Bud break occurred at a more typical time in late March, and very little rain or wind during the May flowering period resulted in a generous but not excessive cluster count.

When fruit set occurred in June, the crop size looked average, but as summer progressed, the clusters filled out beautifully, with much heavier clusters than usual.

With no threat of rain in the forecast in early or mid-September, we had the luxury of letting the grapes reach full maturity, concentrating their varietal aromas, mid-palate character and depth of fruit.

All Chardonnay grapes were hand-picked in the coldest hours of the night to retain their natural acidity and pure fruit flavors.

The wine was fermented and aged in a combination of stainless steel tanks and new French oak barrels.

Sur-lie aging and bâtonnage were limited to five weeks to add creaminess to the mid-palate, all while still preserving the fresh fruit so classic of Russian River Valley Chardonnay.

Jordan sources only the top 0.3% quality wine corks from Portugal, the world’s leading producer of wine corks. The winery and its supplier hand-sort and select only the best 20% of quality corks from the original sample, declassifying those corks that may have imperfections.

A state-of-the-art bottling line ensures that each bottle of Jordan Chardonnay will be full of life with bright, primary fruit character in its youth and will age gracefully.

Flowering began in early May, which is typical timing, and despite some rainy days and a little wind, the flowers pollinated successfully in our earlier ripening vineyards.

A curve ball came our way from mid-May through Memorial Day weekend, in the form of a few rain showers punctuated by two heat spikes. This disrupted the bloom of some later-ripening vineyards, which reduced the quantity—but not the quality—of
the grape clusters.

Cool temperatures and misty fog lingered well into late morning most days throughout August. There was just enough sunshine, but without intense heat, which allowed the grapes to ripen slowly, developing complex flavors.

Harvest for Jordan’s Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon began on September 8 and concluded on October 7—the eve of our official 40th anniversary.

This was an average-sized crop, but with flavor and complexity on par with the exceptional 2012 vintage. Right off the vine, the fruit aromas were bright, beautiful and rich, and the grapes showed great intensity of fruit flavors.

Malolactic fermentation occurred in our upright oak tanks before a barrel blend was created and transferred to small oak barrels.

The 2016 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon was aged for 13 months in 100% French oak barrels. Nearly 50% of those barrels were new French oak.

Jordan sources only the top 0.3% quality wine corks from Portugal, the world’s leading producer of wine corks made from cork tree bark. A single Jordan wine cork costs an average of $1.10—three times the industry average of about 35 cents.

A state-of-the-art bottling line ensures that each bottle of Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon will fully express its dark fruit flavors and aromas in its youth, and will age gracefully in bottle, developing more complexity over the decades.

Spring conditions remained warm and dry, allowing the grapevines to bloom evenly.

Extremely dry weather continued in July and August with only a few heat spikes, allowing the crop to ripen uniformly.

Two weeks of foggy weather at the end of August slowed down the very early progression of the vintage, before a heat wave over Labor Day weekend kicked harvest into high gear.

Merlot grapes were the first to be picked on September 2, 2014—about 7-10 days earlier than 2013, which was one week early. Gondolas of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes continued to arrive at the crush pad before the first Russian River Valley Chardonnay night harvest.

The mid-September rain shower was a blessing in disguise, which slowed down
the picking schedule for thick-skinned Cabernet Sauvignon, allowing the cellar team to finish primary fermentations and make room for the next wave of grapes.

The wine was aged in a combination of new and used French and American oak barrels for one year with French oak comprising 45% of the new oak.

Using a two-part quality assurance procedure, the winemaking team manually tested and analyzed laboratory samples of wine corks before bottling to ensure one of the lowest probabilities of cork taint in the California wine industry.

The 2014 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon magnums were filled in 2016 using the latest bottling technology and aged for four years, allowing the wine to gain remarkable depth and complexity of aromas and flavors before release.