The Chardonnay grapes are hand harvested and lightly crushed with a light pressing program.The wines spend a full year in barrel with light battonage once every two to three weeks until the end of malolactic. The first racking is postponed as long as possible until the new vintage is near, so that the barrels are only empty a short time. Then the wine is racked to stainless steel, taking the lees with it, for an extra six months. This is a vital step. ‘We get microoxygenation in the wood, then reduction in stainless steel, it gives the wine vertical tension.

An extremely finicky fellow filled with flavors of quince, rosewater, lanolin and smell of a blown-out candle. Some of the best is grown along the Loire River in France, but Leelanau may become equally important. If Riesling is vigorous and energetic, Chenin is more stately, and this wine can carry you away. Everything about it is allusive and a real twinkle maker. Fermented in a new puncheon French barrel and taken about halfway through malolactic fermentation. Six months aged in barrel.

Bone dry style with apple, pear or some subtle lime touches, but the dominant flavors are honey, peach, apricot, and mango. Timberlee Vineyard dirt is where these grapes are grown in loamy-sandy soil, composed by sand silt, gravel and a measurable amount of clay, iron and limestone. Fermented and aged in French oak puncheon for six months.

The smell of a walk through the apple orchard during peak blossom season on a sunny and lightly breezy day filled with perfume for honeybees. If silk became a liquid, this is how it would flow in the mouth. Appears softly sweet to taste but turns into a happy coating for the throat. Fermented and aged in French oak puncheon for six months.

Intense perfume of peach blossom, apricots, white flowers and a perfect layer of bitters. Although dry, the richness produces an impression of sweetness. Fermented and aged in a neutral French oak barrel receiving full malolactic fermentation. It comes with a smile and a good cry that can provide a creative nucleus.