Kistler Vineyards

In 1978 Steve Kistler and his family founded this small winery in the Mayacamas Mountains. The first vintage is 1979 with 3500 cases of Chardonnay. In 1992 a state-of-the-art winery was built on the Russian River, with current production at 20000 cases, with 15000 cases of Chardonnay and 5000 cases of Pinot Noir.

Since the beginning it is operated by the two principals, owner/winemaker Steve Kistler and his assistant Mark Bixler. Steve worked in Ridge for two years as an assistant winemaker before founding Kistler.

Dedicated to using single-vineyard sources to develop the classic flavors and aromas of Chardonnay, wines from Kistler Vineyards are modeled after the best Bourgogne. Examples include whole cluster pressing, 100% barrel fermentation in various percentages of new French oak.

In addition, indigenous yeast is used for the fermentation, with full malolactic fermentation in oak rather than tank. All Chardonnays would remain 12 months on lees in barrel, and bottled 6 months later unfined and unfiltered.

For Pinot Noir the fruit is destemmed but never crushed, in a 5 days or more maceration in open top fermenters with only indigenous yeast. After 3-4 weeks of cuvasion, malolactic fermentation occurs naturally in barrel, with about 85% new French oak used, with the wines spending 14-16 months in wood without any racking, also unfined and unfiltered.

I have recently tasted the 2002 vintage of the Kistler Vineyard Chardonnay and below is my tasting note:

Appearance

Bright and clear, it has deep lemon color, with legs.

Nose

Clean, with medium (+) intensity aromas green fruit of ripe pear, tropical fruit of sugarcane, citrus notes of lemon, oak notes of caramel and butterscotch, maturity notes of mushroom, dairy notes of butter and cream, kernel notes of chestnut. The wine is developing.

Palate

Dry with medium acidity, the wine has medium (+) alcohol, full body, and has medium (+) intensity flavors of green fruit of ripe pear, oak notes of caramel and butterscotch, maturity notes of cereal, tropical fruit of sugarcane, dairy notes of butter and cream, kernel notes of chestnut. The wine has a medium (+) finish.

Conclusion

Very good quality California Chardonnay with the signature ripeness and oaky characters on the nose, with plenty of concentration and good complexity, the wine also exhibits roundness and structure, showing good development yet still maintaining the fruit. On the palate it is equally nice with strong intensity and range of flavors, plus also a fairly long finish. A really nice wine of reasonable price, it is ready to drink now but can further develop for another 2-3 years.