Rasa Vineyards Dream Deferred Chardonnay
WHY WE LOVE IT
- The Rasa Vineyards “Dream Deferred” Chardonnay is a limited production highly acclaimed, cool-climate expression sourced from the Frenchman Hills Vineyard on Washington State’s Wahluke Slope.
- Handcrafted by winemaker Billo Naravane, it showcases excellent acidity, minerality, and a textured palate.
- The vineyard features loam and sandy loam over broken caliche and basalt, providing high calcium carbonate content ideal for Chardonnay.
Varietal Composition: 100% Chardonnay
Elaboration: The clusters were pressed, and the juice settled for 12 hours. It was barrel fermented in 33% new French oak, 33% neutral oak, and 33% stainless steel. The wine aged on the lees for 19 months with biweekly batonnage, with one third undergoing secondary fermentation. It wasn’t racked until bottling and was lightly filtered.
Tasting Notes: The Dream Deferred Chardonnay shows great aromatic complexity and impressive palate concentration. Complex bouquet with well delineated notes of pear, nectarine, hazelnut, lemon curd, allspice, honeycomb, and brioche. The palate is rich and decadent with great flavor density: pear, nectarine, tangerine peel, honey, vanilla, hazelnuts, minerality, and brioche. Slight phenolic touches from skin contact come through on the very long finish which echoes notes of minerality, allspice, and honeycomb. A rich, complex, decadent style with sufficient nervy acidity that will ensure improvement in the cellar over the next 5-7 years.
PRESS
2019 – 92 Wine Advocate
2023 – 94 Vinous
PRODUCER BACKGROUND
The concept of Rasa Vineyards started with a bottle of 1988 Mouton Rothschild that brothers Pinto and Billo Naravane bought at a discount in Napa Valley. That bottle of wine changed their lives. They call it their epiphany wine. That Mouton inspired them to learn all they could about wine and seriously discuss starting a winery. In 2007, with Pinto’s business plan and Billo working on a degree from the UC Davis Master’s program in Viticulture and Winemaking, the two budding winemakers quit their tech jobs and selected Walla Walla, Washington, as the home of Rasa Vineyards.
They purchased 28 acres in Milton-Freewater, Oregon, just ten miles south of Walla Walla, in an area that would become the Rocks District AVA. Their first two wines won accolades and high ratings in wine publications. In 2017, Billo joined an elite worldwide group of 498 people who have earned the title of ‘Master of Wine.’