The Scent of Bloom

We were in our Coombsville Chardonnay vineyards just the other day, showing some friends the beauty of the rolling hills just east of the town of Napa, when Dirk Hampson (Director of Winemaking) asked everyone to carefully find one of the burgeoning grape clusters and give it a sniff. “There’s nothing like the smell of bloom,” he said.

He’s right. The sweet, delicate aroma of the tiny blossoms on brand new grape clusters is far more understated than jasmine or orange blossom, but the scent is distinct and just as pleasant, if not more so, in its subtlety.

Viticulturist Aaron Fishleder says that the flowering is a week to 10 days early this year for both Napa Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, and so far this next stage in the 2014 vintage looks just as it should.

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2014 Far Niente Chardonnay, in bloom