Macauley 'Bacigalupi Vineyard' Chardonnay, Russian River Valley, California 2023
Macauley was founded in 1984 by Ann Macauley, whose first vintage — a late-harvest Sauternes-style Sauvignon Blanc made with Ric Forman — was tragically followed by her death a few years later while the current vintage sat in barrel. Decades later her son, Mac, who grew up around Napa vineyards and was famously hooked on wine after a vertical tasting at Château Lafite Rothschild as a teenager, returned to the valley in 2000 to revive his mother's label. He hired his longtime friend Kirk Venge as winemaker for Macauley's first commercial vintage in 2001, and Kirk has made every vintage since. The winery doesn't own a physical facility, instead custom-ordering tanks and fermenting each vineyard lot separately at borrowed space, blending only at the end.
WINEMAKER: Kirk Venge, under proprietor Mac Macauley
VARIETY: 100% Chardonnay
TERROIR: Russian River Valley AVA, Sonoma County. Sourced from a historic four-acre block of head-pruned, own-rooted Chardonnay vines in the Bacigalupi Vineyard, planted in 1964 — the same block that supplied 40% of the fruit for Chateau Montelena's 1973 Chardonnay, famously entered in the 1976 Judgment of Paris.
VINIFICATION: Fermented across a combination of oak barrels, a concrete egg, and stainless steel tanks; typically bottled without malolactic fermentation to preserve brightness.
AGING: Aged across the same mix of oak, concrete, and stainless steel vessels prior to blending.
TASTING NOTES: Deep gold color with honeysuckle, yellow pineapple, citrus blossom, papaya, and mango, layered with baked pear and toasty spice, carrying a rounded texture with melon, pear, and Golden Delicious apple through a long finish.
FOOD PAIRINGS: Roast chicken, lobster, or dishes with cream-based sauces.
Macauley 'Bacigalupi Vineyard' Chardonnay, Russian River Valley, California 2023
Macauley was founded in 1984 by Ann Macauley, whose first vintage — a late-harvest Sauternes-style Sauvignon Blanc made with Ric Forman — was tragically followed by her death a few years later while the current vintage sat in barrel. Decades later her son, Mac, who grew up around Napa vineyards and was famously hooked on wine after a vertical tasting at Château Lafite Rothschild as a teenager, returned to the valley in 2000 to revive his mother's label. He hired his longtime friend Kirk Venge as winemaker for Macauley's first commercial vintage in 2001, and Kirk has made every vintage since. The winery doesn't own a physical facility, instead custom-ordering tanks and fermenting each vineyard lot separately at borrowed space, blending only at the end.
WINEMAKER: Kirk Venge, under proprietor Mac Macauley
VARIETY: 100% Chardonnay
TERROIR: Russian River Valley AVA, Sonoma County. Sourced from a historic four-acre block of head-pruned, own-rooted Chardonnay vines in the Bacigalupi Vineyard, planted in 1964 — the same block that supplied 40% of the fruit for Chateau Montelena's 1973 Chardonnay, famously entered in the 1976 Judgment of Paris.
VINIFICATION: Fermented across a combination of oak barrels, a concrete egg, and stainless steel tanks; typically bottled without malolactic fermentation to preserve brightness.
AGING: Aged across the same mix of oak, concrete, and stainless steel vessels prior to blending.
TASTING NOTES: Deep gold color with honeysuckle, yellow pineapple, citrus blossom, papaya, and mango, layered with baked pear and toasty spice, carrying a rounded texture with melon, pear, and Golden Delicious apple through a long finish.
FOOD PAIRINGS: Roast chicken, lobster, or dishes with cream-based sauces.