Marbeso - 'Spear Vineyard' - Chardonnay - Santa Rita Hills, CA - 2023

Notes from the Winery/Importer

100% Chardonnay Spear Vineyard (Sta. Rita Hills) 175 cases produced

Winemaking:
The fruit was hand-harvested predawn to preserve its cool temperature during the quick journey to our Buellton winery,
where it was gently pressed, racked to a tank and allowed to settle overnight. On the following morning the juice was
racked again, this time by gravity into neutral French oak, where it barrel-fermented on its native yeasts until dry. High
levels of natural acidity made for a slow fermentative process requiring very little intervention. Malolactic fermentation
occurred naturally over the course of a few months. The wine was aged on its lees for just over 11 months, then bottled
without fining or filtration in the fall of 2024.

On the Palate:
Stone fruits, crushed rocks, lemon jam. Imagine enjoying a lychee in the springtime, under a blossoming citrus tree.

Notes on the Producer

South Bay Natives, Colin and Hannah are a small production in the Sta Rita Hills producing vineyard designates from Santa Barbara County and the Santa Cruz Mountains. Combining our passion of wine together my wife and I decided to launch our own label Marbeso (kiss of the sea) in 2019 after years of making wine for other people. This year will mark Colin’s 20th vintage as a whole, ranging from Leeuwin Estate in Margaret River to Martinborough Vineyards in the North Island of NZ.
We source wines in close proximity to the sea and strive to produce clean, acid driven wines of minimal intervention using natural yeasts and bacteria; neutral french oak, bottle unfined and unfiltered to promote transparency between glass and vineyard. With vineyard sourcing and farming at the forefront, we have a strong connection to finding fruit that has been organically grown.