Arnot-Roberts 'Watson Ranch' Chardonnay Napa Valley California, USA 2020

Style: White Wine 

Vintage: 2020

ABV: 12%

Vineyard: Watson Ranch 

Region: Napa Valley, California

Country: USA 

Varietals:  Chardonnay  

Pairing Ideas: Seafood tossed in a butter garlic sauce over warm noodles. 

About the Vineyard: Watson Ranch Vineyard is perched on a steep hillside overlooking the San Pablo Bay at the southernmost end of the Napa Valley. The ranch was named after early Napa attorney, Augustus Watson, who owned the property in the early 1900s. The adjacent property is an abandoned limestone quarry which historically employed over 300 people, mining material to make portland cement used to rebuild San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. Exposed and unprotected from the elements, this wind-whipped site was planted in 1993 by the talented Napa Valley veteran grower Salvador Ramos. Soils at Watson Ranch are composed of calcareous clay over limestone. This soil type is extremely rare on the North Coast but shows itself in a narrow fin at the tail end of the Vaca Mountains in Southern Napa County. This fractured, well-drained calcareous soil, coupled with organic farming and cool windy conditions. Farmed organic.