VINEYARD

We source our Chardonnay grapes primarily from the Napa Carneros AVA, followed by Rutherford, and with small quantities coming from Mendocino Ridge AVAs. Carneros is marked by well-drained soils and rolling hills that border the San Pablo Bay. Sea breezes from the nearby bay, combined with morning and afternoon fog, keep temperatures cool and consistent. As a result, the area supports a long growing season, which allows grapes to achieve even and optimal ripeness—leading to wines of exceptional length and freshness. Rutherford is located in the heart of Napa Valley, is characterized by warmer days and richer soils. Rutherford fruit brings volume and body to the blend.

VINTAGE CONDITIONS

A mild and dry winter, with almost no recorded rainfall in February preceded the start to the 2020 growing season. Moderate spring weather, with a few scattered storm events in May helped to set-up a good start to the vegetative cycle of the vines and gave us optimism that we would be able to produce some great wines in 2020. As we were set to harvest some of our first Chardonnay grapes, our daily lives were interrupted on August 17th by the LNU complex fire which ignited due to a dry lightning strike, bringing fire dangerously close to all of us here in the Napa Valley. With a watchful eye we continued to bring fruit into the winery and worked around the clock to make sure that we could preserve all the hard work that was done throughout the year in the vineyard. Unfortunately for the Newton, we were not able to catch a break in 2020, only a month later the glass fire ignited near Deer Park quickly spreading through the northern reaches of the Napa Valley. Newton vineyard winery and the estate at Spring Mountain were directly in the path of this fire and all was destroyed except for three small parcels of vineyard & the extensive underground winery caves. We lost the entire 2019 production of Chardonnay, and on top of that all the 2020 reds that were still fermenting in our cellar. The only saving grace, for the winemaking team was the fact that we did have wine aging in the underground caves. Amazingly, these were untouched by the fires and our temperature & humidity sensors indicated no fluctuations to temperature but just a quick dip in relative humidity during the fire event. As a result, we were able to scour our caves and select only a handful of 2020 Chardonnay barrels that still reflected the Newton brand but also captured the heroic efforts that all of us have undertaken to make this wine and preserve this brand.

VINIFICATION

Our 2020 Unfiltered Chardonnay was fully handpicked at night, whole bunch pressed, and 100% barrel fermented, using indigenous yeasts. Malolactic fermentation was carried on 90% of the lots. The wine was aged for a total of 12 months in French oak barrels, 25% of which were new. During maturation, every barrel lot was tasted biweekly and hand-stirred only when needed to re-suspend the sediment. This technique protects the wine naturally from oxidation and promotes added complexity. The individual lots were then blended and bottled unfiltered