2018 Ardure Chardonnay Hawkeye Ranch Vineyard

Region: Redwood Valley < Mendocino County < CA
Grape: Zinfandel
Vineyard/Cellar Stats: CCOF-certified organic farming; soils are gravelly loam with huge chunks of energetic quartz crystal strewn throughout; grapes were foot tread for two hours and direct-pressed to a stainless steel tank for fermentation before racking off gross lees and put into neutral barrique to await malolactic conversion, which started almost immediately. Wine rested on its fine lees and was racked once to maintain freshness right before bottling in late July; bottled unfined, unfiltered with no added So2; 11.8% ABV
Winemaker: Jason Ruppert

Ardure, which translates to "the heat of passion" in olde French, is a brand-new project from my good friend Jason Ruppert, who has a long history in Bay Area wine.  He started as a sommelier running wine programs in Marin, Sonoma and SF before migrating into wine production, where he learned the ropes of biodynamic and organic farming from gurus like Ted Lemon of Littorai and Steve Matthiasson.  He also worked three vintages with Pax Mahle, Scott Schultz of Jolie Laide, Ryan and Megan Glaab of RYME and Jaimee Motley before being given the opportunity to farm two vineyards on his own and to make his first set of three wines for his inaugural vintage, 2018.

Jason farms both his Chardonnay from Marin county and Zinfandel from Dry Creek Valley naturally, with no sprays of copper or sulphur.  Both sites are also implementing regenerative farming methods, working with specific cover crops to help nourish and protect the soil. The wines are vinified in the most natural of ways with their healthy, native yeasts, basket pressing and letting all wines go through malolactic fermentation on their own, and using little to no sulphur right before bottling. He also uses different crystals during primary fermentation to add in extra energetic vibrancy.  We LOVE this.

When asked to describe Ardure, Jason told us, "The general philosophy behind Ardure is integrity within making truly natural wines from the ground up. Conscious farming, attentive vinification and diligent care for our environment. And I ferment my wines with crystals to increase energetic vibration and to also stabilize the natural algorithm within the wine."

Of the four unique wines Jason makes, two are Chardonnay from different vineyards, because he really loves Chardonnay.  Normally we do not, but in Jason's hands, it's a HELL YES.  This is a Chardonnay for Chard-haters.  No hint of oak, cloudy, hazy, light yellow in color, it's light as air and packed with intense limey minerality.  No joke, this tastes exactly like a lime margarita on the (literal) rocks, with a salt rim.  Like, put it in a rocks glass on ice and it would totally pass for the most delicious, not-sweet margarita ever.  Bring on the chips and guac!