About This Wine:

This is the first vintage that our Chardonnay vineyards were certified organic and Biodynamic. Beautifully balanced between acid, flavors and body, this Chardonnay displays notes of lemon zest, flowers and honey with a hint of crushed stones. Let the wine’s elegance shine by matching it with simple preparations of baked halibut, roasted chicken, grilled shrimp or pork, or pasta with a light cream sauce.

VINTAGE: 2006 was a cool vintage in general, starting with a wet winter and spring that delayed budbreak and led into a slow, even, ripening of the grapes. Then a heat spike in July helped the grapes catch up to a normal physiological ripeness followed by an unusually cool August that allowed the grapes to completely ripen without dehydrating. Thanks to our organic and Biodynamic® farming, the vines remained healthy throughout the temperature swings, providing us with fully ripe, favorful grapes in September.

VINEYARD: This is the first vintage that our Chardonnay vineyards were certified organic and Biodynamic. Our cool American Canyon and Carneros vineyards sit in the southern tip of Napa Valley, not far from San Pablo Bay, which spills into San Francisco Bay, and they’re in the perfect spots to grow Chardonnay. The coolness allows the grapes to develop complex flavors while maintaining a pleasing natural acidity that is impossible to achieve in warmer areas.

THE WINE: As always, we did not allow the Chardonnay to undergo malolactic fermentation and our Biodynamic farming created a wine that is alive with delicious acidity. The relatively cool vintage yielded a beautifully balanced Chardonnay with notes of lemon zest, flowers and honey with a hint of crushed stones. Let this wine’s elegance shine by matching it with simple preparations of baked halibut, roasted chicken, grilled shrimp or pork, or pasta with a light cream sauce.

About The Winery:

Miljenko “Mike” Grgich first gained international recognition at the celebrated “Paris Tasting” of 1976. Then, in a now-historic blind tasting, a panel of eminent French judges swirled, sniffed, and sipped an array of the fabled white Burgundies of France and a small sampling of upstart Chardonnays from the Napa Valley. When their scores were tallied, the French judges were shocked: they had chosen Mike’s 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay as the finest white wine in the world. Mon Dieu! The results stunned the international wine establishment and immediately earned Mike a reputation as one of the greatest winemakers in the world.

The Paris Tasting served notice to the world that the California wine industry was on the move, and it laid the groundwork for the creation of Grgich Hills Cellar. After his victory in Paris, Mike sat down with Austin Hills and his sister, Mary Lee Strebl, from the Hills Bros. Coffee family, and on Independence Day 1977, they gave birth to Grgich Hills. It was an ideal partnership. Austin owned premium vineyards in Rutherford, in the heart of the Napa Valley, and with his extensive background in business, he put the winery on its financial feet. Mike, with his fierce commitment to making wines of the highest quality, began producing what immediately became our signature wine: the exquisite, richly complex Chardonnays that win awards and delight wine lovers across America and throughout the world.

Today, we remain committed to making distinctive wines with quality, consistency and longevity. We are proud that world leaders such as Presidents Reagan and Clinton, Queen Elizabeth II and French President François Mitterrand chose our wines to serve at state dinners, but we are just as proud that every single day discriminating wine drinkers count on Grgich Hills to turn their own dinners into special occasions.

As always, we treat each of our six different wines as a special child, carefully nurturing their development and character. Our main pride and joy is our Chardonnay, an elegant example of the varietal displaying rich flavors and exquisite balance. As a complement to the Chardonnay, we also produce a refreshingly crisp Fumé Blanc, a rich and spicy Zinfandel, a Cabernet Sauvignon with tremendous depth and complexity, a lush and richly fragrant Merlot, and a luscious dessert wine named “Violetta,” in honor of Mike’s daughter, Violet.

Now 85 years old, and still sporting his signature blue beret, Mike was inducted into the Vinter Hall of Fame in March 2008 in honor of his many contributions to the wine industry. While many other Napa wineries pursue strategies of expansion, Mike, along with his daughter, Violet, and his nephew, Ivo Jeramaz, prefer to stay small. Their aim, year after year, is to improve the quality of their vineyards and their wines, relying on Mike’s unique artistic and intuitive touch. This strategy continues to pay significant dividends. Many wineries buy their grapes from outside vineyards. Grgich Hills now owns all of its own vineyards, all of which are certified organic and Biodynamic. Beginning with the 2003 vintage, all Grgich Hills wines are labeled “Estate Grown.” This guarantees a consistently superior level of quality, and it guarantees that Grgich Hills will remain a shining symbol of prestige and good taste. In recognition of that important milestone, the winery changed its name in 2007 to Grgich Hills Estate.

Technical Analysis:

Alcohol: 14.3% by volume

Fermentation: indigenous yeast

Harvest: Sept. 20-30, 2006

Sugar: 23.5˚- 24.5˚Brix

Bottling date: August 6-9, 2007

Release date: July 2008

Total acid: 6.9 g/L

pH: 3.35

Time in oak: Fermented and aged 10 months

Type of oak: French oak: 60% neutral barrels, 30% new, 10%, 900 gallon casks

Production: 24,074 cases (12/750 ml.), 2,019 cases (12/375 ml.), 61 cases (6/1.5 L)