Buehler Vineyards - Wine / Reserve and Estate Wine

Buehler Vineyards 2011 Russian River Reserve Chardonnay

Mon, 8 Sep 2008 10:09:00 GMT

Buehler Vineyards 2011 Russian River Reserve Chardonnay
Buy Now: $20.00

Our search for grapes worthy of producing our Reserve designated chardonnay brought us to the Russian River Valley where cool-climate varieties thrive. The thirty-four-year-old vines of River Vineyard have been the source of our Reserve Chardonnay since 1995.

For our chardonnay program, “Reserve” designates traditional Burgundian winemaking techniques; it also denotes a very limited production wine. Our 2010 Reserve Chardonnay is only sold directly from the winery or through our Wine Club.

After whole-cluster pressing, the juice is settled overnight and then racked directly to French oak barrels (30% new) for a full barrel fermentation. The wine then undergoes the secondary malolactic fermentation which tempers the natural acidity of the Russian River fruit; a fuller bodied wine results. The wine rests, sur lie, for 9 months and the lees are stirred weekly to flesh out the mid-palate to yield a creamy textured, seamless wine. The wine does not leave the barrel until it is racked out and bottled, unfiltered, to ensure that the delicate fresh fruit aromas and creamy texture are preserved.

Varietal chardonnay aromas of peach and citrus blossom are complemented by sur lie notes of crème brulee and graham crackers. On the palate, the wine displays a creamy, lush texture with a long, lingering finish that invites another sip.

David Cronin
Winemaker

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Buehler Vineyards 2010 Papa's Knoll Cabernet Sauvignon

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 14:35:00 GMT

Buehler Vineyards 2010 Papa's Knoll Cabernet Sauvignon
Buy Now: $45.00

Historically, we’ve produced one Estate Cabernet Sauvignon at Buehler Vineyards in which we blend wines from various vineyard blocks: a melding of the disparate characteristics into one whole wine. From time to time, we’re tempted to showcase a particular vineyard block for its unique character by bottling it on its own. Beginning with the 2004 vintage, we gave in to the temptation and bottled a very limited amount of wine from Papa's Knoll's vineyard which is only sold directly from the winery or through our wine club.

What is Papa’s Knoll and where is it located? Named after the landform in front of “Papa’s” (The late John Buehler, Sr.) house, this is our oldest vineyard block of Cabernet Sauvignon. The face of the knoll is steeply terraced with an easterly exposure; the top of the knoll is best described as a shallow bowl with no rim on the south side. This three acre block was planted in 1971 and is the only dry-farmed Cabernet block on the estate. The fact that we have to pay the pickers by the hour rather than by the ton to pick this block is testament to the ruggedness and inaccessibility of this block that routinely gives us no more than two tons per acre of grapes.

What differentiates the wines from Papa’s Knoll from our other vineyard blocks? A few terms spring to mind: power, color, depth. If a dark, lushly textured, concentrated wine is your goal, this wine argues that dry-farming old vines is a good way to achieve it.

Papa's Knoll is typically the first block harvested off the Estate; dry-farming as well as the light-cropped nature of this block ensures that it delivers its bounty a full 10-20 days earlier than our other Estate blocks.

Tasting observations: The color is skewed to the blue end of the Cabernet spectrum and is opaque in nature. The aromas hint at black fruit: ripe black cherries and black plums. Enticing barrel qualities of cola spice and a hint of dried tarragon complement the fruit aromas.

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2010 Napa Valley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

Wed, 8 Nov 2000 10:37:00 GMT

2010 Napa Valley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
Buy Now: $36.00

Situated in the mountains above Conn Valley and near the base of Howell Mountain, the Buehler Estate vineyards are planted primarily to Cabernet Sauvignon. The juxtaposed topography of steeply sloped hillsides with eastern exposures against very gently sloping hills with southern and southwestern exposures hints at the tumultuous geologic past of the Estate; extensive faulting resulted in at least three distinct soil types. Not surprisingly, grapes grown on the different soils give different characteristics to the finished wines; these differences are often as great as the differences between various Bordeaux varieties and allow us to blend within the variety of Cabernet Sauvignon to craft a truly multi-faceted Estate wine.

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