" We don't sell the wine without touching the vine "
Laird Chardonnay Cold Creek 2016
No longer available.
| Country: | United States |
| Regions: | California California (Napa) |
| Winery: | Laird |
| Grape Type: | Chardonnay |
| Organic: | Yes |
| Vintage: | 2016 |
| Bottle Size: | 750 ml |
Try these Similar In Stock Wines
Laird Chardonnay Cold Creek is 100% Chardonnay
Our Cold Creek Chardonnay is grown in the slightly cooler microclimate of the Sonoma side of the Los Carneros district to the west, where thick fog and cool marine winds protect its tender skins. Indigenous to the Burgundy region of France, Clones 15 and 95 at a 50:50 ratio exhibit an approachable style and luminous, golden color.
Tasting Notes: The appearance of golden straw leads you through an aromatic journey with notes of tropical fruits, sweet nectarine, melon, and vanilla. The wine has flavors of jasmine, citrus, and ripe Fuji apple that are complemented by a creamy mouthfeel and hints of lemon curd. The finish lingers on the palate, making you yearn for the next sip.
Vineyard: 100% Cold Creek Ranch
Appellation: Los Carneros
Varietal: 100% Chardonnay
50% Malolactic Fermentation
Review:
Laird Pinot Grigio Cold Creek is made from 100 percent Pinot Grigio.
The Laird Family’s Cold Creek Ranch is a 300 acre vineyard located on the Sonoma side of the Carneros district. The cooling sea breezes off the San Pablo Bay are perfectly suited for Pinot Grigio as well as Chardonnay, two grape varieties that thrive in this special vineyard.
Tasting Notes: The clear yellow sapphire hue sparkles in the sunlight, with inviting aromas of juicy passionfruit, honeysuckle and Juicy Fruit gum. The palate is balanced with medium acid and enticing flavors of melon, apricot, vanilla, and subtle mineralty, leading to a focused, mouthwatering finish.
Vineyard: 100% Cold Creek Ranch
Appellation: Los Carneros (Sonoma)
Laird Pinot Grigio Cold Creek is made from 100 percent Pinot Grigio.
The Laird Family’s Cold Creek Ranch is a 300 acre vineyard located on the Sonoma side of the Carneros district. The cooling sea breezes off the San Pablo Bay are perfectly suited for Pinot Grigio as well as Chardonnay, two grape varieties that thrive in this special vineyard.
Tasting Notes: The clear yellow sapphire hue sparkles in the sunlight, with inviting aromas of juicy passionfruit, honeysuckle and Juicy Fruit gum. The palate is balanced with medium acid and enticing flavors of melon, apricot, vanilla, and subtle mineralty, leading to a focused, mouthwatering finish.
Vineyard: 100% Cold Creek Ranch
Appellation: Los Carneros (Sonoma)
Lancel Creek Vineyard is perched above the tiny hamlet of Occidental on the remote Sonoma Coast. This secluded, two-acre site was prepared, planted, and is still tended by Ulises Valdez. The pale, off-white Goldridge soil provides just enough nutrients and moisture for these densely planted vines to ripen a small amount of intensely aromatic and flavorful Chardonnay. The vineyard faces the Pacific Ocean, a mere five miles to the west. The combined influence of the cold Pacific and the warming afternoon sun produces a wine of incredible richness and sublime balance.
Soil types: Goldridge, fine sandy loam.
Age of the vines: 15 years
Review:
Flirting with perfection, the 2016 Chardonnay Lancel Creek Vineyard offers a touch more zip in its crushed lemon, white flowers, mint, and honeysuckle, aromas and flavors. Rich, full-bodied, and concentrated, yet just incredibly pure, this is a heavenly Chardonnay that's getting up there with the crème de la crème in the vintage. Tasting like a Grand Cru Chablis on Steroids, it's going to continue drinking beautifully for over a decade. It's a wow wine and should be sought out by readers. The Chardonnay of the vintage? - Jeb Dunnuck 99 Points
Laird Pinot Noir Ghost Ranch is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir
9 months in French Oak (60% new)
Vineyard workers have long reported seeing people between the rows and down by the creek, people who simply disappear when approached. Hence the name “Ghost Ranch”. This is our family’s seventh vintage of Pinot Noir.
Tasting Notes: With enticing garnet hues, that leads way to aromas of fresh raspberries, toasty oak, Bing cherries and baking spice. With a medium body and a balanced smooth palate that opens to distinct layers of wild strawberry, vanilla & sweet cherry compote.
Easily paired with a variety of cuisine including Pasta Puttanesca, cedar plank salmon or Paella.
Our Vineyards
“Our family vineyard is located in the picturesque and historic Padthaway valley, 300 km south of Adelaide. Our rich, fertile terra rossa soils, environmentally friendly viticulture, low yield and exceptional fruit is how we consistently produce outstanding wines. Small parcels of the highest quality fruit are selected from our family vineyard and handcrafted to create wines with amazing depth of flavour, style and balance…” ~ David Bryson
Winemaking Notes
Fruit was harvested in the cool of the night and gently pressed. The juice was fermented in French oak barrels (35% new, 65% aged). Various components underwent: a wild ferment, malolactic fermentation and extended lees contact to give the wine further complexity and flavour. Individual parcels were selected and blended, then filtered to produce this Chardonnay without compromising the purity of the fruit in both flavour and aroma.
Tasting Notes
Pale straw in colour. Concentrated citrus and white peach fruit flavours are complimented by delicate yeast and subtle spice aromas. The palate is clean and fresh with vibrant fruit flavours, mineral characters and a good lingering finish.
Product Description
Laird Chardonnay Cold Creek is 100% Chardonnay
Our Cold Creek Chardonnay is grown in the slightly cooler microclimate of the Sonoma side of the Los Carneros district to the west, where thick fog and cool marine winds protect its tender skins. Indigenous to the Burgundy region of France, Clones 15 and 95 at a 50:50 ratio exhibit an approachable style and luminous, golden color.
Tasting Notes: The appearance of golden straw leads you through an aromatic journey with notes of tropical fruits, sweet nectarine, melon, and vanilla. The wine has flavors of jasmine, citrus, and ripe Fuji apple that are complemented by a creamy mouthfeel and hints of lemon curd. The finish lingers on the palate, making you yearn for the next sip.
Vineyard: 100% Cold Creek Ranch
Appellation: Los Carneros
Varietal: 100% Chardonnay
50% Malolactic Fermentation
Review:
"Complex pear, melon, fig and citrus flavors are presented in an elegant, graceful style in this pure version. Drink now. 1,800 cases made. –JL."
- Wine Spectator (April 2018), 90 pts
Winery: Laird
After nearly 50 years in the wine business, we understand the ins and outs of the industry, from the trends to the challenges. We believe that our success is due to our vineyard expertise as well as our shared goal to produce great estate wines.
With a concentration on Napa and Carneros vineyards, we have sought to produce wines that are “a window to a place.” Each one of our vineyards is different in expression, with its own subtle, yet distinctive character and voice. Each year renews in us an intense drive to understand, react to, and work with each vineyard to allow it to reach its full potential. This process, lead by our winemaking and vineyard management team, is crucial for the execution of successful wines.
Date Founded: Growing grapes since 1970. Making wine under their own nme since 2005.
Owner: Ken Laird
Winery Philosophy: With nearly 50 years in the wine business, we truly understand the ‘ins-and-outs’ of the industry and are able to meet the unique trends and challenges of the wine business. We believe that our success is due to the combination of vineyard expertise and a shared vision and goal to produce great, estate wines.
With a concentration in Napa and Carneros vineyards, we have sought to produce wines that are “a window to a place.” Each one of our vineyards is different in expression: each has a subtle, yet distinctive vineyard voice. With every year there is an intense drive to understand, react to and work with each vineyard to reach its full potential. This process, lead by winemaker and vineyard manager, is crucial for the execution of successful wines.
With a concentration in Napa and Carneros vineyards, we have sought to produce wines that are “a window to a place.” Each one of our vineyards is different in expression: each has a subtle, yet distinctive vineyard voice. With every year there is an intense drive to understand, react to and work with each vineyard to reach its full potential. This process, lead by winemaker and vineyard manager, is crucial for the execution of successful wines.
Our story begins over 75 years ago outside of South Boston Virginia as twelve-year-old Ken Laird drove his mule wagon through tight rows of sticky, fit-to-be-harvested tobacco leaves. As the gooey bundles were thrown up onto the wagon, little Ken led his mule team to the curing barn. It was there, with his grandmother, great uncles and cousins, they would stoke smoky curing fires for their prized tobacco. Ken would be the third generation Laird to carry on the farming tradition.
While growing up to be a big city mechanical engineer in New York City, Ken held on to his family tradition of becoming a farmer. In 1970, Ken and his wife, Gail, purchased their first Napa Valley parcel. This neglected piece of land, adjacent to Tubbs Lane in Calistoga, held 70 acres of worn-down prune trees. With Prohibition forty years gone and Napa Valley positioned to re-emerge as viticulturally significant, Ken and Gail decided to develop the orchard into a grape vineyard. While knowing just short of nothing about viticulture, they were also $150,000 short to properly develop the orchard into a respectable vineyard. Picking up a tattered phone book, Ken went to the yellow pages and found eight listed wineries…Robert Mondavi being the only one he recognized.
While growing up to be a big city mechanical engineer in New York City, Ken held on to his family tradition of becoming a farmer. In 1970, Ken and his wife, Gail, purchased their first Napa Valley parcel. This neglected piece of land, adjacent to Tubbs Lane in Calistoga, held 70 acres of worn-down prune trees. With Prohibition forty years gone and Napa Valley positioned to re-emerge as viticulturally significant, Ken and Gail decided to develop the orchard into a grape vineyard. While knowing just short of nothing about viticulture, they were also $150,000 short to properly develop the orchard into a respectable vineyard. Picking up a tattered phone book, Ken went to the yellow pages and found eight listed wineries…Robert Mondavi being the only one he recognized.
With a phone call, Robert Mondavi himself agreed to walk the property. After they discussed soils, vines, yields, irrigation, and proper pruning, Robert agreed to finance a deal with the Lairds if they would plant 50% Gamay. The deal was struck with a resulting vineyard of 50% Gamay and 50% Cabernet Sauvignon. Mr. Mondavi guaranteeing the Laird’s Cabernet “to be the highest harvest price paid in the Valley.” The support and encouragement of Robert Mondavi would allow Ken to return to his passion: his family farming heritage.
By the late 1990’s the Laird vineyard holdings had exceeded 2,000 acres and the idea of making their own premium line of wines began to take shape. Architect, Jon Lail, showed Ken and Gail the plans for the iconic pyramid-shaped, multi-level winery. Construction began on what would become the Red Hen Ranch vineyard property north of Napa. Ken and Gail’s son, Justin, worked side-by-side with Ken in the vineyards and became the Vineyard Manger, while their daughter, Rebecca, became the General Manager of the winery. Rebecca’s daughter, Jillian, was born in 2005, the same year the winery’s first red blend was produced, appropriately named Jillian’s Blend (and it happens to be Laird Family Estate’s most popular wine). Justin’s daughter, Megan, works in finance in New York City. His son, David, is continuing the family’s farming legacy by working with his dad in the vineyards.
Vineyard:
Winemaker: Brian Mox
The vineyard holdings possess a cross section of geomorphic and microclimate idiosyncrasies that are poised to produce particular grape varieties that thrive in their desired terroir.
From the thick fog and marine winds in Carneros to the volcanic soils mixed with ancient coastal deposits in the lower bench of the Mayacamas Mountains, they farm their vineyards to produce fruit that best complements the hallmarks of the land.
- back
Betz Family La Serenne Syrah is 100% Syrah
La Serenne is the most reflective of the site/vintage dynamic of our three single-site 2012 Syrahs. Lovers of this wine know that its source, the Boushey Vineyard, is the highest altitude of the three vineyards and is typically the latest harvested. This cool site was accentuated by the cooler season and the results reflect the seriousness of this vineyard and its care.
An extraordinary, nearly impenetrable black purple color leads to a concentrated, inky aromatic impression: smoky black cherry and wild blackberry dominate, but a litany of supporting aromas is already emerging: smoke, violet, mushroom, roasted meat, Chinese 5 spice and minerals. It has a full attack on entry and a big, rich mouthfeel that goes on and on.
2012 is our 13th harvest from this site and these rows. We continue to be impressed with the chameleon nature of this vineyard, in cool years and hot, in heat spikes and cool springs: it provides us with surprises and opportunities at every harvest. While the themes of deep black fruits and pliant structure always surface, the nuance of this vineyard and its care (thank you, Dick Boushey) make it some of the most satisfying fruit we work with every harvest.
Review:
"The pure, elegant and textured 2014 Syrah la Serenne offers that classic violet and floral characteristics of the cuvee, as well as medium to full-bodied richness, lots of black raspberry fruit, fine, sweet tannin and a great finish. It’s not as powerful or concentrated as the La Cote Rousse, yet it’s a joy to drink and will cruise for a decade or more on its balance and purity. - Jeb Dunnuck"
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (Issue #225, June 2016), 93 pts
Riebeek Chenin Blanc is made from 100 percent Chenin Blanc.
As the unofficial drink of the Riebeek Valley, the Riebeek Chenin Blanc is the perfect every day wine that offers uncomplicated quality for the novice and connoisseur alike.
Packed with upfront tropical fruit, the nose charms with an abundance of guava and gooseberries. The pallets follows through with fruit flavors, balanced by a crisp acid to ensure a fresh and fruity style of wine.
Grapes came from both bosstok and trellised vines with some of the vineyards as old as 46 years. Fermentation was done at lower than usual temperatures to capture the fresh fruit flavors.
Very accessible and suited to almost every occasion, the Riebeek Chenin Blanc never disappoints.
©2020 Timeless Wines. All rights reserved
