2024 Cakebread - Chardonnay Napa Valley (750ml)

Cakebread Cellars traces back to 1973, when Jack and Dolores Cakebread released their very first wine: a Napa Valley Chardonnay. More than 50 years later, the family-run winery continues that legacy, farming regeneratively across estates in Napa Valley, Carneros, and Anderson Valley, using cover crops and grazing sheep instead of synthetic fertilizers and natural predators in place of pesticides. Cakebread was the second winery in the region to earn Napa Green certification.

The fruit for this Chardonnay comes primarily from the world-famous Carneros appellation in southern Napa Valley, just north of San Pablo Bay, where cool, windswept conditions give the wine its signature balance between ripe fruit and bright acidity. Soils here are predominantly Haire loam, a light clay that naturally regulates vine vigor for concentrated fruit. Grapes are hand-harvested at night in small batches, then pressed directly into tank as whole clusters before the juice is transferred to French oak barrels for fermentation and aged nine months on the lees with intermittent stirring to build texture and complexity.

The 2024 growing season began warm and dry, with mild spring conditions ideal for budbreak, followed by steady summer weather of cool mornings and warm, sunny days that ripened the fruit to perfect flavor and balanced acidity, resulting in abundant, high-quality yields.

The finished wine opens with aromas of ripe golden apple, white peach, and light oak. On the palate, apple and pear notes are balanced by fresh acidity, finishing clean with hints of apple and lemon intermingling with minerality.

This is a versatile Chardonnay, well suited to roast chicken, seafood, or creamy pasta dishes.