Edgy and stop-in-your-tracks. “Broken Road Chardonnay is very acid-driven, with lime and saline character,” says our winemaker Kristina Shideler. “It has a really distinct and chic personality and lends itself to aging very beautifully.”
Because of extensive tectonic activity on our mountain estate, the road that leads to the vineyard often splits. “It literally looks broken, with cracks across it,” Kristina explains. “There’s a section that’s been repaved over and over. Sometimes the cracks have to be filled with gravel just to make the road passable. It’s perpetually cracking.”
The site is worth the trouble
Of Stonestreet’s five single-vineyard Chardonnays, Broken Road consistently shows the highest acidity, both in terms of chemistry (the lowest pH) and perception (fresh, tingly, and zesty on the tongue). While our Upper Barn Chardonnay is legendary for aging, Broken Road is lesser known but equally a super-ager, largely owing to its elegant austerity.
The 2011 vintage is aging particularly well. It was one of the coldest growing seasons of the past 25 years, and the strangely cool harvest resulted in exceptionally high acid that continues to preserve this wine. “The cooler the vintage, the longer a wine takes to unfold, the slower it evolves,” says Kristina. “So the 2011s are still really fresh.”
Not all vineyards are fit for the long haul in the bottle, even in a cold year, but Broken Road is built for it. Situated at 1,800 feet elevation on the western edge of our main ridge, the site sees the most cooling Pacific Ocean wind influence. “And the view from up there is just insane,” Kristina adds. “It overlooks the entire Alexander Valley, from Healdsburg out to Lake Sonoma and all the way up to Cloverdale.”
Planted in 1992 from an unidentified Chardonnay clone, the vines are trained in an old-school sprawl style rather than having upright spurs with the canopy neatly tucked between wires. The vineyard sees a lot of sun but the umbrella-like trellis allows the shoots and leaves to hang over the fruiting zone, sending perfectly dappled light to the clusters. That gentle sunshine entwines with the palate’s clean zing. As Kristina says, “Broken Road is all about being edgy, mineral-driven and pure, but it is also generous.”
