowine #westelksava #alpinedesertwine #sommlife #sommelierwinemaker
Is this our next album cover!!? 😎 Nope. It’s Is this our next album cover!!? 😎  Nope. It’s actually the two of us at the end of the most hardcore two days of the season.
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Last year, a dramatic early frost killed our newly planted Chardonnay vines, so we were especially nervous when we saw a similar climatic situation approaching this year.
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We hope that we over-compensated in protecting all of the new vines that we planted this past spring, but this year’s freeze was even worse than last year’s, so ... fingers crossed.
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Here we are, bundled up after mounding up over 1,200 vines with as much soil as we could manage, to cover the tender graft lines, as the snow was rolling in.
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The last row of 44 vines was a test of our resolve. The temps dropped to 20°, the snow began to fall, and the sun set early. We turned up the drum-and-bass and channeled a do-or-die vibe.
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We did the best we could, so we’ll see how we fared this next spring. For now, we are beyond grateful for a successful year at the tasting room but are simultaneously excited for a change of direction and shift of priorities in this colder season.
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#reallife
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#farmingishard #farmlife #stormcellarwine #westelksava #farmsohard #modfarm #modernfarmer #youngfarmers #redstonevineyard #coloradowine #cowine #highelevationfarming #highelevationvineyards #highelevationwine #sommlife #sommelierwinemaker #damnitscold @hollyandflora @big_zen
We are sending out an incredibly heartfelt thanks We are sending out an incredibly heartfelt thanks to our friend and chef @brandtbishop of @bishopqualitygoods for keeping our business deliciously alive this summer.
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According to current regulations, as a winery, we cannot operate our tasting room, unless we partner with a restaurant or commercial kitchen. It only made sense to us to ask Brandt to create seasonally driven, locally sourced charcuterie boards, so that we could maintain our tasting room offerings.
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We have sold them out every weekend, to rave reviews, during our tasting room season.
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Thank you, Brandt, for always giving your all, sharing your personal taste, and supporting local, CO brands and growers on each plate you produced.
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On the rare occasion that there was a leftover plate, we totally appreciated and enjoyed the love you put into these boards and into so many mouths and hearts here in the North Fork Valley.
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#stormcellarwine #bishopqualitygoods #chefbrandtbishop #farmtotable #northforkvalley #hotchkisscolorado #visitcolorado #coloradoagriculture #coloradoagritourism @coagtourism #coloradowine #cowine #foodandwine #foodwinewomen #charcuterieboard #cheeseboard #cheeseboardingschool #eatlocallygrown #supportsmallbusiness #westelksava #sommlife #sommelierwinemaker #thekitchn #sunsetmag
Someone’s getting mighty big. 💥 Captain Murph Someone’s getting mighty big. 💥 Captain Murphy is learning new tricks, learning to love rides in the truck, and trying his best to get along with our cats.
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He’s seven months old and just under 40 pounds. He proved challenging to have around during harvest this year, as he kept wanting to eat grapes, which are toxic to dogs. We were constantly having to call him away from the crush pad.
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He’s learned how to give his paw on command and offer his “other paw”, when asked. We are working on “lie down” and “stay”, especially when vehicles drive by.
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Come by and say hello to this sweet addition to our family. He’ll be here for hugs tomorrow at our final Friday at the tasting room.
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Will we see you there?!
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Visit our previous post for details on our fall release tasting, paired with seasonal small plates, curated by Chef @brandtbishop of @bishopqualitygoods, from 2:00 until 5:30 tomorrow.
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Club members, drop by to pick up your fall release!! 💥💥💥
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#stormcellarwine #coloradowine #cowine #visithotchkiss #coloradostaycation #visitpaonia #visitcolorado #northforkvalley #whitewinelover #drinkcolorado #sommelierwinemaker #redstonevineyard #westelksava #westelkswineries #bordercolliepuppy #blackbordercollie #vineyarddog #winerydogs #captainmurphydog #bordercolliesofinstagram #workingdog
P O P – U P 💥 Fall wine release party with P O P –  U P 💥  Fall wine release party with chef @brandtbishop this Friday!!
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Join us here at our tasting room this Friday, October 30th, for our official fall wine release, featuring the final six wines from the 2019 vintage!
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Chef Brandt will be here from 2:00 until 5:30, serving up an eclectic menu of small plates, each priced around $10, with a vegetarian option! 🍴 Get the menu details in our stories.
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We’ll be pouring free tastings of these new wines during our regular tasting room hours, from 11:00 until 7:00. We can’t wait to hear what you think!!
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✔️ 2019 Viognier
✔️ 2019 Roussanne
✔️ 2019 RRV, white blend
✔️ NV Estate Fire + Ice Riesling
✔️ 2019 Estate Chardonnay
✔️ 2019 Estate Reserve Dry Riesling
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While our spring release was filled with delicate whites and rosés, this fall selection is bolder, richer, and more textural — perfect for the cozy months and holiday cuisines ahead.
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⚡️ Tastings are held outside, with groups seated at their own table, with adequate social distancing.
⚡️ Mask up! 😷 We’ll be masked up, as well, while we serve you.
⚡️ Our driveway is freshly graded and dry since the snowstorm, for those of you, who know what the drive up here can be like! 😬
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See you here!! 🤩
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Can’t make it? These are the wines featured in our fall wine club shipment. 🖥 Visit our website for details on how you can join!
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#stormcellarwine #northforkvalley #visitpaonia #visithotchkiss #coloradoagritourism #coloradowinetasting #coloradowine #cowine #drinkcolorado #5280drinks #fallwinerelease #whitewinelover #sommlife #sommelierwinemaker
We mounded up all 1,250 of our newly planted, graf We mounded up all 1,250 of our newly planted, grafted Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vines yesterday and the day before, and they are now nestled under 6-10” of soil. We are beyond tired but seriously thankful that we finished up the process just after dark, right after the snow began to fall.
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Temperatures dipped down to 12°F last night, but hopefully, since we harvested our grapes from our producing vines a couple of weeks early, the buds for next year’s harvest are okay and the vines are further along in their progression toward dormancy.
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Since we will hopefully be planting 4,000 vines next spring, we are researching a means for more efficient (mechanized) mounding to protect graft lines. Hand-mounding each vine is simply unfeasible. That’s a winter project. ⚡️ And it’s NOT for today.
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Today is for relaxing and being grateful that the 2020 growing season is behind us.
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#stormcellarwine #thefutureisgrafted #highelevationvineyards #highelevationwine #coldclimatewines #coldclimatevineyard #redstonevineyard #farmlife #vineyardlife #classof2024🍇 #whitewinelover #coloradowine #westelksava #westelkswineries #harvest2020
#STORMCELLARWINE

            

The Storm Cellar  |  14139 Runzel Gulch Road, Hotchkiss, CO 81419  |  970.589.3142

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