2023 Naked Chardonnay

Blustone’s 2023 Naked Chardonnay is a smooth, balanced wine that showcases the ideal growing conditions of the season. It offers ripe golden delicious apple on the nose, revealing a fuller-bodied Chardonnay that remains elegant. On the palate, it’s all about balance, with a luxurious texture that glides smoothly to a lingering finish. Pair this Chardonnay with a classic tuna niçoise or delicate Walleye with risotto, where its fruit-forward character and rich mouthfeel complement the food perfectly.

Vineyard Notes:

The 2023 growing season began earlier than 2022 but all our vineyards dodged a late spring frost that could've spelled trouble. Instead, it beame a banner year. Total growing degree days came in a mere 1% above 2022, but the heat came mostly during the heart of the season, when the days are long and the vines can make the best use of it. The big difference between the rainfall in '22 and '23, however, came in the number of hours we received rainfall: 60 fewer hours of rainfall, or about a 20% drop from 2022. That was a huge factor in 2023 turning in some of the cleanest, ripest grapes we've ever harvested.

2023 set a new record for tons of grapes harvested--and quality metrics were on par with the 2021 vintage, which produced outstanding wines from top to bottom. It wasn't uncommon for fruit to come off the vine between 21-22 degrees Brix and, for the most part, with pHs exactly where we want them.