2022 Lindquist Family Roussanne

This wine is 100% Roussanne from Block 10 at Bien Nacido Vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley.  Block 10 is situated on a west facing hillside bowl on the hill directly across from our winery.  In the early days of working outdoors during Harvest, I used to look fondly at the way the late afternoon and early evening sun used to shine on this hillside…thinking, that would be a great place to plant grapes!

In 1997, the first Roussanne plants went into the ground at Block 10, and over the next 4 years the Block was filled in with Tablas Creek clone of Roussanne.  In 2000, I made the premier Bien Nacido Roussanne from those first vines.

2022 was a warmer than normal vintage here on the Central Coast.  The Roussanne crop was small, so the grapes ripened about a month earlier than normal at 22.1° brix, 3.30 pH and 7.2 acidity…perfect balance considering the crazy warm vintage.

The grapes were whole cluster pressed, the juice chilled overnight, then transferred into barrels for fermentation and aging.  For Roussanne, I like to use exclusively one year old Francois Freres Burgundy barrels, barrels that were used for Chardonnay the first year.  The wine was aged in the one-year-old barrels for the first year, then racked, blended and returned to neutral French oak barrels for an additional 8 months.  It was bottled without filtration in June 2024.

This is one of the more elegant versions of Bien Nacido Roussanne’s that I’ve made…it reminds me a lot of the 2007 wine, which at 17 years of age is still going strong!  Lovely aromas of honey, toasted almonds with hints of vanilla.  The flavors are fresh and crisp with a mouthwatering fruitiness.  Enjoy it over the next couple years, or better yet, put it away in the cellar for at least 10-15 years for maximum pleasure!

Bob Lindquist

November 2024

*90-92 (barrel sample)  Antonio Galloni Vinous