2006 Sylphs Guman Vineyards
Whole cluster pressed Chardonnay from the volcanic, old-vine Chardonnay vineyard of John Guman. We made a tiny amount of wine in 2006, partly because we did a miserable job figuring out how to use a friend’s press. generously lent to us, but not well adapted for pressing whole cluster fresh fruit. But the juice that we got was excellent—less tannic than Guman usually is, softer and more floral. The fermenting wine smelled like Moscato d'Asti. The wine fermented and aged in 30 gallon barrels, 50% new and the rest quite fresh, half the size of our standard barrels, to expose the wine to more air than a standard barrel would. In spite of this exposure, the wine is young and juicy. It has some sherry-like characteristics because of its typical surface yeast, but is much more honeyed and fat than the more saline 2005 Guman Nereides. It is surprisngly fresh and fat for a wine that has seen so much oxygen … But still very little fruit remains: the wine in its richness recalls bacon fat and dried porcini …
Because there is so little wine this year, we decided to spring for special labels—gold engraved, to reflect the dense golden color of the wine.
56 cases produced.