By Diora
2018 La Splendeur du Soleil Chardonnay Monterey

History
Named for the golden hills of the Santa Lucia Mountain Range that frames our family-owned San Bernabe Vineyard in Monterey, Diora is inspired by d'Or, the French phrase meaning golden and bestowed on beautiful, sun-filled regions. No effort has been spared along Diora's 30-year journey from vineyard to bottle. The result is expressive wines overflowing with flavor, depth, personality, and devotion to indulgence.

Winemaker's Note
This Chardonnay has a beautiful, golden hue with aromas of apples that mingle with toasted oak and hints of peach cobbler, coconut, and pineapple. The delicate flavors of creme brulee and vanilla bean give way to lovely notes of key lime, white peach, and butterscotch in a medium-bodied mouthfeel. - Winemaker, James Ewart

Vintage Report
The 2018 Monterey growing season had cool and moderate weather return to Monterey County and made harvest more aligned with a typical coastal winegrowing timeline. Mild temperatures, overnight fog, and afternoon winds provided extra hang-time desired for great phenolic development, which this region typically enjoys. With no real significant heat spikes, the grapes were allowed to slowly ripen and create intense fruit flavors. This was a harvest of excellent quality.

Viticulture
About two-thirds of this blend comes from our San Bernabe Estate Vineyard, which has a range of soils from ancient aeolian sand dunes to calcareous soils. These sandy soils are free-draining, allowing the vines to develop deep root systems leading to healthier vines. The climate is much warmer during the day. It cools down in the afternoon as the prevailing afternoon winds funnel down from Monterey Bay, allowing for the development of more apple and tropical characters such as pineapple, guava, and stone fruit. About one-third of the blend comes from vineyards in the Santa Lucia Highlands, which is cooler than our San Bernabe Estate Vineyard, providing more citrusy characters such as orange and grapefruit. Only our best blocks with specific clones, mostly Dijon, made it to the finished blend. From our San Bernabe Vineyard, blocks 43B (clone 17), block 41B (Clone 95, 76), block 218A have more calcareous soils adding minerality. Our Santa Lucia Highlands vineyard blocks 1BS, 1BN, and 1AS, with predominately clones 4 and 95, were selected for the final blend adding the rich tropical notes.

Winemaking
Our veteran winemaker, James Ewart, oversees the team and the small-lot winery built in the vineyard. We picked our blocks when the fruit was fully ripe, and each lot was kept separate and 100% barrel fermented. The Chardonnay is picked from selected vines in roughly a 30-40 vine section in the center of the limestone lenses. It is then rushed to the winery, where it is gently pressed into oak barrels. After the wines finished alcoholic fermentation, they underwent malolactic fermentation and were stirred every two weeks, which helped soften and round out the wine and provide buttery character. The yeast selections were VIN13 and CY3070. VIN13 is known to enhance thiols (guava, passion fruit, and grapefruit), CY3070 is known to contribute characters such as toasted bread, honey, hazelnut, and vanilla when left on lees.

Barrel Regime
This wine was aged for eleven months in predominantly French barrels, creating nice weight on the palate. The Damy Vosges long-toast barrels give the wine a nice length with slightly toasty notes. The Cadus barrels give the wine nice vanilla sweetness and depth. About 22% were new oak barrels, and the remainder of the wine was barrel fermented in 1+ years seasoned barrels, so the fruit aromas were not overwhelmed by new oak.

Technical Notes
Varietal: Chardonnay
Appellation: 2/3 from San Bernabe Estate Vineyard, 1/3 from Santa Lucia Highlands
Aging: 11 months in barrel (22% new)
Malolactic Fermentation: 100%
pH: 3.65
TA: 0.48 g/100ml
Alcohol: 14.50%
[Information provided by Fedway]

Diora 2018 La Splendeur du Soleil Chardonnay (Monterey)
Rating: 91
Designation: La Splendeur du Soleil
Variety: Chardonnay
Appellation: Monterey, Central Coast, California, US
Winery: Diora
Alcohol: 14.50%
Bottle Size: 750.00 ml
Category: White
Date Published: 10/1/2020
Reviewed by: Matt Kettmann
Aromas of smoked apple, red pear and chamomile show on the nose of this bottling. There's a flashy sizzle of acidity on the palate, where pineapple, Asian pear, toast and white peach make for a rich, creamy expression.

Diora Wines 2018 Chardonnay La Splendeur du Soleil
Rating: 89
Monterey, Central Coast
White wine from United States
Drinking window: 2020 - 2023
Brilliant straw-gold. Ripe tangerine, pear and nectarine aromas and flavors, along with suggestions of honey and marzipan. In an ample, open-knit style, showing good heft and a touch of vanilla that builds through the back half. Finishes on a smoky note, with good length and a hint of poached pear.
Josh Raynolds. Tasting date: October 2020