Sbragia Chardonnay Gamble Ranch 2010

Sbragia is 100% Chardonnay 

VINEYARD: Making Chardonnay from Gamble Ranch feels like revisiting an old friend every year, and it only seems to get better and better. Gamble is a big property in the heart of Napa Valley – it spans the Yountville and Oakville Crossroads – and it’s divided into dozens of small blocks according to soil type, aspect, etc. Our fruit comes from a few small blocks planted with a mix of rootstocks and clones – very specific sites I’ve identified over the years as producing particularly rich, flavorful and complex Chardonnay. This harvest marks the 9th vintage of this wine for Sbragia Family Vineyards. 

VINTAGE: Rainfall returned after three dry years, pushing bud break, flowering and fruit-set back by at least two weeks at the front end of the growing season. Fortunately the cloud cover meant there was no frost damage in 2010. The summer brought cooler than normal temperatures, and this coupled with unexpected heat spikes in late summer resulted in a late and shortened harvest with lower yields. Cooler than average temperatures returned again in early September but gave way to a warm and consistent Indian summer that was just the ticket, bringing good flavor and color development to grapes across the board. 

WINEMAKING: Gamble Ranch produces grapes that can stand up to the style of Chardonnay I love: big, bold and gutsy, but never out of balance. Adam and I give the juice a gradual month-long fermentation in barrel, then allow the wine to go through 100% malolactic fermentation. The wine spends a full 18 months in 100% new French Burgundian barrels, with weekly lees stirring to integrate the oak and give the wine extra creamy richness.

TASTING NOTES: “I love big, rich Chardonnay, and this 2010 announces from the get-go that it is not a shy wine. Tantalizing aromas and flavors of fresh lemon and apple cider mingle with notes of butterscotch, vanilla and freshly-baked bread. The wine is full-bodied, viscous and creamy in the mouth, but with a good backbone of acidity that keeps it in balance. An excellent wine for shellfish, or one of my favorites – linguini in white clam sauce.”

Alcohol: 15.2% 
TA: 5.73 g/L 
pH: 3.71 
Cases Produced: 1,584 

“Sbragia has always demonstrated a Midas touch with Chardonnay, and that is apparent with the magnificent 2010 Chardonnay Gamble Ranch. It exhibits a premier cru Meursault-like nuttiness along with a buttery richness, creamy, full-bodied texture and terrific purity. It’s no shy white at 15% natural alcohol. -RP”
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (Issue #209, October 2013), 94 pts

"Offers lots of flavors built around smoky, toasty, mocha-laced oak and ripe, opulent fig, pear and honeydew melon, ending with a tempting roasted marshmallow aftertaste. Drink now through 2018."
- Wine Spectator (July 31st 2013), 93 pts

"Sbragia's 2010 Chardonnay Gamble Ranch is beautifully bright, focused and layered. Smoke, honey, anise and ripe pears are all woven together nicely. Even with full malolactic fermentation, the 2010 is bursting with tension and energy. This is a great showing from Ed Sbragia. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2016. -AG"
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (Issue #204, December 2012), 93 pts

Sbragia Family Vineyards Estate

Sbragia Family Vineyards is located in the beautiful Dry Creek Valley and is where winemakers, Ed and Adam Sbragia, make their limited production wine. A third generation Dry Creek Valley vintner, Ed is well known for his position as Winemaster at Beringer Vineyards in Napa. He began working at Beringer in 1976, working under legendary winemaker, Myron Nighingale. During his career, Ed has become one of California’s most talented and respected winemakers. The Sbragia family history runs deep in the Dry Creek Valley. Ed’s grandfather came to the valley from Tuscany in 1904, where he worked in wineries, starting at the Italian Swiss Colony. Ed’s father, Gino, acquired his own vineyards near Healdsburg, growing zinfandel grapes for sale and home winemaking. "He made excellent wine," says Ed, "and he taught me that making wine is a very natural process – that good grapes and good techniques will always make good red wine."

In 2001, Ed created his own label, Sbragia Family Vineyards, to focus on making limited, individual lots of wine from grapes grown in select blocks of his favorite vineyards in Dry Creek, Napa, and Sonoma. Five of the wines, including Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Merlot and two Zinfandels, are sourced from Sbragia family-owned estate vineyards that range in size from five to thirteen acres. Like his tenure with Beringer, Ed continues to make “big reds,” including Cabernets from Howell Mountain, Mt. Veeder, Sonoma Mountain and Alexander Valley. The wines all exhibit Ed’s distinctive and acclaimed style – big, rich, balanced and polished.

The Sbragia Family Vineyard

At Sbragia Family Vineyards, we source grapes from about 50 acres of family-owned vineyards the Sbragias have been farming for over 100 years in Historic Dry Creek Valley. Ed & Adam also purchase grapes from their favorite vineyards throughout Sonoma and Napa Valleys. I’ve always had one foot in Sonoma and the other in Napa. Both areas mean a lot to me emotionally. I’m more attached to Dry Creek because it’s where I raised my kids. But the wines that I’ve made at Beringer are like children, so Napa is also a very special place to me.

Dry Creek Valley:
Dry Creek Valley, a premium winegrowing region, is located in Northern Sonoma County, California, only an hour north of the Golden Gate Bridge/San Francisco.
Renowned for its idyllic undisturbed beauty, Dry Creek Valley is home to over 9,000 acres of vineyards that carpet the intimate 16-mile long x 2-mile wide valley, floor to hillside. With a grape growing history going back 140 years – one of the longest in California – producing premium winegrapes is core to this region. In fact, the valley boasts one of the densest concentrations of Old Vine Zinfandel in the world.

Alexander Valley:
Located at the northern end of Sonoma County, the Alexander Valley is 22 miles long and varies in width from two to seven miles. On the hillsides to the east and west, and adjacent to the beautiful Russian River winding along the valley floor, the valley is home to a diversity of microclimates that support the growth of many wine grape varieties including Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and many more.

Sonoma Valley:
The Sonoma Valley AVA centers on the Sonoma Valley (also known as The Valley of the Moon) in the southern portion of the county. The appellation is bordered by two mountain ranges: the Mayacamas Mountains to the east and the Sonoma Mountains to the west.
Along with being the area where so much of Sonoma County's winemaking history took place, the area is known for its unique terroir, with Sonoma Mountain protecting the area from the wet and cool influence of the nearby Pacific Ocean. 
One finds a wide disparity between valley floor and mountain soils; those found in flatter, valley areas tend to be quite fertile, loamy and have better water-retention while the soils at higher elevations are meager, rocky and well-drained. In general, the structure, rather than the composition of the soil, is the deciding factor where grape plantings are concerned.

Napa Valley:
Though just 30 miles long and a few miles wide, Napa Valley is home to diverse microclimates and soils uniquely suited to the cultivation of a variety of fine wine grapes. Among the internationally acclaimed wines produced in this small region are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel and Cabernet Franc.