“We bring the true personality of each vineyard to every glass of our Chardonnay, and people notice, and we’re grateful.”—Margo Van Staaveren, winemake
Chateau St. Jean began making serious Chardonnay in the mid 1970s, just about the time Sonoma County was getting serious about Chardonnay. Margo Van Staaveren, who has been winemaker since 2003, says that right from the start, Chateau St. Jean’s founding winemaker, Richard Arrowood, began producing single-vineyard designated Chardonnays along with multi-appellation Sonoma County Chardonnays—a practice that continues to this day. Because of Sonoma County’s famously varied geography and range of climate conditions, each vineyard, in each different location, has its own character or “personality” as Van Staaveren calls it. This is expressed in the fruit and experienced in the glass. As each new single-vineyard wine delivers a portrait of its vineyard in place and time, each new blend expresses a form and style characteristic of Chateau St. Jean.
Van Staaveren introduces four new wines available at the Chateau and on their website, which show the distinctive range of character that reflect the individual vineyards or a particular Chateau St. Jean style. The Reserve Collection 2014—Reserve Chardonnay is a blend (in different proportions) of several of its four single vineyards, blended and produced to create a big, bold statement in Chardonnay. To achieve this, they begin with selected barrels that have big fruit expression and then, let the aging process do the magic. “We leave it in the barrel 17 months, which is a long time for Chardonnay,” she says. “It’s usually about 10 months.” Then, it’s left for in the bottle one year before it’s released. “It’s a big, full, rich experience in Chardonnay. ”The 2014 Chateau St. Jean Chardonnay Durell Vineyard Sonoma Valley is from one of the iconic vineyards in the Sonoma Coast/Sonoma Valley. “What I love about Durell, is you get that cooler climate because the vineyard is down by the Petaluma Gap, so you have great acidity. The body comes from the location, from the combination of soil and weather. Put it all together and you get the same expression from Durell year in and year out.” The 2014 Chateau St. Jean Robert Young Reserve Chardonnay Alexander Valley is from the opposite end of the spectrum, grown in a warmer region in the southern portion of the Alexander Valley. “In the southern end of Alexander Valley you still get some cooling breezes, arriving through the Russian River Valley.” Van Staaveren says the wine is kept in the oak for about 14 months. “It evolves slowly in the cellar, but it also evolves slowly in the bottle,” she says. “It ages quite well. It has little notes of minerals, that classic Alexander Valley pear and some lovely honeysuckle and for me it also has this long lemon-oil finish. It’s an elegant, distinctive Chardonnay. ”The 2015 Chateau St. Jean Cold Creek Chardonnay is from a vineyard down in the Sonoma Coast region, not far from Durell but far enough to have a completely different expression. “Much more tropical—very lifted, mineral, acidity, very different style than Durell, says Van Staaveren. Chateau St. Jean does make a single-vineyard-designate Belle Terre Vineyard also from the Alexander Valley, not far from Robert Young. “But it has a different profile, because it’s right on the Russian River,” she says. “It’s a really pretty wine as well.”
Pressed to wonder why Chateau St. Jean might be voted Best Chardonnay in the 29th annual readers’ poll, Margo Van Staaveren offers a view that serves as both descriptive and aspirational. “We bring the true personality of each vineyard to every glass of our Chardonnay, and people notice, and we’re grateful.”
