2019 Grande Sonnerie Chardonnay Napa Valley 750 ml

The 2019 Grande Sonnerie Chardonnay Napa Valley is the inaugural Chardonnay release of our Master of Wine Vanessa Conlin’s special collaboration with Luc Morlet, the accomplished winemaker behind Morlet Family Vineyards and a revered consultant for Peter Michael Winery. We were thrilled that these two wine professionals came together to create this wine.

Luc made this wine from a beautiful hillside vineyard in Coombsville. The volcanic ash in the soil brings minerality to the wine and enhances the Burgundian origin of the Montrachet-clone cuttings used to plant this vineyard 15 years ago. Today the vines are in their prime, and in the near-perfect 2019 growing season, their fruit was barrel-fermented and -aged, raised 14 months in 50% new French oak barrels. Luc and Vanessa selected about eight barrels, making just 200 cases of this exclusive cuvée.

What is Grande Sonnerie? In mechanical clocks and luxury watches, it’s a complicated movement and striking system. Its other meaning is aspirational: because it’s such a complex mechanical feat, only the greatest watchmakers in the world have mastered it with precision and elegance. That’s why it’s such a perfect name for our partnership with Morlet.

During his youth in Champagne, Luc’s grandfather once told him that “We are the people who must turn a tin can into a gold watch,” and that has defined his career. Crafting close to twenty 100-point wines under his own label and winning acclaim for luminaries such as Peter Michael Winery did not come easy. Intense, sustained hard work and financial sacrifice—including the sale of his home in St. Helena to acquire his vineyards—went into his success today.