Wine Notes > Chardonnay > Current Release
2008 INOX Chardonnay
(new release May 2009)
The Wine
INOX® takes its name from the abbreviation of the French word for stainless steel, inoxydable. The wine was created differently from most Chardonnay you've had. We think we've succeeded in expressing the crisp, steely, and fruit-rich side that we love about some Old-World Chardonnays. What makes this possible is the use of exclusively Dijon clones, exceptionally well suited to Oregon's cool climate and exhibiting a richness that does not depend on oak. Entirely tank fermented, without malolactic fermentation or lees contact, INOX screams of the hallmarks of a cool climate-brightness, pinpoint fruit, and explosive aromas and flavors. We intend INOX for a full range of use, from hot weather chilling to elegant dinner complements.
The Vineyards
Fruit comes primarily from our Estate Vineyards, predominantly Stoller, with a measure of Corral Creek. Dijon clones 76, 95, and 96 are fermented together for a fully complemented wine. The estate vineyards are planted on two different soil types: Stoller on Jory and Corral Creek on Laurelwood. In 2008, we also bought Dijon fruit from some of our Willamette Valley neighbors: Gran Moraine, Banks, Temperance Hill, Thistle, Elvenglade, Willamette Valley Vineyards, Roserock, and Willakia.
The Vintage
The 2008 vintage saw one of the coolest growing seasons on record, with 1,976 degree-days of heat during the growing season, versus the average for the last twelve years of 2,212 degree-days, and second only to 1,968 degree-days in 1999. This vintage resembles 1999 in the counterintuitive ripeness of the crop we finally harvested, and both vintages showed very good acid levels and excellent, full ripeness at lower sugars. Look for both whites and reds to excel this year, with very ageable wines, rich and complex from release to old age. Lower croploads, almost half-crop in nature, also similar to 1999, brought some of this richness, with harvest dates that were two-plus weeks later than average but not experiencing significant rainfall.
Stats
Harvest Data:
Harvested 10/01–10/27/2008 @ 19.6–23.2 brix, 3.11–3.41 pH, and 5.9–9.2 g/L TA, from 1.0–4.5 tons per acre cropload
Fermentation:
Tank fermented with VL1 and 3079 yeast, no Malolactic fermentation
Cooperage/Aging:
None
Bottling:
Cold stabilized and filtered, bottled 4/28–4/30/2008
Bottling Analyses:
13.6% alcohol, 7.6 g/L TA, 3.30 pH, 0.19% residual sugar
Cases Produced:
5,844
Suggested Retail:
$16 (TO ORDER)
Release Date:
October 2009
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© CHEHALEM
31190 NE Veritas Lane • Newberg, OR 97132
Tasting Room (503) 538-4700 • Winery (503) 537-5553 • Fax (503) 537-0850
Winemaker's Comments
Lovely white fruits, flowers, and spice, locked in a lushly rich Chardonnay, this INOX continues the long-lived, perfectly balanced food wine we’ve made now for seven vintages. There is jasmine, pear, mineral oil, kiwi, lime, vanilla, pineapple, fruit candies, and stone, suspended by a tension of ginger, minerality, and acid. The wine is both brightly acid-driven and richly emollient, finishing dry and bracing.
Quotes
Wine Enthusiast, December 2009, Paul Gregutt: 90. INOX is Chehalem's unoaked Chardonnay, and Chardonnay doesn't get any more transparently fresh. Flavors of flower water, mineral, kiwi, lime, fennel and bracing minerality deliver pure pleasure. A great food wine.
Portland Monthly, September 2009, Oregon's 50 Best Wines, Condé Cox: #41. Firm green-apple acidity and not a whiff of oak. Virgin Chardonnay.
Wine Advocate, August 2009, Jay Miller: 88. …Baking spice and apple aromas, a dry, crisp, vibrant mid-palate, good balance, and a lengthy, refreshing finish.
San Francisco Chronicle, February 26, 2010, Jon Bonné: Recommended. This popular effort from Chehalem's Harry Peterson-Nedry helped create the market for unoaked Chardonnay, and the results in a fine year hit just the right balance. Plush and almondy on the nose, with bright lime, Anjou pear and honeydew aromas. The flavors have no fat to them, but there's more than enough ripe fruit in the mix.
Statesman Journal, January 10, 2010, Annette Solomon: Recommended. This wine has brilliant, brisk flavors of gooseberry, tart Granny Smith apple, lemon and a hint of flint. The down-the-spice acids harmonize beautifully with a wide variety of appetizers and main dishes.
Unoakedchardonnay.com: Delicious! Sometimes a smooth unoaked is just the right thing for the moment. Sometimes it's a crispy unoaked that hits the spot. As presented in 2007, this vintage continues to have zing. Refreshing. A dfinite fruit presence, but not sugary-sweet. It's just right... we know by the labels that the makers view their product as a work of art. We agree: it's lovely.
Paulgregutt.com, August 25, 2009, Paul Gregutt: …Chardonnay doesn’t get any more transparently fresh. Flavors of flower water, mineral, kiwi, lime, fennel and bracing minerality deliver pure pleasure. A great food wine.
NPR (National Public Radio), June 13, 2009, The Splendid Table featuring Ray Isle: One of my favorites and one of the ones that started this tred in the US toward unoaked chardonnay...lovely sort of spicy melon-pear flavors and what I think of as a tongue-tingling texture. It really brings your tongue to live instead of sitting on it like an elephant. One of the models of the form. It's a really wonderful wine. To listen...
Wine Review Online, June 23, 2009, Thinking Outside the Barrel, Robert Whitley: I had to go to Oregon's Willamette Valley to find an example of oak-free New World Chardonnay that satisfied the Chablis craving within me. Chehalem's 2008 INOX is made from estate vineyards that were planted a few years back to the Dijon clone of Chardonnay, which is well-suited for cool-climate Chardonnay production. From the first sip I knew this was the Hold Grail of un-oaked New World Chardonny...
New York Times, July 29, 2009, Eric Asimov: Chardonnay producers have already been moving away from overt oakiness for several years. I expect to see even more chardonnays using no-oak marketing terms like naked, virgin, inox, metallico and the more plain-spoken unoaked.