Nid Tissé Hyde Vineyard Chardonnay Carneros 2023

Marie-Laure Ammons was born in the Limousin region of France- she and her sister Marie-Cécile were so petite at the time of their birth that their mother hadn't realized she was pregnant with twins. So, as children, Maman encouraged her two growing girls to practice sports. Marie-Laure and her sister took up track and field, and both became acclaimed scholar-athletes specializing in the 400m relay. They loved the outdoors and being physically active, so they decided to study viticulture and winemaking at the Université de Bordeaux. After graduation, Marie-Laure did a bit of globetrotting and in 1998, took a harvest position at Stonestreet in Alexander Valley (Marie-Cécile works at Rémy-Martin crafting cognac). After stints at Domaine Lejeune in Burgundy and at Hartford Court in Sonoma, Marie-Laure joined the esteemed winemaking team at Atelier Melka. For 18 years, she helped craft the wines in his illustrious portfolio. She eventually met her husband, winemaker Frederick Ammons (RUDD Estate, Napa Valley Reserve), and they settled in Calistoga, where they're raising their two children. Marie-Laure is now focused full-time on Nid Tissé: French for "woven nest" - referring to the fact that their family was stitched together by blending the fabrics of France and America. 

Thanks to connections forged during her years with Melka, Marie-Laure was able to source fruit from iconic vineyards. In 2016, Wine Enthusiast published a list of Grand Cru vineyards for California Chardonnay. If California were to use a ranking system akin to Burgundy- what would be our Grand Crus? The Hyde vineyard made the list of just 24 sites (Stony Hill, Bien Nacido, and Hudson to name a few others) spanning the 400 coastal miles from Mendocino County in the north down to Santa Barbara. 

Since 1979 Larry Hyde has been the grower and patriarch of these stunning family-owned 200 acres that span the Carneros region along Napa's southern fringe. Marie-Laure hand-harvested and gently pressed a few tons from 20-year-old vines- classic Robert Young and Old Wente clones. In our words: DIVINE. "Always direct yet at times understated, the Hyde Chardonnay exemplifies focus and precision, taking the palate on a textural and aromatic journey that confidently expresses its place as a world-class, grand cru Chardonnay. The long, uneventful ripening season of 2023 allowed longer time to develop optimum, complex aromatics while maintaining the lowest pH of any Hyde vintage. This translates into a wine that will remain a classic, with a foundation for ageability." ~Winemaker Notes