Our wine of the week winner -- the Artesa, 2007 Carneros Chardonnay -- comes from a concentrated vintage with a character the producers wanted to showcase.
"Because 2007 was so fruit forward, we wanted to enhance that character so we used more barrel fermentation than we had with the 2006 vintage," according to Nori Nakamura, assistant winemaker of Artesa in the Carneros region of Napa.
Nakamura said his favorite part of winemaking is the research (or sipping) he does before blending. "I love tasting each lot and getting to know the character of each lot," he said. "We have 30 different chardonnays . . . we have to know each wine block before blending, or we cannot make the harmony, the balance."
Nakamura realized he wanted to be a winemaker on a trip to Italy in 1993. He was tasting a 12-year-old Barbaresco, a powerful red wine produced in the Piedmont region. "The wine gave me so much happiness and excitement. That was the moment I realized wine can affect emotion."
Nakamura, who grew up in Tokyo, said the experience in Italy put him on the winemaking career path. "My goal is to make wine so it can bring happiness to other people . . . when I make wine other people can enjoy, that's my ultimate joy."
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