Stuhlmuller’s first winemaker Kerry Damskey and current winemaker Zac Childers conspire with Fritz Stuhlmuller on a unique wine from old vine Chardonnay with long aging in 100% new oak
Healdsburg, October 3, 2024 – Celebrating his 25th harvest with his name on the side of the winery he started, Fritz Stuhlmuller felt he had to do something extraordinary. Long known for the best Chardonnay coming out of Alexander Valley, Stuhlmuller Vineyards appears as a vineyard designate on many of the most heralded Chardonnays in Sonoma County, including the Dutcher Crossing and Mazzocco brands.
Longtime growers in the Valley, the Stuhlmuller family sells Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon to the best wineries in the area. When Fritz decided to launch a winery, good friend and founding winemaker Kerry Damskey was there from the beginning when Stuhlmuller made wines at another facility before the current winery and tasting room were complete in 1999.
Coming up on 2021 and marking Stuhmuller’s 25th anniversary as a wine brand, Fritz and Kerry decided to make a Chardonnay in a style neither of them had attempted previously. Fruit from Stuhlmuller’s Block 2 “Upper Barn Clone” Chardonnay, planted in 1992 and still voraciously producing grapes was picked on the mature side, but not over ripe, softly pressed, cold settled for 36 hours, racked off lees and then fermented in four new Taransaud Burgundy French Oak barrels.
Sitting on lees for eighteen months, the wine fully completed uninoculated “native” malolactic fermentation in the barrels acquired specifically for the 25th anniversary Chardonnay project. The wine spent almost two years maturing in bottle, before its release this October 2024, marking the 25th anniversary of the winery and tasting room buildings. Damskey and Zac worked closely on this truly loved project. The object was to create a wine, different from Fritz and Zac’s Estate and Reserve Chardonnays, but with a distinguished shared pedigree.
“I wanted to do something totally different, and the anniversary and 100% new oak Chardonnay is a departure from our estate chardonnay,” said Stuhlmuller. “The ultra popular estate Chard sees about 4-6% new oak and the current reserve offering is made with about 25% new oak.”
“Fritz wanted this Chardonnay to age like a fine French Burgundy, ” said Damskey. “We tasted the wines throughout its aging process and saw it become an oak driven Chardonnay after about eight months, It then became softer, and integrated… and quite elegant. a style for which Stuhlmuller is known.
“Another fun aspect of this wine is the fact that we allowed native, spontaneous fermentations for both initial fermentation and malolactic,” explains Childers. “And this wine is unfiltered and unfined; a wonderfully unadulterated, naturally made wine.
With less than 90 cases of this special wine available and club members highly anticipating its release, there may be little left for the tasting room. At $75 for this caliber of wine, it remains affordable in the tradition of the Stuhlmuller family’s wine offerings.
A few bottles are available for sampling. Please contact barbarabarrielle@gmail.com if you have a wine or travel story for which this wine and our winery would be appropriate. We also are happy to host you at the winery. Our release party will be held on October 12, 2024, and we would be happy to have you attend.
The winery can be found at 4951 West Soda Rock Lane in Healdsburg, California, in the heart of Alexander Valley. We are open Wednesdays through Sundays, 10:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
